Pros
+ICU is all about teamwork. Seriously could not ask for a better set of coworkers, even the travelers. All amazing individuals who excel at their jobs. +The benefits are decent, though I've been denied on health insurance claims for doctors that were in-network per the Anthem website. I also had a med that was repeatedly requesting prior authorization and Anthem couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and let me know it was simply due to the wording of my doctor's script. I went almost a month without my migraine medications because of this and spent over 10 days in a row with a migraine before I finally gave up on waiting and called Anthem to sort it out. I had the med that same day, which is extremely frustrating as I could have had it fixed weeks prior had Anthem communicated the issue to myself or my pharmacy.
Cons
-Management does not care about you or your problems, even if you approach them multiple times asking for help to find a solution. -ICU RNs are constantly floated to other units. Unlike almost every other hospital in the state, Mercy Health - Springfield does not cap the number of patients an ICU nurse is given when floated to stepdown or med/surg. This means that an ICU nurse used to only 2-3 patients can be given upwards of 8 on a med/surg or observation unit. -At one point I was floated to a med/surg unit and 4/5 nurses assigned there that night were floated. 3/4 of the floated nurses were ICU. We were hired to ICU for a reason, not to be abused because the hospital is unable to appropriately staff the other units. I now spend anywhere from 1-2 shifts per pay period (up to a third of my work) being floated to other units. -I was put through several extra classes in order to take on patients with a specific treatment need, such as Targeted Temperature Management and CRRT. It has now been 2 months since my last class and I have yet to be assigned any of these patients, despite there being a need on the unit. I have been told multiple times I am doing great as a nurse, so I have not been given any feedback as to why these patients are not being assigned to me, despite asking for this feedback and reiterating to charges that I can take these patients. Others that sat the same class as myself have been given these patients multiple times. -I eventually applied to another healthcare system for PRN work as our unit was being called off on low census frequently. I was asked by that healthcare system if I would be interested in full time instead of PRN. I accepted and approached 2 different managers, the one for ICU and the one for the stepdown unit we frequently get floated to. While I was told on ICU there were no PRN positions available and that they were very sad to see me go, my followup message inquiring about PRN positions on other units was ignored. My first and only message to the manager of the stepdown unit was completely ignored. It seems that once you have decided to step down from full time, they are no longer interested in you at all. -Apparently, there is a 4-week notice required in order to be eligible for rehire. This is the only hospital or health facility I have ever worked in with this requirement. As a result, I will be utilizing my PTO on my final week, since I only gave 3 weeks notice, which I thought was pretty generous considering I wanted to flip to PRN, not quit altogether. Apparently they aren't as sad to see me go as they claim to be. -Staffing is already completely atrocious with the exodus of several ICU travelers. Once staffing reaches a point that ICU cannot be floated quite as extensively, the rest of the hospital will suffer for it and staffing ratios will get completely out of control once again. -At the moment, they are pretty comfortable floating out half the ICU staff to other units in favor of regularly saddling ICU nurses, especially night shifters, with 3 true ICU patients apiece. There have also been multiple instances of giving a nurse with a CRRT patient more than one patient, which is negligent and irresponsible of management.