Pros
The staff work together to get the job done the best that they can given that the administration has made the job impossible. The staff really does care about the quality of care. ADNs can still get a job working at Kindred without being treated worse than BSNs.
Cons
3 patients per RN in a 13 bed ICU with no support staff. One RT that moves between the floor and ICU to manage vents. The 4 RNs do total patient care from bed baths to titrating drips which doesn't even leave time to chart. Ancient computer system. Ancient equipment. Not even beds with scales in an ICU. We have to lift them on scale while trying to keep the vent and drips running. High deductible health insurance. No 401K match. No pay raises. They claim self scheduling but you never get the schedule you put in for. I get audited once or twice a shift by one of the following: Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nursing Supervisor, Nurse Manager, Infection Control Nurse, Quality Control, or senior administration (CNO, CEO, ACEO). I knew it was a bad job the day that there were 5 people in the unit auditing the 4 of us that work there. It must be really easy to come in to a unit where the staff is drenched in sweat, alarms going off everywhere, no one has had a break and complain about being late to chart hourly vital signs. True story. August 20th the 4 RNs and 1 RT walk in at 7 to be told that we have to do an emergency chest tube. The Physician is on the way. We have another patient having a seizure. We have to manually count narcotics (no pixis) and get report. The Physician arrives at 7:30 deals with the seizing patient and by 9 PM has the chest tube in. All patients are finally stable. No charting or meds passed yet. At 9:15 a manager shows up to tell us we had mandatory hour long training at 10 and we needed to send 2 nurses. Then proceeds to audit us finding problems in rooms we haven't even had the chance to spend time in. We get everyone turned, get the vents checked and get vitals in the computer. At 10 send 50% of the staff to training. Still not sure how 8 o'clock med pass got done because ICU patients get a lot of meds... Staff member returns at 11 to be called to the office to be written up for not keeping to the 2 hour turn schedules. Our incompetence is causing bed sores. If you interview for an RN position, ask them what the turn over rate is as everyone I work with is actively looking for a new job. That should be the best indicator of what you are getting yourself into.
