working where you get your own medical care?

[OrangeSN]

I'm curious to know how nurses feel about working in the same hospital network where they get their own medical care. Any reason to avoid?

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I did have my son at the hospital I worked at. I was very comfortable. I didn't know the OB staff and they didn't know me. I usually go to that same hospital now for care. I have gone to my hospital ER before for a leg injury and such. My records are in the system so it makes it easier.

[Katie71275]

I work 45miles from where I live so I go to my local hospital....however, I work in L&D and I would prob not go there for laboring if I had a choice..b/c I would be embarrassed to have my coworkers see me that way!!

[TerpGal02, ASN]

I use outpatient services where I work. Maybe its a terrible idea, I don't know. I have bipolar d/o and I work at a free standing psych hospital that has outpt services. I have my psychiatrist and therapist through them. Really the only competent game in town. My therapist is off site so no one knows me there. My pdoc on the other hand sees adolescent inpts in the morning. Some adults too and takes call for adults. So we see eachorher often. I rarely have to get orders from him though. He was my pdoc before I started here and I will hold on like grim death to keep him as my pdoc.

I have had terrible luck with psychiatrists in the past. Mostly inept or dismissive that overmedicated me. I was misdiagnosed all my adult life. My c pdoc properly dx me on our first meeting. I am on less medication (but the right kind) and I have never felt better. He treats me very professionallyon the off chance we do have significant interaction at work, and he listens to me when I make suggestions with patients.

[monkeybug]

I delivered in the L&D where I worked, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I got the absolute best care for my baby and me because these were my friends. I knew the doc very well, knew how he practiced, and he knew me and liked me. A big benefit of the personal relationship? He came in on a night he was NOT on call to deliver me because I was a "special" patient. All the nurses I worked with delivered there, and we all got the extra special treatment from the docs (coming in on off days to care for us, having their personal cell numbers and home numbers) and the other nurses. I'm probably going to do bariatric surgery in the near future, and I will do it in the same facility. I no longer work there, but I know the anesthesia staff very well, and so I know what kind of care I'll get.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I prefer to go where people don't know me. I don't want to work with people who have seen me naked. I would find it hard to maintain a professional relationship with someone who has done things to me, like inserted a foley, etc. My deductibles are cheaper at my place of employment, but as long as I can pay for it, I'll go somewhere else.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I have done both....I will tell you that while I was working I found going to the hospital where I worked was not a good idea.....I had a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis that they didn 't "know" about......I didn't work there for very long after they found out.

When I had my babies there I was well cared for so it depends on what you arr having done or what is wrong with you.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I wouldn't go to my own facility for psychiatric care. It's a shame because it's an awesome facility, and if I were to ever be 5150-ed, I'd want to be involuntarily detained here. But then I would not feel comfortable working alongside the staff that was now privy to my every psychological and physiological issue.

Fortunately, I have other options to choose from should I ever need psych care.

And speaking as the healthcare provider, I wouldn't want to take care of my coworkers either if I could help it. Basically, I agree with everything that BlueDevil said...I just don't need to know that much about my coworkers and would prefer to maintain those boundaries.

[OCNRN63, RN]

I worked in an outpatient facility that belonged to the hospital, so there were times I needed to get care (hydration, venofer, etc.) after I was dx. with cancer. I'm a private person, but it was nice to have my co-workers drop in after my surgery to visit for a bit.

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

I have mixed feelings about it... I haven't needed to use many of our network services, thank goodness (I'm in relatively good health, not because they're bad or anything) and when I hurt my back at work and went to the ED they were super nice. However sometimes I just want to be treated like the next patient and get explanations that, as a nurse, they assume you already know.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

i guess it depends what you wre being seen for and some insurances and hospital metworks you dont have much if a choice unless you can pay tons out of pocket. I have gone to see a few specialists but since I work nights in a teaching hospital I didn't know any of those attendings. Most seemed very nice and thorough once they found out I worked at the hospital. It is pretty much the only hospital in town so for an emergency you are out of luck unless it isn't that emergent and you can drive a couple of hours... sometimes it seems too close for comfort , but it gets to the point where you just want to be treated and I don't care who sees or knows what as long as they can help me and are professional

[blueheaven]

I didn't mind going to either acute hospital in my hometown. I went to nursing school at one and worked at the other, so there were a number of people I knew from both of them. If I needed to make an ER visit, I called to see which one was on trauma call and what MDs were working in the ER. Both hospitals are level 1 trauma centers and they take turns with traumas. If #1 was on trauma, I would go to #2 and vice versa.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I would be treated where I work only if I was directly admitted. I would not go through the ED, where I used to work. Many of the people I worked with were alright, but a few people I worked with make the prospect of going to the ED odious. I would not want to be cared for by them.