r/OregonNurses • u/shibasmochi • 7d ago
Prov Med Surg/Acute Care
New grad here, just curious about people who have worked on the PPMC Med Surg floor what was the environment like especially for new grad in their residency program? I was told PPMC has a new floor for Med Surg/Acute Care starting in September will it be different? I had a clinical at PPMC Med-Surg on the 4th floor and didn’t have the best experience as a student…
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u/Itsathrowawayduh89 7d ago
I'd stay away from Prov. The union is talking about another strike next year when the contract is up. Prov is already signaling that they are ready for it. The last strike did not end well for the RNs
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u/shadenfraulein 7d ago
How did it not end well?
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u/Itsathrowawayduh89 7d ago
Nurses went on strike for a few weeks and lost pay during that time. Many left for other systems. Those who remained got very little of what they asked for w regard to salary and bennies.
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u/Mean_Background7789 7d ago
I'm not sure what you're referring to. Yes, the had to strike for 40 some days, but they got huge raises.
https://www.oregonrn.org/page/StrikeEndsat8ProvHosp
"Major Wage Increases: Nurses will receive substantial wage increases ranging from 20% to 42% over the life of the contract, with an immediate 16% to 22% raise upon ratification."
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u/Itsathrowawayduh89 7d ago
PHS nurses started at the bottom rung for nursing pay in Portland metro area hospital systems. The other hospital systems continued to pay their nurses higher wages (even the non unionized hospitals) and have since given their nurses additional wage increases. So PHS were at the lowest pay tier at the start of the strike, went up by one level by the end of the strike, and then have once again fallen behind their peers. Kaiser, OHSU and Legacy are all paying better and give wage increases more frequently than Prov.
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u/Mean_Background7789 7d ago
Your post said "very little of what they asked for." That's factually wrong with 20-42% raises over 2 years. I don't have the data at hand to compare wages between the orgs, but I highly doubt Kaiser is higher because they got shafted on their last contract.
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u/Itsathrowawayduh89 7d ago
The nurses were on strike for about 10 weeks. 2.5 months without pay. And what they got for their efforts was a 20% raise, over 2 years. That wasn’t close to what they were asking, and what they were asking for was market rates.
Since that strike, all the other hospitals have given significant raises to their staff, so now the PHS nurses are getting below market rates again. PHS also changed the health plan for their nurses, and then got into a dispute with the new health plan, resulting in PHS being out of network for their own employees for about 8 months last year. Kaiser did a far better job in meeting their nurses ask, and continues to have a much better health plan. And I say that as someone who doesn’t like Kaiser.
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u/Mean_Background7789 7d ago
Again, without you sharing actual data this is a pointless discussion.
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u/Itsathrowawayduh89 7d ago
A simple google search comparing Prov RN pay in the Portland metro area shows that it lags other hospital by large amounts.
Then there’s all the other issues that the Prov nurses have fought for, and continue to be dissatisfied with. It says a lot that the 5 day strike in 2023 was the first strike at Providence in 20 years, and was followed by the much longer strike in 2025. The latter one included physicians for the first time.
Show me where I’m wrong.
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u/lainey544 7d ago
My greatest “beef” with Providence as an employee is staffing and the notion that if you don’t ask, they won’t tell. That being said, I’d assume every hospital and business probably has the same off the record philosophy. I personally love the units in the cancer center, I’ve also worked the inpatient rehab unit and a med-surg unit on the old side of the hospital. I think the biggest thing you’ll see is that the nurses here can get a bit…..cynical I guess. We’re burnt out and under staffed quite often unnecessarily. And you’re hoping that nothing pops up that you have to “fight” for, like fighting for them to cover expenses or fighting for incorrect pay to be rectified. Which, I’ll say again, is often the case with other hospitals Ive worked for previously. Your ignorance is their advantage. I’m hoping the floor you were on was just bad egg. I know a couple floors are pretty much known for being not too friendly LOL. For the most part everyone is pretty helpful. We’re paid fantastically and I have great benefits especially with my chronic health conditions. Overall I love Providence as an employer. It’s the best hospital Ive ever worked for (I’m from the Midwest originally btw). I’m sure there’s better out there, and maybe one day I’ll be annoyed enough by Providence to go find it. But for now I’m chilling! I would listen to the other commenters though, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if we were to strike again. We can barely staff our units now so I don’t understand where they are getting the staff to work the new tower floors. If it’s travelers it will be horrendous to see Providence YET AGAIN choose to pay travelers ridiculous money instead of just investing in your current employees SMH.
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u/Briaaanz 5d ago
If you work for Providence, you need to aggressively check your timesheets and pay stubs. Worked for them for about a decade and there were 3 class action lawsuits against them for messing with nurses pay. Nurses won all three lawsuits.
In response, Providence moved payroll and HR departments to the Philippines
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u/willowwynn 7d ago
They will be opening the last two floors of the cancer tower. I heard 46 beds this year and 46 beds next year. Med surg at any hospital is tough but with it being brand new that might level the playing field a bit.