Rating Hospitals for Traveler Friendliness

Now that we have a few hospitals under our belts we think it's fair to rate them for the experience we had while at each facility.

The grades given are strictly our impression and are a cumulative grade considering the following:

Length of orientation
Quality of orientation and training
Management quality
Facility physical quality
Employee attitude towards travelers
Employee helpfulness
Fairness of floating or assignment workload
Policies
Ease of doing the job efficiently; computers vs paper charting

Novant Healthcare in North Carolina rates a B-.  Orientation was thorough. It's a massive hospital with 950 beds, so it took about 2 shifts just to learn the way from the parking lot to the unit.  Patient charting was done by hand on a six page form - a challenge for any traveler. In 2014 they would begin to convert to EPIC.

Tarzana Medical Center in California. This facility rates a solid C.  No orientation was given as the floor was too busy and short-staffed to afford the time to orientate.  Floating travelers, low census, an unremodeled, small unit, and changed scheduling were common.  I did receive EPIC training while there as a conversion was underway.

Menomonee Falls in Wisconsin rates an A.  Training was excellent, unit was brand new and spacious, the staff was all around helpful, knowledgeable, nurses here were truly patient focused, and patient assignment fair.  They use EPIC.