St. David's Health care, Austin, Texas

sshannon · Mar 20, 2008

Hi,

Wanted to encourage you, if you're considering relocation to Austin, TX anyway, to look at the Seton Hospital Network. I'm a newly hired nurse with them and I love it. Am working daytime 12s on a med-surg/telemetry unit. Am getting excellent support from staff nurses and management/clinical educators, plus an 18-week orientation!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 20, 2008

Moved to the Texas Nurses forum for more replies.

The Little Greek · Mar 21, 2008

I can't speak to the med-surg units specifically, but I have worked for both hospitals. Hands down Seton treats their nurses better. They also pay a bit more than St. Davids too. If I were to go back to Austin, I'd choose Seton. As another poster mentioned, you should really consider Seton as an option.

RN1989 · Mar 21, 2008

2 major systems own/operate most of the hospitals in the Austin and surrounding area. Seton is no-profit, St. David's is for-profit. If you have never worked in hospitals like these, you will generally find that a for-profit hospital is worse than a no-profit hospital. For-profit facilities have investors that expect to receive monetary dividends - think stock market. Thus for-profit is more apt to be very controlling of things, particularly in making nurses work harder with less of everything.

trentgrad · Mar 21, 2008

Thank you so much for the information everyone. The health care system is so different here, where nurses are not affected by monetary issues - however, on the other hand most of our pay goes into taxes. I'll apply to Seton, and see if they're accepting any new grads from Canada for their med/surg units. Thanks again.

lveroflife · Mar 24, 2008

SShannon-

I wanted to know more about Seton Hospitals... I was considering working for them and relocating to Austin, I think I would do this soon and would love any honest input.

Thanks.. I'm from cali and currently livin in Boston, but cost of living, the people etc,, too much for me

sshannon · Mar 24, 2008

SShannon-
I wanted to know more about Seton Hospitals... I was considering working for them and relocating to Austin, I think I would do this soon and would love any honest input.
Thanks.. I'm from cali and currently livin in Boston, but cost of living, the people etc,, too much for me

I'm happy to share with you what I know of Seton. I've been employed with them since January this year, but also volunteered on one of their units before starting nursing school. My husband also was cared for following spinal fusion surgery at a Seton hospital. All were positive experiences and I didn't consider applying anywhere else (I did do clinicals at two St. David's facilities, so I had some basis for comparison).

Please let me know what some of your specific questions are and I'll be glad to answer. You probably can get a lot of info from their nursing recruiters. Contact them at 512-324-1776.

My personal impression is that Seton is very nurse friendly. It has a nursing governance council that is very active in policy and decision making, and each hospital unit has its own council. Seton also utilizes TCAB at several of its hospitals, and it just has made its way to my unit at Brackenridge Hospital.

All Seton's new RNs (just passed or are about to pass NCLEX) are required to go through the 18- to 22-week Versant program (length determined by which specialty area you're in). It's a structured teaching/orientation program that I'm in the midst of. Some of it is kind of basic review from nursing school, but much of it is useful to us all, particularly if you weren't in the Austin area doing your clinicals at a Seton facility. You can get your hands on their equipment and have people teach you in small groups or one-on-one how to use it (lift equipment, pumps, etc.).

Starting salary is $21.46 and once you pass NCLEX you're eligible for differentials (don't ask me what they are because I never pay attention to them ... isn't that pathetic?).

On my med-surg unit, nurses typically carry 4-5 patients on dayshift (can't speak to nights because I don't work that shift). Once out of orientation, you can work 12s or 8s. They like you to work every other weekend.

That's all I can think of right now.

Let me know if you have other questions. Feel free to private message me and I can pass along specific contact info for a couple of the recruiters if you'd like. But the phone number above will get you connected with them.

Best! :nurse:

SassyRN_972 · Jan 28, 2011

Hi sshannon. I am trying to get into med/surg at Seton and I'd like to know how I can increase my chances for an interview. I'm currently an OR nurse in Dallas with less than a year's worth of experience. I already applied and sent in my two references. I know it's just a waiting game now but I hate feeling like I have no control. Any advice is very appreciated

swtgal · Feb 22, 2012

Thanks so much for the helpful information!

I really want to work for Seton but it has gotten so competitive! There are about 350-400 new applicants for the June '12 Cohort. Any tips on how to get an interview?? Last semester I got interviewed out of 300 applicants and they only interviewed 17. Out of the 17, only 5 got hired and I wasn't one of them :sniff: . This time around, I'm licensed. So that's a plus. Any other tips?

Thanks in advance! :)