registered practical nurse

registered nurse

registered nurse - emergency room

registered nurse - icu

ward clerk

Guelph General Hospital

- Staff are overworked, under paid, and under appreciated. Management gives great lip service but won’t take action and provide staff with what they really need (I.e. mental health days, an increase in vacation, an increase in pay, sufficient benefits, wellness budget, more staff, proper equipment, etc). Burnout and compassion fatigue is high and retention is low but instead of addressing the root problems they either ignore it and hopes it goes away or tries to bandaid fix it which only lasts for the short term. 
- The benefits are subpar considering working in a hospital is physically, emotionally and mentally difficult. You want to see a therapist to help with your emotional and mental health - you better be prepared to pay out of pocket. You want to see a physiotherapist or registered massage therapist on a relatively consistent basis, well you need to get a physicians referral and even then the insurance company will only allow you a couple of visits before they determine you don’t need it anymore. 
- Want to move up in your career? Well you better be the nephew of the CEO or good friends with the VP of patient services. They won’t hire or promote people that are the most qualified or best fit for the position. 
- Staff aren’t properly trained for their positions which results in poor team work and patient care. Again, instead of addressing the problem management just ignores it. Management asks for feedback but when it is given they don’t implement any of the feedback. 
- They hired a wellness person who runs a couple of workshops on deep breathing and how to sleep better. They could have taken that money and put it towards better pay for employees, better benefits, more staff on the floor, or more vacation. 
- The culture has become unbelievably toxic and negative but it was only a matter of time. Employees can only take so much of being under appreciated, understaffed and ignored before they break. 

Report in as team in team report room. Review patient assignment on board. Team leader chooses our assignment.

Some days patient load is 4 mothers and 4 newborns. Nursing care to mother, self care, teach baby care, teach breast feeding, teach baby bath classes.

In a combined care unit post partum and labor and delivery are on the same unit. There fore if my mothers were doing okay, I would go and help with the patient and nurse in a delivery. Emotional support to mother and father. When a baby is born I usually did the initial assessment of the newborn  and helped put baby to breast. If the baby was doing poorly at that initial assessment then I transferred that baby to special care nursery and gave report.

Helping clean mother after birth, administering pain meds.

Our operating room was on the same floor so when a mother who is in labor has an issue or baby is doing poorly in utero, I was part of the team that prepared the OR for a Ceasarean Section and I scrubbed and circulated in the OR. Also dealt with father's emotions at that time. Responsibility to call the Dr. and assistant and 
anethnetist together for the C-Section.

Taught pre and post natal classes in the Guelph community

Taught nursing students in their college and university obstetrical rotation.

Recorded charted in computer. Discussed issues with Dr.

Multidisciplinary team is unique on this unit.

Administration of medication for mothers and baby. Use of epidurals and pumps with oxytocin and IV administration. 



Simply put, the medicine program (4E/W) at the Guelph General Hospital is not what it once was! The culture has become toxic and as a result the turnover of staff is astronomical. There is a culture of fear and intimidation. Management is well aware of the concerns but fail to address the issues that have made GGH unbearable. At one time it was a wonderful place to work, with an amazing team! Lately, the constant working short staffed, lack of supports and understanding from management, and the culture have created an unpleasant work environment to say the least. I really feel for the new staff and the patients there! 

Busy start to the workday especially with the Day Surgery Clinic. Hardest part of the job was in the timeframes for one person when the Day Surgery Clinic was busy and there were urgent orders throughout the rest of the hospital at the same time--prioritizing which of the 3 directions you are pulled in (which is again, in Healthcare not a surprise).  the amount of inefficiency with ECGs needing to be printed out, filed, alphabetized, and entered into Meditech for Doctors to read. Stacks of charts pile up fast. Most enjoyable part of the job was the people. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Small hospital with lots of friendly staff.  A feeling of family 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of parking spaces.  Old building with small hallways that makes for a busy area.
Seeing patients in the hallways because of lack of space for rooms.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s a family friendly environment that’s accepting of all cultures and religions.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very Busy which is expected in any health care industry.

Lots of lip service on inclusion and diversity when you are being hired! As long as you don’t expect a warm and welcoming work environment, you should be good! Have heard about ex-employees struggling to “fit-in” and leaving eventually! If you think it can’t be that bad, you’re in for a surprise!! 

Survival lesson: just do your hours and get the pay check. Have a tough skin not to allow any of this to get to you!

There are some coworkers who are nice (can’t say the same for the “ladies who have been at the hospital forever”) 

The only good thing is the satisfaction you get from helping patients!

DO NOT RECOMMEND this place to anyone who values their dignity and mental health! As an immigrant, I've worked at several hospitals in Ontario but never experienced anything like this before! The supervisors are either fish in a small pond (and do not have the basic skills to be welcoming) or straight out TOXIC! I should have walked out at the very first red flag (and believe me they are very noticeable) but stuck around hoping for things to change! There are plenty of other places that have way better work environment! Do yourself a favour and look for a job elsewhere!! 

In my honest opinion, while I don't want to completely discourage anyone from applying (most of my coworkers are amazing to work with), I do want to say that management is one of the largest problems we have. They don't realize how many people they are driving away, we are on the brink of becoming critically short staffed (more so than we are now) with a couple more people considering leaving. People are getting to a point they are tired of having to work under them and management overestimates people's loyalty to staying.

This hospital is small (200 beds or so) and is very quaint. The pharmacy department is a 30 employees or so, where the attitude between pharmacists and technicians is friendly and jovial.  As NAPRA standards come in to play, this hospital is due for some major overhauls in its sterile procedure space and may be under construction in the future.  CPOE, EMAR and bar coding all to be established starting in early 2019.

My job is busy, and sometimes difficult, but working with my co-workers makes everyday really enjoyable.  GGH isn’t perfect but they want to create a culture that’s really team oriented and something staff can be proud of and I applaud that!  You also have the opportunity to make a real difference in the life of patients and families who are not well and may be struggling and that’s something really special.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Registered practical nurse 41 salaries reported	$38.17 per hour
Registered nurse 59 salaries reported	$48.15 per hour
Registered nurse - emergency room 25 salaries reported	$48.73 per hour
Registered nurse - icu 9 salaries reported	$47.91 per hour
Ward clerk 11 salaries reported	$29.31 per hour

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