registered nurse

technologist

neurologue

psychiatre

quality assurance manager

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

A typical day begins with the embedding of tissues which are processed the night before. The number of blocks varies from day to day with two people embedding tissues on a heavier work day.
There are up to three microtomy stations for us to cut tissues on and at least two of these are in use the entire day. One staff member will begin the immunology stains for the day. Another person will tend to the slides that need to be sent out to the pathologists. A third technologist will begin special stains for the day. There is a morning half-hour break staggered amongst workers. After lunch there is a switch amongst workers and thus a switch to a different bench in the lab - this minimizes fatigue and maintains productivity. Lunch is a half-hour break and, again, is staggered amongst workers. The shifts are either 7-3,7-5,8-16, or 10-6 with the earliest person starting at 6:30 and leaving by 2-2:30. An afternoon break, if allowed by work load, occurs between 3:00pm and 4:00pm. Microtomy continues until 4:30 - the days tissues as well as any special slides requested by pathologists - at which point the microtomy stations are cleaned up and the stainers are replenished and cleaned for the next day. The person staying until 6:00pm will review the remaing slides, complete their status in the computer, and bring them to the receptionist for assigning to the appropriate pathologist. This staff member is also responsible for any specimens that come down from the OR and need to be addressed by the on-call pathologist.
The people I work with are very knowledgeable about the histology lab and the specimens we work with. There is always someone I can speak to if I don't know what to do. Sometimes there are personality clashes, but that can be said about any work place.
My manager is easy to talk to and addresses any issues that are brought to her in an appropriate manner. She frequently thanks us for our daily work efforts.
The hardest part of the job is still being a casual employee after nearly 4 years (in June). I know ahead of time what my work schedule is, but it is not consistent like that of a part-time or full-time employee. This puts a bit of a strain on my finances. The quote 'feast or famine' is quite an accurate description at times. My mananger does her best to give me extra shifts where she can.
The best part about my job is working in a field where I am able to help patients by preparing specimens that are used to diagnose their condition. I want a career in a field where I am part of a process that helps someone else, in one way or another. I also like histology because I find tissues more interesting than blood, urine, or other body fluids. I am a hands-on worker, and histology provides plenty of opportunities each day.
I have learned that lab processes change over time, and there is always the opportunity to improve a technique. I have learned that it is okay to write down notes about procedures as I don't work on a daily basis. It does not make me dumb or incompetent if I need to refer to notes in order to complete a task. I have learned that suggestions from co-workers are intended as help and not as negative feedback on my methods. I have learned that I like being a histologist.

Routinely overworked, at one time was called in for potentially 16 straight days, many times worked 10+ days straight or scheduled for 7 Days straight. Staff on floors nice but usually very busy and not enough help on floors. Would benefit from PSW's on some floors. Always in Grid-Lock and not may opportunities for patients to have a stimulus. Confusing lay out of the hospital. Some Management is great, others are difficult to contend with and care more about a bottom dollar than the care of the patient. Staff routinely complain of not enough days off, Burn out, Stress, many taking stress leave, not much at work stress intervention or willingness by management to acknowledge an overworked population. Personal Emergency days are provided but some management don't take them into consideration and will often reprimand you for the utilization of them. Hardest part of the job is the amount of non-acute patients taking up beds for the acute patients, Social work and PT/OT only available M-F with the exception of holidays and patients routinely not able to get up and out of bed and therefore become bedridden and decline in function rapidly, Some doctors routinely ignore pages or take a long time to respond to calls, others are almost always available when called. Most enjoyable part of the job is the extra training opportunities available to staff, paid by the hospital.

This is an organization that says all the right things to hire you, but once you are an employee don't expect to be valued.  Management usually has little knowledge of what they oversee and continually add responsibility and workload without increasing your pay.  In many other places this might lead to advancement, but there is little opportunity and when something worthwhile does open up, the tendency is to hire external.

Fellow workers are a positive in this organization.  Very friendly, supportive and willing to help despite the fact many are dissatisfied.

If you are starting out and don't have a decent job then this may be a good starting point for your career until you gain some experience to move onto better things.  If you already have experience, this is a place where careers and pay are stagnant.

A typical day at work will not move forward positively as the culture of the pharmacy department dominated by certain dominant employees of the department. Their leadership not positively influence to do best by others in the department.I want to learn computer system right at the beginning because that is the beginning of everything. Hospital mission and values has been dictated by other factors of dominant people. Management clueless and stick to policies. People skills of human nature has been dictated by various elements. Workplace culture definitely enrich by ideal values and shadow values of people. They don't promote effective quality leaders for positions. So it is a mistake. There many factors in the department which depleted my emotional resilience due many factors. when conflicts arise I did my best to free from them and not convince I am right. But did work to come to optimal outcome. Thanks

I would have to say overall it wasn’t a bad job but long term would be really rough on a person I think. I believe there needs to be a change in maintenance mannagment as they moral of the maintenance crew who have been there long term is low due to the repore with the manager of the department. Most would leave if they weren’t so invested already. People are disgruntled but putting up with things and counting down the days to retirement. You will pay quite a bit out of pocket for parking each month and the pay is substandard especially being unionized. Collective bargaining is tough as there is a lack of respect and lack of understanding of worth for tradesmen in this institution. 

The work was very fair when the scheduled employees showed up for work, but many of the weekend employees would call into work, leaving the workers who cared to show up having to carry the rest of the workload. The hourly wage for the job was very suitable, and the opportunities for more hours were frequently available if you needed them. Most of the staff was friendly and welcoming which made the job much more enjoyable. However, the management was poor at times with workers sometimes not receiving the shifts they were expecting--whether they were cut shifts or given additional ones.

Very busy hospital.  Understaffed and under appreciated nurses.  The same can be said about their hardworking housekeeping staff too.  Cut backs and constant highly acutely ill patient flow make this experience like driving in Los Angeles.  You need to be an adrenaline junky to work in this continuously high stressed environment.  Your shift flies by and you need your days off to recuperate.  Loved the work and fast pace.  Management is cold and unresponsive to nurses concerns to patient care.  Educational opportunities are available but should be paid for and offered during work time.

This is the worst place to work if you are not a nurse or a doctor. Nurses and Doctors call constantly and yell at you even when they are needing help. You are treated like scum and not acknowledged for your work. Management in the lab is ridiculous and you are micromanaged. Any small mistake is blown out of proportion and you are punished. Over worked and under staffed, technicians have taken over and they are not properly trained and they are doing work outside of their scope of practice, which is wrong! The 12 hour shifts are unbearable and you drown in work. 

typical day consisted of dust mop and washing floors dusting table tops cleaning the bathrooms and also doning discharged patient beds and also vaccuuming and getting beds ready for new patients.
Learned about health and safety on all virus and appropriate means on keeping the public safe. Management was always keeping us informed on up and coming precedures. Co-workers always were helping needed. The hardest part was when new infections were getting out of hand. The most fun I encountered was meeting new patients and conversing with my fellow workers.

My coworkers on my unit were awesome, everyone worked pretty cohesive and knew our roles. Upper management I found to be lacking with a lot of our requests going unheard. Our floor manager did try to advocate for us but there's only so much she could do. Pay was fair for my role, with incentives if asked to move floors last minute to cover and additional pay for nightshift.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$42.41 per hour
Technologist 1 salary reported	$38.96 per hour
Neurologue 5 salaries reported	$450,000 per year
Psychiatre 1 salary reported	$380,000 per year
Quality assurance manager 3 salaries reported	$44.04 per hour

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