High turnover due to mediocre pay, breakneck changes, and clumsily implemented new systems
Pros
The clinicians and the staff that I work with on a day-to-day basis are top notch. Almost everyone seems to be in the profession for the right reasons (e.g. they are caregivers and want to touch lives). Intermountain has great computer-based training modules and puts a big emphasis on on-going training. The hospital food is fantastic and very healthy. RNs and staff who work there are willing to help, when they are not overburdened themselves.
Cons
I started as a new grad at Intermountain during a time of great transition. Half of the hospital was traveling RNs, so I was essentially trained by travelers, though that has now changed. There was widespread pandemonium and confusion during the iCentra (Intermountain's version of Cerner) rollout. The system continues to be very clumsy, unfriendly, and is beta at best. A lot of the travelers remarked how much more complicated iCentra was than Cerner out-of-the-box. I sense that this software will be a millstone around Intermountain's neck sapping resources and frustrating clinicians and RNs for years to come. The turn-over on my floor is epic. Unfortunately this high turnover doesn't have the effect of forcing an improvement in working conditions because there is always a new crop of RN grads right around the corner looking for a foot in the door and Intermountain is the only game in town. Almost anyone who can go to another unit has done so, or out of state. But many have ties here, or a mortgage, so they shoulder on and look to jump to less burdensome unit. There is no real tenure on my floor because the turn-over is so high. Anyone coming to work on our unit should know that workload is now about 30% higher than when I started. The problem is that there was never 30% slack in my day before the change, so everyone is looking to cut corners where they can, but still trying to avoid getting called out. It reminds me a bit of the Wells Fargo fake account scandal: impossible standards are being held up as the goal in the current environment. Be careful if you speak out because even constructive criticism risks put a target on your back. Without hesitation I would say that the biggest problem has been unjustifiably increasing patient ratios for RNs and CNAs without the excess capacity that for the staff to absorb the increased workload. A lot of the staff is getting chippy, edgy, and frustrated because we continue to have mandatory on-call shifts month after month. My phone gets multiple texts a week announcing RN shortages and asking for volunteers to come in. Aides and RNs bite their tongue during staff meetings in which they are taken to task for late clock-outs or missing some new procedure or protocol of dozens that were changed within the week. Management refuses to acknowledge the fact that the systems and operations frequently make it impossible to get everything done according to protocol. The buzzword "time management" is thrown out as the solution to all problems. The last 5 times I've worked I've never been able to take a lunch. I dread going into work, actually. This is actually quite sad, because I have such meaningful experiences with my patients, but I have to finish out my contract hours because I signed a new residency agreement.
