Stanford or Kaiser???

SunDazed, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2021

I have worked at Stanford and worked with Kaiser patients in home care, including visiting them in the hospital. Both have some beautiful facilities with very professional healthcare vibes. As a Kaiser patient for a while, you sometimes have to travel to one of the larger facilities to get tests done, but can have a PCP in your local clinic.

Stanford is amazing on a level that is hard to describe. People come from all over the world to get care at Stanford. They have a lot of support with live interpreters for most languages. There is a concierge type vibe for some of this care.

They have so many units that are very specialized. If you are interested in really finding a niche and specializing in a particular type of ICU patient... Heart, Transplant, Neuro, etc... then Stanford might be a great fit.

Nursing governance is strong. Stanford also has nurse leaders who support certifications and furthering education. There will be plenty of opportunities to find mentors. Stanford has it's own nurses union, separate from the California Nurses Union. The contract was really good when I was there.

Working at Stanford and many places in the Bay Area = commuting for lower rents. Stanford/Palo Alto is in Silicon Valley and rents can be high for a short commute. Not sure if the pandemic changed that with tech workers being able to work from home. Many of the experienced Stanford coworkers commuted from Sunnyvale and San Jose to the south. One came all the way from Fremont (2-2.5 hours each way). The public commuter system is set up better though for those coming from north of Stanford, like SF. More trains and stops in areas with housing near shops, etc.

Kaiser is a mindset of it's own. Because of the pairing with the HMO insurance side, patients either love it or hate it. There are more Kaiser facilities, so there may be more opportunity to change facilities and stay in the Kaiser family. So if you want more flexibility in where you live and what type of nursing work you are doing, Kaiser might be a better fit for the long haul. For nurses, like patients, you either love it and all that comes with it or you don't.

Good luck!

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · Apr 25, 2021

I worked in the Stanford ICUs for five years. Freaking awesome, learned so much, had opportunities to start programs, great nursing management with a strong relationship with the union, worked c excellent nurses and docs and RTs, set me on a great career path. Only left because my then husband got a job transfer. If we had reliable teleportation I’d have stayed there forever.

Nursejackie782 · Apr 25, 2021

Thank you both so much for your replies! Sundazed, you've given me a lot of good information that I will definitely consider. And Hannahbanana, thank you for your firsthand experience with Stanford, sounds like a great place to work as I love to always learn and hone my craft. I definitely have some decision to make!

CABGpatch_RN, BSN · Apr 25, 2021

Stanford. Trust me on this one.

Wonimal · May 8, 2021

On 4/22/2021 at 12:54 AM, Nursejackie782 said:

Hello,

I have two upcoming interviews with Kaiser South SF and Stanford, both in ICU. I've heard that it is very HARD to get into Kaiser but at the same time, Stanford is well, Stanford. Anyone who have experiences with either hospitals? How are the pay/benefits/resources?

I currently work at the Kaiser South SF ICU, it is a small ICU 13 beds on 2 separate wings, we only take medical ICU pts and very stable neuro patients. You will not learn much here at all. No teaching or residents here

Stanford has 5 specialized ICUs (CVICU, CCU, neuro, MSICU, etc) is a teaching hospital and has a great opportunity to learn. I would choose Stanford for ICU

waitingfor · Jun 24, 2021

I have my first travel assignment at Stanford in the MICU and I am so excited to work there after hearing all the good things. I enjoy teaching hospitals better. I worked at Johns Hopkins MICU as a new grad and Stanford appears to be giving similar experiences that I really enjoy at a teaching hospital. My pay package as a traveler is about the same as Stanford bedside nurses so I am not here to make money. I am from CA, this is more of a paid vacation and testing the waters before moving back. I would love to come on as permanent staff but how can Stanford nurses afford living in the area amd buying a house? Even if commuting further, housing in San Jose is expensive compared to the pay. Where are nurses with family (and not married to a tech mogul :) buying houses??

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · Jun 24, 2021

7 hours ago, waitingfor said:

Where are nurses with family (and not married to a tech mogul ?buying houses??

Beats me. The house I lived in, Menlo Park, 2br, 1.5bath, cinderblock, 1400 sq ft, no attic or cellar, nice enclosed yard, bought it for $55,500 in 1974 and sold it for $125,000 in 1979. Last I checked it on Zillow it sold for $1.3million. Absolutely insane. My sister lives in Palo Alto and they bought there for $800,000 in 1978; now Zillow calls it for >$2.5 million. If I were them I’d sell it and move to New England, far from the fire and earthquake zone.

rn771 · Jun 7, 2022

Kaiser offers a pension plan, Stanford does not. If you plan to stay at the job for at least 5 years then it is worth getting the pension benefit at Kaiser. But if you want to work with the best and learn a lot, then Stanford. Kaiser is an HMO, driven to save money in the care they provide. There is a huge difference in the care provided and overall working environment between these two systems.

waitingfor · Jun 7, 2022

25 minutes ago, rn771 said:

Kaiser offers a pension plan, Stanford does not. If you plan to stay at the job for at least 5 years then it is worth getting the pension benefit at Kaiser. But if you want to work with the best and learn a lot, then Stanford. Kaiser is an HMO, driven to save money in the care they provide. There is a huge difference in the care provided and overall working environment between these two systems.

Thanks for your input. I took the assignment at Stanford and I as well as a few travelers were very disappointed. Coming from Hopkins I was particularly disappointed and quit.I was nicely surprised by El Camino Health though where I extended my contract. it would have probably been where I would apply to be staff . Calif was too expensive. I am now with Mayo clinic and they do offer pension.

rn771 · Jun 7, 2022

Interesting! Mayo, of course has an excellent reputation. That's great they offer pension, I think benefit helps to retain nurses long term. Just curious what you liked, didn't like about Stanford and El Camino Health? and how did they treat you as a traveler?

SunDazed, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2022

3 hours ago, waitingfor said:

I took the assignment at Stanford and I as well as a few travelers were very disappointed. Coming from Hopkins I was particularly disappointed and quit.I was nicely surprised by El Camino Health though where I extended my contract. it would have probably been where I would apply to be staff . Calif was too expensive. I am now with Mayo clinic and they do offer pension.

I only lasted one year at Stanford as a permanent hire. In 2014 they reassessed nurse to patient ratios in every unit every 4 hours except at 3am. Wherever you ended up by 11pm, you would be there until morning shift change. The day shift nurses on my unit were not following policies and would float me as an oncoming nurse instead of the traveler who had 4 hours left in the shift. They wanted to break me? Well, they didn't break me... but I did get fed up. I left. I wanted to try another unit, but there weren't any other units with openings to transfer to.

There were amazing people that I worked with. The nursing politics on my small unit were too much for me. When I floated to other units I sometimes found that the nurse I was relieving seemed to fear doing anything wrong. I am not sure if that was the culture of those units or just something this/that nurse personally was challenged with. And some of the resident doctors were rude. I had worked at a smaller teaching hospital before, and the MDs varied in regard to working well with nurses... but Stanford had some of the rudest I can imagine.