Which hospitals to recommend in NYC?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jan 28, 2011

Hi and welcome to the site

Moved this to a thread on it's own for more appropriate responses

Guest27531 · Jan 28, 2011

i am a one year out RN at mass general hospital in boston and i would like to work in NYC, i am looking in manhatten and i know the nursing world is pretty tough with jobs but i was wondering if anyone had any advise which hospitals to rechommend. my top choices are NYU, HSS, columbia and cornell. also what a new nurse salery would be and possibly what the night diff is? im trying to look for jobs and possible apartments so wha my possibl new income may be would be very helpful. also if anyone has any advise at all about moving/working/living in the city it would also be very helpful and i would be very greatful :) thanks

The most important advice I will give you is to get the job first. Interviews are hard to come by these days.

If you really want to come to NYC you must dive in with your whole heart - forget about the salary and the night differential - all major hospitals are fairly competitive on that score. You should start to make yourself a complete list (you won't get a complete list from any one person; you need to make it yourself) with all hospitals listed. Then note what "network" they are in, whether the nurses are covered by a union or not, etc. For example, Columbia and Cornell are now linked. Harlem, Bellevue, Montefiore, etc are linked. St. Luke's-Roosevelt and Beth Israel are linked. Start your list then ask one question at a time to see if you can start to gather the info you need.

I'll get you started:

Hospital Name: St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital

Campus#1: St. Luke's Hospital, 1111 Amsterdam Ave, NY, NY 10025

Campus#2: Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 Tenth Avenue, NY, NY 10019

Network: Continuum Hospitals

Nurses covered by a Union: Yes, NYSNA

I don't know very many specific details about other hospitals but I think this info is fairly reliable:

Mount Sinai nurses are covered by a union - NYSNA

Colombia-Presbyterian nurses are covered by a union - NYSNA

New York Cornell (I think the name is now New York Presbyterian) are not covered by a union but the nurses are happy

Lenox Hill nurses are covered by a union but I'm not sure which one

NYU nurses are not covered by a union and they seem happy

HHC - Health & Hospitals Corp run the city hospitals (Bellevue, Harlem, Montefiore, Metropolitan and a few others). There is some sort of union and benefits are from NYC (good news/bad news)

HSS - Hospital for Special Surgery nurses are not covered by a union and they seem happy

Start a spreadsheet and add to it - put Human Resource contacts, etc. Much of this info you can find on the Internet.

Find the job then worry about the housing. Finding a decent, affordable apartment is a nightmare that doesn't happen overnight so you should think in terms of temporary living for awhile. Then you can try to live near where you work. I save a fortune in transportation costs because I can walk to work.

herowneulogy, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2011

@NYLady, love your list.

Montefiore is not an HHC, though, IIRC.

Guest27531 · Jan 29, 2011

@NYLady, love your list.
Montefiore is not an HHC, though, IIRC.

oops...whats IIRC?

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2011

oops...whats IIRC?

IIRC = If I recall correctly.

That's right, Montefiore is a private hospital, but I believe North Central Bronx Hosp right next door IS an HHC.

herowneulogy, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2011

IIRC = If I recall correctly.
That's right, Montefiore is a private hospital, but I believe North Central Bronx Hosp right next door IS an HHC.

Correct.

A Bronx girl, are we? *waves* :)

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2011

Correct.
A Bronx girl, are we? *waves* :)

You got Bronx right ... but I would re-check the gender symbol next to my username if I were you ... :eek:

boston HD · Jan 29, 2011

The most important advice I will give you is to get the job first. Interviews are hard to come by these days.
I'll get you started:
Hospital Name: St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital
Campus#1: St. Luke's Hospital, 1111 Amsterdam Ave, NY, NY 10025
Campus#2: Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 Tenth Avenue, NY, NY 10019
Network: Continuum Hospitals
Nurses covered by a Union: Yes, NYSNA
I don't know very many specific details about other hospitals but I think this info is fairly reliable:
Mount Sinai nurses are covered by a union - NYSNA
Colombia-Presbyterian nurses are covered by a union - NYSNA
New York Cornell (I think the name is now New York Presbyterian) are not covered by a union but the nurses are happy
Lenox Hill nurses are covered by a union but I'm not sure which one
NYU nurses are not covered by a union and they seem happy
HHC - Health & Hospitals Corp run the city hospitals (Bellevue, Harlem, Montefiore, Metropolitan and a few others). There is some sort of union and benefits are from NYC (good news/bad news)
HSS - Hospital for Special Surgery nurses are not covered by a union and they seem happy
Start a spreadsheet and add to it - put Human Resource contacts, etc. Much of this info you can find on the Internet.
Find the job then worry about the housing. Finding a decent, affordable apartment is a nightmare that doesn't happen overnight so you should think in terms of temporary living for awhile. Then you can try to live near where you work. I save a fortune in transportation costs because I can walk to work.

thank you for all the advise, regarding all of the union/ non-union stuff, how would i look into something like that? i work at a non-union hospital in boston and i love it and i know some that work at union ones and hate it (i know its a diff state). i was mostly looking into the big hospitals because i work at one now so i never looked outside of the big ones, im going to apply to a bunch and take my chances with what i get. thank you for all of the help

herowneulogy, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2011

You got Bronx right ... but I would re-check the gender symbol next to my username if I were you ...

My own biases working against me, in assuming that you were a female nurse. Forgive me ;p

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2011

My own biases working against me, in assuming that you were a female nurse. Forgive me ;p

Oh, all right .. I forgive you :hug: ... after all, you are a Bronx girl ... you are a girl, right?

Guest27531 · Jan 30, 2011

Union vs non-union is sometimes a matter of political or personal preference, sometimes a matter of preferred benefits. When I first started I had no preference. I feel fortunate today that the hospital where I spent most of my career was a union (NYSNA) hospital because I was able to retire from full-time employment with a full pension at a young age. Now I can work for an agency (or wherever else) and have more freedom with vacation scheduling. There are nurses I have known for years working in a non-union hospital and, although they have a retirement fund, it is limited by the amount of money saved over the years (contribution-defined) so they must continue working for many more years to be sure they have enough to last the rest of their lives. My pension is benefit-defined so it will last for the rest of my life (in addition to my regular elective retirement plan that I contributed to every payday which is likely to run out at some point if I live very long). These kind of pension plans are disappearing in this country but they are still available with some union jobs in nursing. Another benefit is that the union negotiates all salary and working conditions and provides job security in case of lay-off.

I also worked for the VNS. The nurses were (I hope still are) represented by the NY State Teachers Association and that union did the same things as NYSNA, also in a professional way. (There are other unions I am less familiar with, such as 1199, but they are not considered "professional" by some nurses. That is, they may be strong worker advocates but it may not be patient-centered. NYSNA tends to be patient-centered.)

I also worked for New York Hospital (now New York Presbyterian) which is non-union. The pay scale is competitive and the nurses there were (I hope still are) very happy that they are non-union. I don't recall the nature of their retirement plan but it is, likely, a 401K-type fund that has hospital contribution.

There are advantages and disadvantages to working in both situations. It's good to know something about it. One obvious disadvantage in a union hospital is that you must pay union dues and they are going up all the time. One of the advantages is that the union negotiates compensation so you often get the best "total" package but what is "best" for one person may not be best for another. I know one nurse who is working in an NYSNA hospital and she has absolutely no need for any of their benefits. She doesn't need medical, dental, education, pension. She is a foreign-born nurse and will be leaving before she is vested so pension won't even apply. She has everything else she needs from her husband's employer. So, you need to see what's right for you.