Flashes of excellence marred by chronic mediocrity
Pros
Lower than average nurse to patient ratios throughout the hospital. Reasonable attempts to keep up to date with technology. Good equipment. Most nurses are competent and strive to provide great care. The nursing staff are what keep it worth sticking around. The unit level managers really do care about their staff and try to do what they can to improve retention. Non-salary benefits are adequate.
Cons
You really are a number when you're an RN at Gundersen. Members of clinical management once informed us there are three nursing schools nearby and you can easily be replaced if you don't like the way things are. There are no incentives to perform beyond mediocrity aside from being shouldering additional committee/project work. The pay is not competitive (~$5+ an hour deficit) with other organizations that draw nurses from the region like Mayo, UW Health and the Twin Cities organizations. Experience isn't consistently a benefit when you come from another organization in terms of pay. Everyone gets the same raises across the board year after year creating a wage stagnation issue for staff (but a boon for the organization). Problem employees are moved around departments until people stop bringing concerns to management.
