Pros
Serving medically fragile children in a brand new building with tons of supplies and whatever you may need at your disposal. Staff was amazing, wherever you turned, you saw a friend or a friendly face. It had a very unified and family feel. I must say, this is probably the only thing that made this place bearable during the pandemic- the people you meet here. Pay is adequate to above average for the work you are doing, very labor intensive though. It becomes quite routine and more task oriented rather than critical thinking, which is to be expected from a long term setting. This used to be the perfect place to either begin your nursing career or end it. You learn a great amount of technical skills and become very comfortable around tracheostomies, gastric tubes, ventilators, and handling fragile children.
Cons
Staffing. There is a staffing shortage everywhere, but it doesn’t feel like they’re even trying anymore, which can be quite demoralizing and dangerous to staff and the children. Staffing ratios are pretty much cut in half of what they used to be and what they should be in order to provide the excellent care they want us to give these children. They push this agenda that the children and families come first, which is great and all, except when it comes at the expense of your own staff. We are overworked and under appreciated. We are told what we are doing wrong more often than what we are doing right. There is also no incentives to working overtime, we did not see any COVID or hazard pay as we were told it went to supplying us PPE and COVID testing…. But! They are working to build a whole new facility!