What do you know about Mercy Hospital at Bakersfield, guarded unit

velourchunky1 · Dec 16, 2008

Hi romantic. You sent a question to me about taking the correctional facility online test. I do not know how to respond to it other than through this post. The online test is a placement test that only categorizes your experience. It is not really a test of your abilities. They want to know how long you have been nursing and what credentials you may have. No need to study for it. From what I remember it does not take long. Feel free to ask me any other questions re: correctional nursing as it seems to be a long and sometimes confusing process. Keep in mind I only interviewed at one place and did not get the job although I have received additional offers from the same place since then. Good luck!

myga · Dec 18, 2008

Hi all!
Please help me to make decision. I need some information about Mercy Hospital at Bakersfield. How is the management there? What is the atmosphere in the hospital? in units?
What do you know about Guarded Care Unit? What kind of skills one needs to work there?
Any information would be very helpful and appreciated!!

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The pay is the lowest I think in the whole California according to the CNA rep who presents to us the contract. You can have 10 years experience and come work there at a very low rate. They have a call off with no pay.

That means that when they call off(don't come in) you do not have any pay for that day. Sometimes you are 1 hour away from the hospital, and then they call you off. NO PAY> That is the reason almost all the RNs there have per diem jobs with other hospitals around the area. There are times when they call you off two days in a row so for that whole week you

work 12 hours a week. Can't pay bills with that.

As for management, nurses were treated like they are drastic drain and cost. In some of the department, the managers and DONs do not even say

hi to nurses. They come to the nursing station, look up to see what nurses did wrong, they start writing things down on paper. When the management comes around, all RNs start to scatter and try to stay away from the nurses station as long as possible. It is not supportive environment and most nurses are not friendly and keep alot to themselves. I think it is reflective of the environment you work in. Non-supportive management creates a toxic atmosphere that creates distrust in nurses. It is everywhere. Whatever you do, do not do overtime cause it will be a big issue.

As for the guarded unit, they have a contract with the state. Any RN with some experience can float there but first they have to do background/criminal check. You get few hours of training and you are in.

If you want more news, check out bakersfield.com website.