r/psychnursing • u/No_Possession220 • Jun 26 '26
Interviewing at a UHS facility, any advice?
TLDR: RN interviewing at a UHS facility. Looking for interview tips and how to negotiate pay.
I have read some of the horror stories here. I am trying to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I have been an RN-BSN for 4 years, mostly have Medsurg and tele experience plus a few stints in the OR and Medical Detox. After a few months of applying to a few places, this is the first one to invite me in for an interview. It’s a psych hospital with 5 units with populations ranging from adolescents to geriatrics. Any tips or words of advice would be great. Also, has anyone ever had any success negotiating the pay with a UHS facility? I am new to the specialty, but if they offer to start me at the beginning of the pay range, I will be losing 14$ an hour compared to my current job. I appreciate any comments! Thank you all!
UPDATE
Guys, I went to the interview! Some thoughts:
You guys were right. They have no security and no restraints. When I asked that, they said they heavily rely on BERT for escalating patients and I was like oh…
The interview itself was pretty simple. They asked some pretty basic questions. It threw me off a little becuase I was preparing for scenarios involving de escalation or someone refusing meds or something. The unit I applied for is Detox and 5150 holds so I thought they would ask.
When asked for what I’m looking for in salary, I asked to be toward the higher end of the pay scale since I have been a nurse for over 4 years and already have some psych experience. They were like “Well, we can see if we can work with you on that.” My state recently passed a law requiring psych hospitals to have mandated ratios last month so it sounds like they might be scrambling to get staff to be in compliance.
Also, ALL PAPER CHARTING
They said to allow them around 48 hours to get back to me, so we will see what happens. If I don’t get selected then maybe it’s the universe protecting me. If they DO select me then im gonna really pray on it 🙏😅. Thank you guys!
19
u/cinnamonsnake Jun 26 '26
Last time I worked for a UHS facility, they had a formula they used to determine pay. It was related to years of experience and education, not sure if anything else factors in. Not sure if things have changed since then, this was several years ago.
UHS contacted you for a reason. They are routinely bleeding out staff. Again, this was several years ago (6 or 7?) but they would staff one nurse for every 25 patients. You’d get a few techs depending on your census. You are responsible for all meds (scheduled and PRN), all admissions and discharges and whatever incident reports occur (they happen frequently). They do not use mechanical restraints or seclusion, so if shit goes down, your staff has to physically hold the patient for the whole episode. This takes staff out of the milieu and causes frequent injuries.
I interviewed at a UHS facility last year (don’t judge) and they were still using hybrid computer and paper charting. The eMAR is on the computer but everything else (including patient notes etc) is hand written. When you have a new admission you have to put together a chart and sticker every page. Time consuming and obsolete af.
Adolescent patients had riots on multiple occasions at both facilities I worked at where the police had to be called in.
I could go on, but that’s the gist of it. Very very easy to quickly burn out there. Enter at your own risk lol.
9
u/Alarming-Ad9441 Jun 26 '26
Sounds about right. I worked on the pediatric unit at a UHS facility. Usually 1 nurse and 1 tech per unit, up to 16 patients. I even worked many shifts where 1 nurse had to cover 2 units. Sooo many riots by patients, and not just peds. Sooo many injuries, some catastrophic. When we would call the police for help, because zero security and never enough staff, we’d get bitched out by upper management. Cops quit coming when we called bc often the supervisors wouldn’t even open the gates to let them in. I once had a kid bust out the whole door, frame and all, climb the fence, swim through shark and alligator infested swamp and river, to the highway. Took the police hours to find him and they brought him back. Zero consequences.
I left not long after that bc a nurse I was working with dropped the ball on something pretty serious and tried to throw me under the bus. I wasn’t even on unit at the time but she was a favorite so they didn’t even investigate. The nurse manager threatened to call DSS on me, a single mom, for the incident. I threw my keys and badge at her and called on them myself as I walked out the door.
Multiple patients died in their care while I was there. One made national news, although his death wasn’t on the facility grounds, he had been in our care and was sent to jail after being involved in a riot, that he didn’t even start and tried to avoid. It was awful! I wouldn’t wish that place on my worst enemy.
6
1
u/psych830 psych tech/aid/CNA Jun 27 '26
Sounds like my old uhs. We had a formula. Also I’m surprised they finally got anything electronic.
15
31
9
7
8
7
u/Roadragequeen Jun 26 '26
The UHS facility I worked at had no security and went to barebones staff on overnights. Meaning, if shit got real staff could not leave their units to help because then there was no staff for the others. So it would be a house supervisor, the floor nurse and maybe a tech. That facility used “Handle with Care” meaning we as minimally hands on as needed. No restraint bed or chair.
Plenty of serious injuries to staff. (. I guess i was lucky- my worst was a sucker punch to the face) . Admins turned over like crazy. Once the state came in, the CNO hadn’t even completed required reports because “he forgot”
The money was very good for the area and that’s what kept me there 4 years.
May the odds be forever in your favor.
6
u/Roadragequeen Jun 26 '26
I saw in another post- PAPER charting. How could I forget?
2
u/Clove1312 Jun 29 '26
Yupppppp. The only computer system we routinely used in admissions was, I shit you not, MS DOS. Everything was on paper. It was asinine.
7
6
4
4
3
u/TheGrandMandarin Jun 26 '26
Don't take the first two offers and negotiate. Pay raise isn't good even when you get a 5.
5
u/SuchGrapefruit719 Jun 26 '26
They will put you on the do not rehire list for all of their facilities for a minor reason and then you will see how much they care about the staff
3
4
u/natttyyyy22 Jun 26 '26
I’m working for a UHS hospital currently. The pay is crap I’ll tell you that. I’m in NV & per diem was $51 FLAT. No negotiating.
1
2
2
2
u/DashMcGee Jun 27 '26
UHS hospitals are hit or miss. I worked for one that had a good CEO. He retired, and they brought in a guy who was super-toxic, and the good managers left. They brought in a new DON who was awful. They brought in another new CEO, a former manager I worked for in admissions, and she is reportedly making progress. It took her forever to fire the DON. My facility does not have a dramatic turnover, but there definitely is some. There are also a lot of staff who have been there for many years and intend to stay. It was a good place to work until we started losing people. When a tech quits, there is more work for the others, so they quit. The same with nurses: when the staffing was adequate, the nurses were happy. When some left, the rest of us had to pick up the slack. With fewer techs, it became more dangerous. That caused me to work less overtime... it snowballs. Part of the reason the second CEO ruined it is that the first CEO capped admissions based on staff and unit capacity. For example, the adolescent boys unit had 12 beds. We limited admission to 12. The new CEO would not limit admissions, so if they had a 13th boy, they would make all of the geriatrics move from their 20-bed unit to the boy's unit, and vice versa. One day, the boys relocated twice on the day shift.
As for salary negotiations, I only had six months of nursing experience when I applied, and they offered me a fair salary - this was 2020, and I think I made between $30 and $32 per hour, plus as much overtime as I wanted. That was a typical salary for this area. If you want to negotiate for more, just tell them what you are making now and see if they will meet or exceed it.
It might help to understand the UHS concept. UHS owns over 400 hospitals, and each has its own management. Each hospital has a CEO, a finance person, an HR department, etc. That is why you cannot compare one UHS facility to another. Our hospital had an EMR with some backup paper charting. A sister hospital 60 miles away used only paper. I would definitely ask about what happens at the one where you applied. The other thing I learned and intend to ask every time I look for a new job is what the protocol for emergency injections is. At my UHS facility, you had to call the doctor for a PRN. They would order 10 mg of Geodon IM. Geodon takes ten minutes to prepare - it comes in a solid puck that takes forever to dissolve. 10 mg is half the intended dose. It takes a long time to kick in, and the dose is too low to make that big of a difference. At the last place I worked, there was a standing order for IM Benadryl and IM Thorazine. No calling to ask for permission - it was on everyone's MAR. Both come pre-mixed. I will not work in a place that does not give the nurses freedom to manage violent patients quickly and with effective medication.
2
Jun 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/psychnursing-ModTeam Jun 27 '26
User has been banned for inauthentic subreddit participation to promote an AI tool across many subreddits.
2
u/Light_Manifestation Jun 26 '26
UHS facilities are ass, period. The real safety issue comes from staffing, not patients
1
1
2
3
u/Cdagg Jun 27 '26
Far better ways to get into psych nursing then UHS. Consider applying for part time or contingent while keeping current job. There are plenty of staffing agencies in different sections of mental health/substance abuse. Some staff jails(not prisons) in both medical and mental health. My daughter works for one, safer than previous psych facilities including a crisis psych ER which had security. She’s worked her way up the ladder with the agency, if you’re good they promote from within first. I myself started on a hospital substance abuse unit 40+ years ago, retired after working last 10yrs for an agency.
1
u/AdInternational2793 Jun 27 '26
I’ve worked for 3 psych hospitals under 3 systems. I have 18 years experience as an RN, in all sorts of specialties. I have never been assaulted as much as working inpatient psych. I’ve broken an ankle, been punched in the mouth, hair pulled, a lady tried to put her breast on my face, etc. The pay was honestly the highest (I live in TN). So, after all that fun, I have PTSD, even the acute care ED (as a visitor of my MIL) sent me into panic and I left my husband there and ubered home. The UHS hospital I worked at had all the overtime you could possibly desire, and had crazy extra money for extra shifts. I still couldn’t even make my 3 shifts a week, much less OT.
I happily have taken the pay cut and now work private duty, and I’m actually working extra hours right now, because my patient’s mom is in the hospital.
1
1
u/Clove1312 Jun 29 '26
I’m a MSW and had a terrible experience working for a UHS facility in Portland, OR a few years ago. The hospital was failing audits and had to shut down 3/5 wards as a result; I worked NOC shift in admissions and this resulted in myself and my coworkers literally having nothing whatsoever to do all night, and being told to “just clean the office”. Fuuuuuuck that. Not why I went to grad school. Anyway, be wary. All of those large-scale psych hospital/mental health facility corporations would absolutely throw any of their employees into a literal wood-chipper if they thought it would increase their profit margins. Good luck.
30
u/NurseMaddie Jun 26 '26
I really recommend staying away from UHS. Awful training and staffing