Pros
I love my team. My specific workgroup is amazing. The Riverside mission - to care for others as we would our loved ones - is truly at the core of what we do. We feel very rewarded & a lot of job satisfaction. My commute is easy & close to home. I'm near my kids in case of an emergency. I value that peace of mind. I have seen positive changes in upper leadership over the past 18 months or so. There seems to be a genuine interest in the well being of team members. Work/life balance is being addressed in my workgroup.
Cons
I have seen some "mean girl" attitudes from other leaders in other units that have been in their roles for a very long time. Will a polite hello & smile hurt you? I'm not sure what that's about. However, for the most part, we are a small town community hospital & there are a lot of team members who have been here for many years that are friendly. The pay is not the best. The pay for performance yearly increases are usually very small. I've seen a trend where team members (nurses) job hop every year or two & with every change their pay goes up quite a bit. Yet I stay committed to my position for the past 5 years and am making quite a bit less than my counterparts who bounce around. Maybe I'm the fool in this situation... Finally, I have concerns about how nurses are treated. Yes, it's a tough role. Yes, sacrifice is part of it. But the lack of trust between management & floor nurses is bad. Rotating shifts are not healthy. Please stop requiring this of nurses. It certainly works for management to require rotating shifts - but it certainly doesn't work for most nurses. Also, 1 nurse to 10 patients on a Med/surg unit is never okay. Even if this scenario "only happens every now & then" - it's not okay. Even if this scenario "only happens with low acuity patients." Still NOT OKAY. A nurse cannot safely & compassionately care for 10 patients at the same time in an acute care setting.
