Temple University Hospital, is it a good place to work?

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Hi,

I was recently offered a RN position at Temple University Hospital. I currently live in Allentown, PA and by accepting this position my husband and I will have to relocate. Is Temple a good place to work? What is patient population like? Is there any safe public transportation to Temple? Is it affordable to work there and live in suburb area outside philly?

Thank you so much!

sp

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I would take the Job, temple is Union, BIG PRO.....yes its very easy to get to via public transportation....trains run right by......also Allentown is not a Gem of a city either.....Actually I prefer Philly to Allentown. I graduated from Southern Lehigh and then went to Temple so I lived in both areas so I am speaking from experience!

the trains are very safe, I would feel less safe on the subway but as I said Philly is not much worse than downtown allentown, bethlehem and easton!

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Thank you so much for your info.! I have been looking at the trains and where they run. Would you prefer Temple over Lehigh Valley Hospital?

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I would rather live in Philly, my family lives up in Quakertown, and catty area though....But I don't like LVH......I would much rather work for temple, plus the fact that it is UNION.....+++++++ pretty much all the trains run past there too! If you want to go back to school for an advanced practice degree you could just go to Temple or if not your in Philly and there are tons of universities in the city. City life is so much better. There is just so much more to do. Also do you have kids??? If you work for Temple health system they provide a good amount of tuition for your children....it was 100% until the trike last year they just lost the 100% tuition for their children (and it used to be 100% tuition no matter what school their kids went to even if it wasn't temple)! go temple whoo hooo

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Wait one.

What shift are you planning on working? Temple is in one of the very worst neighborhoods in Philly.

It is true that I have not lived in Philly in 12 years but, I did work the neighborhood as a visiting nurse. This would have been a first case of the day scenario, i.e. before the drug dealers were up, we would schedule visits there between 7 and 8:30 am.

Can it have changed that much? I don't know but you should go look before you leap. Really, go look in person in the evening and at night before you make up your mind.

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It's nights. 7P-7A.

That's one of the other things I have been thinking about a lot since Temple is located in not so good neighborhood. I saw subway line that is like 2 blocks away but didn't see any train?!

What I really like though is the tuition reimbursement. I am currently enrolled in FNP program at DeSales but hospitals around here only reimburse some of the tuition. If I can transfer to Temple grad, it would be awesome!

Thanks again for the valuable info. !

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Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.
Wait one.

What shift are you planning on working? Temple is in one of the very worst neighborhoods in Philly.

It is true that I have not lived in Philly in 12 years but, I did work the neighborhood as a visiting nurse. This would have been a first case of the day scenario, i.e. before the drug dealers were up, we would schedule visits there between 7 and 8:30 am.

Can it have changed that much? I don't know but you should go look before you leap. Really, go look in person in the evening and at night before you make up your mind.

I agree...I lived in a Philly suburb growing up, and my husband went to Temple University. It is not in a safe neighborhood.

I was offered a job at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and declined it, due to the fact that I did not want to be driving or taking public transportation at night.

Septa (train) is absolutely horrid. Frequent delays, frequent breakdowns, not enough express routes, not clean. Not to mention expensive. You are looking at $200 plus per month to be spent on a train pass. Add to it the Philly wage tax that you pay, and you have to figure if your paycheck in the end will be worth it.

My friend was a patient at Lehigh, and absolutely loved it. That's all I really know about that hospital, though.

Think long and hard....it will definitely be a culture change. I will never work in that area again, and not only for the reasons I mentioned above.

Good luck.

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Temple is an awesome place to work. My father has worked there for over 20 years and I went to college at Temple. There are some great points to Temple like competive salaries, tuition remission for employee's and their children, Temple Care, they have great insurance, the nurses are incredible, safe parking, a gym, and a full police force. Honestly, I am heading straight for there as soon as my kids are a little older.

I can tell you the neighborhood is not safe at night if you walk off the health campus. The area infront of the hospital has good lighting but I would not walk alone. The hospital has a parking garage that is directly linked to the hospital, my car and my fathers car have never been broken into. I am a HUGE Temple fan!!

Now, I would look into living in Delaware County, you could hop right onto route 1 from Cityline Ave and get off at Broad. The hospital is less than a mile from the exit. The other option is straight down Broad to Jenkintown or Abington. The Northeast is also an option off of Route 1/ Blvd.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
Temple is an awesome place to work. My father has worked there for over 20 years and I went to college at Temple. There are some great points to Temple like competive salaries, tuition remission for employee's and their children, Temple Care, they have great insurance, the nurses are incredible, safe parking, a gym, and a full police force. Honestly, I am heading straight for there as soon as my kids are a little older.

I can tell you the neighborhood is not safe at night if you walk off the health campus. The area infront of the hospital has good lighting but I would not walk alone. The hospital has a parking garage that is directly linked to the hospital, my car and my fathers car have never been broken into. I am a HUGE Temple fan!!

Now, I would look into living in Delaware County, you could hop right onto route 1 from Cityline Ave and get off at Broad. The hospital is less than a mile from the exit. The other option is straight down Broad to Jenkintown or Abington. The Northeast is also an option off of Route 1/ Blvd.

About that parking garage, or any garage for that matter even here in Tampa, Florida, no gargage is absolutely safe if you are there alone at night. I do know of someone that was attacked at Temple's garage though it was years ago before I worked in that area. Always have security escort you if you have to leave late, and are alone. Most hospitals offer this service.

I agree that Temple is a good deal. My cousin, who is a smart cookie is a grad of their med school. She could have went anywhere but she chose them.

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The area around temple is not good but I would still take the job...

this is off-topic but is temple still hiring? I've applied there so many times and have heard nothing, do you have experience already? I am a new grad so maybe thats why...

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I'm a Temple grad and lived in North Philly for some time before moving to the suburbs.

Temple Hospital and the associated Med/Dental/Pharm schools are located in one of the, shal we say, less desirable areas of the city. Note that the hospital campus is not near the main university campus, though both are on the same street (north Broad St). The actual campuses are quite safe: The TU police force is well-trained, well-armed and very professional - at least the equivalent of the Phila city police (both forces train at the city police academy). That said, the areas off the hospital campus proper are very dicey (the areas near the main campus are in the mid-to-late stages of gentrifying and are much better). Most employees do not have to contend much with anything off campus, so while safety is a bit of a concern, we're not talking Mad Max stuff.

I don't think that safety concrens need to play a big role in your decision. And Philly itself is a really great city to live and hang out in. Great bars, restaurants and entertainment. A world-class symphony orchestra, some neat jazz, blues and R&B venues, world renowned museums (check out the Mutter), water access (2 rivers), great radio stations, more gastro-pubs and BYOs than nearly anywhere else in the country, the list goes on. For my money, the best city on the East Coast. But I'm biased - I'm not a native.

Good luck with your decision.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
Philly itself is a really great city to live and hang out in. Great bars, restaurants and entertainment. A world-class symphony orchestra, some neat jazz, blues and R&B venues, world renowned museums (check out the Mutter), water access (2 rivers), great radio stations, more gastro-pubs and BYOs than nearly anywhere else in the country, the list goes on.

Absolutely true! It was NEVER boring. It's a cultural delight with great food, and much more easy to access than some cities like NYC where parking always seems to be an issue. I found it really easy to get around Philly. There was always so much of interest to do. I do miss it.

You just need to be be mindful of where you are, and get a little street wise. I would bet that this would be addressed in your hospital orientation.

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