Published
As a rule of thumb, almost all for-profit hospitals are driven by the dollar: they want to acquire as much profit as they can while spending the least amount of money to do so. They'll cut corners wherever they can get away with it.
That's not to say that working at a for-profit is necessarily a nightmare, but keep that in mind.
Absolutely. I worked at an UHS facility directly out of nursing school. I was given three shifts of orientation and was given 18 violent female adolescent patients on my fourth shift as a brand new nurse. We were always understaffed and underpaid, but administration always got huge bonuses even if the hospital needed repairs/equipment. Staff never stayed, at least 20 people were hired every month due to turnover. Somehow, I lasted three years.
Sounds pretty similar to my experience. I got hired straight out of school as a registry rn and given a week of orientation. I would float throughout all the units; adolescent girls, adolescent boys, young adults, autistic/mr unit, and peds. Some days I would work as an RN some days I would work as a tech. Sometimes I was the only nurse on the unit and if our census was high there would be two nurses. I think the ratio was 24 patients to 1 nurse or something ridiculous like that. It was all paper charting too it was awful.
UHS Behind Closed Doors | The hidden harm of maximizing profits
This website has many links to stories circulating in the media and a map of "problem facilities" that have been under the scrutiny of regulators. Of course take some of the commentary with a grain of salt...it is a website with the specific purpose of exposing UHS.
FransBevy
74 Posts
What are the general opinions regarding UHS psych hospitals? Are they all as archaic and dollar driven as mine?