Working at Seattle Children's

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi all, 

I just accepted an offer to work at Seattle Children's (Feb 2024 new grad residency). I don't know anyone who works there, and would love to hear a current or former employees thoughts about everything- hospital in general, staffing, orientation/residency info, culture, perks, drawbacks, anything you can think of! I appreciate any input, thank you!

BSNPROSPECTS said:

And my advice for applying (to any job) is being well prepared! Know their mission and values, know the unit (SCH NICU focuses on cardiac more). Some appraisal I got from interviews / recruiters apart from my unique history and skills is how well prepared I was about the unit and hospital and how I was able to be socialable. Times where I didn't have answer to a question, I'd say "can you please repeat that one more time" or "that's a great question, please give me a second to think about my response". I prepared intensely for interview questions and responses by doing a lot of research on interviews. 

YES! I said "that's a great question" or "I love this question" at least 2-3 times & if I needed an extra few seconds to answer I would also ask them to repeat it & if I could take a minute to think about what to say. I actually didn't get any feedback from them yet LOL, but I won't formally accept the offer until tmrw. I'd really love to form a facebook group, What's App, or big group chat for everyone in our cohort, & maybe a smaller one for NICU/PICU/CVICU. Anybody know anyone else who was accepted? I know they're continuing to interview people, & the app is technically still open till the 29th so maybe it's a little early. 

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Specializes in NAR / Pre-nursing.

Nicole, 

Yea those lil interview interventions are definitely the go too! I also asked similar questions! I didn't get an offer at interviews with children's, my offer that I accepted is at UWmedicne! My interview experience with SCh was great, they just said I was a great fit but there just such a limit on that units reaidency for feb24 and experienced nurses were also in the application pool. I don't know anyone who will be in your cohort but I have several friends from school who work there and did my clinicals there! It's a great place and they put high value on inter staff bonding so I'm sure they have a group out there! But I can message you my socials for NICU lil group! I don't yet know any new grad NICU nurses! I also lived here my whole life so if you want any tips with Seattle, I can definitely share! 

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BSNPROSPECTS said:

Nicole, 

Yea those lil interview interventions are definitely the go too! I also asked similar questions! I didn't get an offer at interviews with children's, my offer that I accepted is at UWmedicne! My interview experience with SCh was great, they just said I was a great fit but there just such a limit on that units reaidency for feb24 and experienced nurses were also in the application pool. I don't know anyone who will be in your cohort but I have several friends from school who work there and did my clinicals there! It's a great place and they put high value on inter staff bonding so I'm sure they have a group out there! But I can message you my socials for NICU lil group! I don't yet know any new grad NICU nurses! I also lived here my whole life so if you want any tips with Seattle, I can definitely share! 

Hey! Yes, I was gonna ask what hospital you go into because I also looked into UW for this cycle, but they aren't offering a new grad program outside of adult acute care & behavioral medicine (if I remember correctly). I'm sure it's equally as competitive up there in the Seattle Area as it is down where I'm at in the Bay Area, just with fewer options I think. I'd love for you to DM me with your socials for the NICU group because I don't know anyone up there at all & haven't been able to find others who will be joining my cohort. I'll also happily take any tips or tricks you have about living in Seattle! ?

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Specializes in NAR / Pre-nursing.

Nicole, 

It is SO competitive here! I was taken by shock but I'm so humbly grateful for the job I got! What I learned from UW, is that they have their acute care residency which are always open (I think) then they have their ICU residency (new grads and experienced nurses) which for the NICU, only happen twice a year (feb & august). They opened this February cohort in October and I got the job offer in November! If I hear any of my nursing friends joining your cohort, I will definitely connect you! 
 

You will love Seattle! Definitely pick the right neighborhood because they're all so different! 

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Could anybody talk about the patient ratios in WA? Specifically for Seattle Children's & the surrounding hospitals? I'm sure there's people on here who came from CA & we have very strong unions & staffing ratios ? sorry, I really just don't know much about nursing culture up in WA & want to find out as much as possible. 

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Specializes in NAR / Pre-nursing.
Nicole Reavis said:

Could anybody talk about the patient ratios in WA? Specifically for Seattle Children's & the surrounding hospitals? I'm sure there's people on here who came from CA & we have very strong unions & staffing ratios ? sorry, I really just don't know much about nursing culture up in WA & want to find out as much as possible. 

Yes! I will say that it's more of my observation from doing clinical / being in the Seattle area, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt! During 95% of my clinicals, the ratios were to standard. I think during my clinicals at children's, there were 2-4 pts in the acute units with the average being 3. My clinicals in the NICU at Swedish were 2 or 3 for the growers and feeders, and 1 or 2 for the critical pts. From what I know, MOST hospitals do a decent job at keeping them to standard. I have seen that there is a pt ratio advocacy law in the makes to be implemented here in Seattle. (https://www.dwt.com/blogs/employment-labor-and-benefits/2023/06/safe-staffing-bill-for-washington-hospitals#:~:text=The new bill seeks to,into law in April 2023.)

 

WA is unionized through WSNA, so you can find all the Union laws here and specific hospital policies (such as SCH)! Here is the website https://www.wsna.org/

There is always breaks too! I hear it's not like that in other states. My opinion is that California and Washington are some of the best states to be a RN in. 

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BSNPROSPECTS said:

Yes! I will say that it's more of my observation from doing clinical / being in the Seattle area, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt! During 95% of my clinicals, the ratios were to standard. I think during my clinicals at children's, there were 2-4 pts in the acute units with the average being 3. My clinicals in the NICU at Swedish were 2 or 3 for the growers and feeders, and 1 or 2 for the critical pts. From what I know, MOST hospitals do a decent job at keeping them to standard. I have seen that there is a pt ratio advocacy law in the makes to be implemented here in Seattle. (https://www.dwt.com/blogs/employment-labor-and-benefits/2023/06/safe-staffing-bill-for-washington-hospitals#:~:text=The new bill seeks to,into law in April 2023.)

 

WA is unionized through WSNA, so you can find all the Union laws here and specific hospital policies (such as SCH)! Here is the website https://www.wsna.org/

There is always breaks too! I hear it's not like that in other states. My opinion is that California and Washington are some of the best states to be a RN in. 

Thank you so much for the links, I'll take a look! Yes, I was very hesitant (& still am) to leave CA because we're so well taken care of here & I've heard horror stories from most other states. But overall, the West Coast def seems like the place to be overall for nursing. I looked up the Seattle Children's staffing plan back from 2022 & it outlined all of the patient to nurse ratios for each unit/department, including ambulatory & urgent care. 2-3:1 was the ratio for the NICU I precepted at in the Bay Area if they were feeder growers/level 2 kids, & level 3 kids or higher were 1-2:1, so that's reassuring to hear that the ratios are pretty much the same. 

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BSNPROSPECTS said:

Yes! I will say that it's more of my observation from doing clinical / being in the Seattle area, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt! During 95% of my clinicals, the ratios were to standard. I think during my clinicals at children's, there were 2-4 pts in the acute units with the average being 3. My clinicals in the NICU at Swedish were 2 or 3 for the growers and feeders, and 1 or 2 for the critical pts. From what I know, MOST hospitals do a decent job at keeping them to standard. I have seen that there is a pt ratio advocacy law in the makes to be implemented here in Seattle. (https://www.dwt.com/blogs/employment-labor-and-benefits/2023/06/safe-staffing-bill-for-washington-hospitals#:~:text=The new bill seeks to,into law in April 2023.)

 

WA is unionized through WSNA, so you can find all the Union laws here and specific hospital policies (such as SCH)! Here is the website https://www.wsna.org/

There is always breaks too! I hear it's not like that in other states. My opinion is that California and Washington are some of the best states to be a RN in. 

Random question, but do they use EPIC for everything? I didn't even think of having to maybe learn a whole new EMR since all I used during school/clinical is EPIC. 

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Specializes in NAR / Pre-nursing.
Nicole Reavis said:

Random question, but do they use EPIC for everything? I didn't even think of having to maybe learn a whole new EMR since all I used during school/clinical is EPIC. 

Yes, everything EPIC! SCH also has really awesome "clinical pathways" that I haven't seen as much and or as organized at other hospitals. It's so helpful! 

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BSNPROSPECTS said:

Yes, everything EPIC! SCH also has really awesome "clinical pathways" that I haven't seen as much and or as organized at other hospitals. It's so helpful! 

Great! Are clinical pathways similar to a clinical ladder? That's what most of the major hospitals here in the Bay Area have & I'd love to be able to progress if SHC has a similar équivalant. 

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Nicole Reavis said:

Great! Are clinical pathways similar to a clinical ladder? That's what most of the major hospitals here in the Bay Area have & I'd love to be able to progress if SHC has a similar équivalant. 

Congrats on your offer! I was doing more research about SCH NICU and stumbled on your page as well because I also accepted a position for the April cohort!! So exciting ? also if you have information I'd love to hear it I've never been to Seattle so a bit nervous for that but excited to land my dream job! 

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Newnurse555 said:

Congrats on your offer! I was doing more research about SCH NICU and stumbled on your page as well because I also accepted a position for the April cohort!! So exciting ? also if you have information I'd love to hear it I've never been to Seattle so a bit nervous for that but excited to land my dream job! 

Hey, glad to see someone else in our cohort ?! What unit did you accept an offer for? I don't have any info on Seattle tbh because I'm moving up there from the Bay Area so we'll both be learning together ?

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