The List: Top rated workplaces on the West Coast

Every week we like to highlight some of the best workplaces around the country in The Nurse’s Guide to Hospitals. So far we’ve covered the best places to work in big cities and the best places to work in small communities.

Now we’re going to take a regional approach and make our way around the U.S., highlighting the best workplaces–large and small–in various parts of the country. Up this week? The West Coast!

Do you work at an exceptional workplace or have a question about a potential employer? Visit The Nurse’s Guide to Hospitals to rate, review and ask your questions in the comments! The Scrubsmag.com community will help you find the answers.

1. Stanford Hospitals and Clinics
Stanford, Calif.

With Stanford University’s Medical School ranked the second best medical school in the country for research by U.S. News & World Report, it’s no wonder that Stanford Hospitals and Clinics offer great services. Fortunately, they also offer great workplaces for nurses.

The hospital is Magnet recognized, on the Leapfrog Top Hospitals list and is a DAISY Award participant. In addition to being eligible for paid educational hours, RNs are the only members of the hospital staff that receive “A” Time Credit, which offers compensation if you are absent due to excess staffing on a unit.

2. Scripps Green Hospital
San Diego, Calif.

A member of Scripps Health, Green Hospital serves La Jolla, Calif. and the greater San Diego community. Scripps has been named to lists of the top workplaces in America by publications and organizations including Forbes, Working Mother Magazine and AARP.

The Scripps system offers a variety of career development and learning classes for nurses throughout their careers. Additionally, there are many specific training programs offered to internal nursing staff who complete a new nursing degree.

3. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
West Hollywood, Calif.

Ranked the second best overall hospital in California, Cedars-Sinai offers specialized advanced training for nurses with master’s degrees. These internship training programs focus on areas including emergency care, nurse midwifery and oncology.

The hospital also provides a wide variety of education program and training courses to all nurses each year. Nurses looking to change their career path can do so through internship programs offered by the hospital.

4. John Muir Behavioral Health Center
Concord, Calif.

Large medical centers aren’t the only top workplaces for nurses; the smaller John Muir Behavioral Health Center in Concord, Calif. also is rated one of the best places for nurses to work on the West Coast.

As part of John Muir Health, nurses may participate in the five-month RN Residency Program after nursing school graduation that aids the transition from student to nurse. The system also offers a number of specialty nurse training programs to its current nurses.

5. Queen of the Valley Medical Center
Napa, Calif.

Queen of the Valley is relatively small compared to the first three hospitals on our list, which many nurses certainly see as advantageous. As a part of St. Joseph Health, the facility offers a number of the perks of a large health system at a small hospital.

Among these perks is the Crossroads Program, which provides financial support for nurses (and other staff members) continuing their education with a goal to work in hard-to-fill positions at the hospital. This program can include tuition and salary assistance.

FOR MORE RATINGS AND REVIEWS ON WORKPLACES NURSES LOVE, VISIT THE NURSE’S GUIDE TO HOSPITALS.

We’ve just launched the The Nurse’s Guide to Hospitals to provide you, our nurses, with a ton of information for your job hunt (or for when you’re just curious about how the other half (of nurses) live). Each week we’ll highlight hospitals with particularly high ratings, so be sure to visit Scrubs every week for The List.

Similar to how your favorite online directories work, each hospital listed in The Guide has a rating system and a comments section. While many nurses have weighed in so far, we need your help to make The Guide the best it can be. So head on over, tell us what you think of your workplace and help us fill in the details! We want to hear from you! Ask your burning questions or rave about your amazing nurse team in the comments.