UC San Diego Health Reviews

Pros

Love UCSD it's benefits and what they do for they offer the community. Research and innovation in healthcare is a pillar of the organization.

Cons

Sexual harassment claims: During the 6 years of employment at Lifesharing, I heard of at least 3 sexual harassment claims. All of them were handled quietly. At no point was additional training required of certain teams that may have had these issues happen on multiple occasions. Instead it was stated in staff meeting on each occasion that the staff could go to leadership or call the employment whistleblower hotline number if employees felt they need further assistance in the matter. My previous 6 years at UCSD with another department - 0 harassment claims made at that was with over 500 staff members. HR complaints: the department has had several HR complaints. Too many for me to even count and mine was 1 of them. Again no changes have been made to the leadership structure at Lifesharing. No additional training. No restructuring. No investigation. Mishandling of funds: each year Girl Scout cookies are purchased for our hospital development team to distribute to our partners to thank them. Guess who we buy these cookies from, a leader's girl scout troop The amount purchased had given the individual’s child several opportunities and prizes. Several other employees also have Girl Scouts and cookies could have been purchased from those troops as well. Instead all cookies were purchased from 1 troop. Marketing material purchased: are purchased unilaterally with no budget or communication with other staff members about what is needed vs wanted. Purchases are made based on the mood of leadership. Again purchasing practices are scattered and all over the place. If there is a budget it is not discussed with team members involved in marketing efforts. Payroll issues: several instances of changing policies regarding the pay of certain groups of staff members have been an issue. Each group is paid differently depending on several factors (union, team, pay structure) and this information has not been made transparent to the staff. Rules are enforced selectively. If an individual is favored by leadership, they are allowed to break or bend certain policies. Not everyone in the department in held to the same standard. If questions are asked by the staff regarding payroll there is never a clear answer. Use of leave discrimination. Same as above. Preferential treatment is given to employees that are liked. Attendance to conferences - leadership and a select few staff members are allowed to attend conferences annually while others in the department are not given the same educational opportunities. It is the same group of individuals each year. I was allowed to attend only 1 conference in my 6 years as an employee at Lifesharing. Advancement plans: again only certain members of the department are given an opportunity. There have been individuals in the department with 10+ years of experience that are not given an opportunity to advance because of their standing with leadership (negative). If you disagree then you are not going to be able to advance. Several internal employees have applied for positions to advance but are not taken into consideration because of their standing with leadership. Nepotism: Lifesharing has had several complaints regarding nepotism within the department. Individuals without the proper experience or education are placed in positions of leadership because of their relationship with members in leadership. Family members without experience or training are constantly hired. Research is nonexistent: For several years I have worked to encourage staff members to write abstracts to conferences and to work at getting published. As a research university this should be a standard of excellence within the department. Because I am not a leader or a manager I could only encourage...Leadership should also provide tools to the staff to accomplish this. Yet there is no research conducted. We provide tissue to other researchers but Lifesharing should be leading the way in innovation in organ procurement. Lifesharing should be writing for grants: One of the statements made to me by leadership " we don’t apply or write grants because the University gets too much of the money." It’s pointless. Grants are more than just about receiving funding. It also establishes an opportunity to build research and relationships with outside organizations and to develop innovation in the field. It empowers the staff to work towards improvement because they are part of something they worked hard to earn. Instead staff is forced to participate in performance improvement tasks that leadership takes credit for.

Pros

Benefits (medical, dental and vision), HSA, retirement and employee discounts. Overall the University of California is a progressive research-based system with talented medical staff and researchers.

Cons

Unfortunately each UC system is different and San Diego struggles. Morale is low across the board. Consistency in mission, professionalism and high turnover are a few of their downfalls. Steer clear of the clerical branch of the Department of Emergency Medicine. Managed by unprofessional and unethical managers (happen to be family members). HIGH turnover speaks for itself.

Pros

Large scientific community, great infrastructure, and facilities

Cons

Limited and expensive parking, confusing map directions