Pros
-The hospital is a community hospital, run by comity elected by the city of Kirkland, WA -RN resident program is great, it's a year-long and they really make sure you feel comfortable before taking patients on your own -Nurse educators are amazing and great resources -Unit managers care a lot and want to see you succeed -Culture is pretty solid, we all want to see each other do well -Union is strong -Facility is beautiful, with private rooms for patients -Break rooms are nice -Incentive pay is offered frequently -Very welcoming to travelers -A "code lavender" was created that you could call if you as a staff member required emotional support after a challenging event
Cons
-Lower pay than other hospitals on the east side, and far less than nurses working in Seattle -New residents sign a contract for 1 year on the floor they're hired on and 1 additional year at the hospital or pay a fine -Staffing ratios are 1:5 on days and 1:6 on nights -Holiday pay is only for 8 hours of your shift that occur within the holiday (because we previously had 8-hour shifts and after we moved to 12s it was never changed) -Upper management is out of touch with the day-to-day issues staff face -Staffing is poor, we're constantly being asked to pick up -Unit managers are expected to do so much that they become burnt out quickly -Lots of safety issues with aggressive/ abusive patients (mostly in ED and on 8 Silver) -No panic buttons in rooms -No dedicated behavioral health unit -One psychiatrist for the entire hospital that only works day shift