Thursday, July 10, 2008

Need an opinion......or many

Well, the good news is I was offered another position at a closer hospital. The bad news is that I still have no real information about nearly every aspect of said position because, for whatever reason, Willamette Falls (WF) is being incredibly secretive about it. Perhaps I didn't impress upon the HR representative enough that I would like to make a decision soon and need tangible information to do so. Instead, I get a benefits summary from them that pretty much states I REALLY wanted to post some actual information about both jobs and then elicit some opinions, but instead I am left with very little basis for comparison.

What I know now:

Salem:
3-12hr shifts (7pm-7:30am)
Position: cardiac telemetry (high acuity and specialization)
Nurse/Patient ratio: goal is 1 to 4
Pay rate= $1.01/per hour more than WF
Differential = $5.01/per hour for working nights (18%), $5.85/hr weekend nights (21%)
Insurance cost= $43.00/medical, $7.90/dental, $3.00/vision - monthly total= $53.90
Driving distance = 50 miles additional a week
Paid time off: 23 days a year (plus two additional floater days every anniversary)
Retirement: 0% year 1, 5.5% years 1-4 with escalations periodically thereafter

Willamette Falls
5-8hr shifts (11pm-7:30am)
Position: Medical/Surgical (higher variety, lower acuity)
Nurse/Patient ratio: goal is 1 to 5 or 6 at night
Pay rate = $1.01 less per hour, but increases by 7% year 2
Differential = despite my repeated requests, no information provided
Insurance costs = WF pays a percentage of insurance costs (there was a scene in the Simpsons I remember when Lisa was visiting the headquarters of a newspaper on a field trip and poses the following query after reading a sign saying a percentage of the newspaper is printed on recycled materials: Lisa "what percentage is recycled?" Newspaper woman "Zero. Zero is a percentage." Makes me wonder what percentage is covered when no information is given.)
Driving distance = 50 miles less per week, but more overall days of commuting
Paid time off: 24 days a year
Retirement: 1-4% (another vague figure)

Neither job is exactly what I want to do, but the jobs that I want to do aren't, at this point in my nursing career, possible. So, in the meantime, it is all about getting some experience.

I would love to hear any opinions. i know there really isn't enough information to make a fair comparison (think how I feel trying to decide between them). Please drop me a comment if you have one (I now allow anonymous comments........unbeknownst to me, I didn't before. So please, comment away).

1 comment:

Rose City Mama said...

Personally, I would much rather work 3 twelve hour shifts over 5 eight hour shifts. It would be nice to have 4 days off a week! But I have a different situation than you do right now with baby.

I guess you should just go with your gut on this...you aren't planning on being with either place permanently, right? So really it's just about gaining experience for now. Which hospital seemed nicer, cleaner, staff happier? Good luck!