VA hospital Pros and Cons

PMFB-RN, RN · Sep 24, 2012

I will be starting the VA hospital in two weeks... I am very anxious to start and was wondering if anyone could give me pros and cons of working there.... Thank you for your responses!!!

Pros:

* Great patient population! Love those guys.

* Almost all male patients

* 5 weeks paid vacation from the start for RNs!

* Decent benifits

* Clinacal ladder that allows one to really move up in terms of pay.

* Strong union representation

* No being laid off due to low census

* Very good education benifits if youw ant to obtain a BSN or graduate degree.

* Abiliety to move around the country and maintain your retirement and pay.

* Any state's license will do

* The VA moves slow, thus missing out on some of the stupider fads in nursing. (scripting and Magnet for example). The stupid fads come and go before the VA even learns of them.

Cons:

* The clinical ladder is in no way connected to your preformance as a bedside nurse. Bad if you are a good nurse, good if you are not.

* Strong union representation.

* Limited oppertunity to learn skills since even the large VA hospitals are not full service. For example the largest VA hospital in the midwest in Minneapolis doesn't do emergency hearts, LVADS, CRRT or a number of other therapies. Nurses don't even draw labs, place IVs or NGs. Another example is the RRT teams. A great resourse but the bedside RN doersn't get a chance to learn to deal with chest pain or hypotension, rapid a-fib, or much of anything else. Just call RRT and they deal with it for you. (May not be the case in smaller VAs)

* Never get the oppertunity to care for pediatrics and very rare to get to care for a female.

* The bureaucracy!

* A fairly large number of incompetent or lazy staff as compaired to other hospitals. For many years the VA had a VERY difficult time hiring nurses. As a result it hired some less that desirables that it is stuck with (in my opinion).

YMMV - My opinions based on working in one VA.

VACallCenterRN · Sep 24, 2012

Pros:
* Great patient population! Love those guys.
* Almost all male patients
* 5 weeks paid vacation from the start for RNs!
* Decent benifits
* Clinacal ladder that allows one to really move up in terms of pay.
* Strong union representation
* No being laid off due to low census
* Very good education benifits if youw ant to obtain a BSN or graduate degree.
* Abiliety to move around the country and maintain your retirement and pay.
* Any state's license will do
* The VA moves slow, thus missing out on some of the stupider fads in nursing. (scripting and Magnet for example). The stupid fads come and go before the VA even learns of them.
Cons:
* The clinical ladder is in no way connected to your preformance as a bedside nurse. Bad if you are a good nurse, good if you are not.
* Strong union representation.
* Limited oppertunity to learn skills since even the large VA hospitals are not full service. For example the largest VA hospital in the midwest in Minneapolis doesn't do emergency hearts, LVADS, CRRT or a number of other therapies. Nurses don't even draw labs, place IVs or NGs. Another example is the RRT teams. A great resourse but the bedside RN doersn't get a chance to learn to deal with chest pain or hypotension, rapid a-fib, or much of anything else. Just call RRT and they deal with it for you. (May not be the case in smaller VAs)
* Never get the oppertunity to care for pediatrics and very rare to get to care for a female.
* The bureaucracy!
* A fairly large number of incompetent or lazy staff as compaired to other hospitals. For many years the VA had a VERY difficult time hiring nurses. As a result it hired some less that desirables that it is stuck with (in my opinion).
YMMV - My opinions based on working in one VA.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! Good information!! I really appreciate your time!

MsDiva812 · Nov 20, 2012

thank you

StephanieCiccone · Nov 19, 2014

I will be starting the VA hospital in two weeks... I am very anxious to start and was wondering if anyone could give me pros and cons of working there.... Thank you for your responses!!!

What floor are you working on? I start on 1K on December 1st!!! I am pretty nervous, but excited!