TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Fast pace and results, rewarding at Bayfront

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS KUHN, Special Sections writer

Published: January 13, 2008

Sue Adair often takes visitors on tours of Bayfront Medical Center and says she enjoys listening to their reactions. "This is a place where highly specialized work surrounds you. As I show people around, I'll hear quiet gasps of 'wow' when they see what's going on," the HR manager says with a chuckle.

Founded in 1906, the 502-bed, private, not-for-profit hospital in St. Petersburg is comprised of nearly 2,500 employees, including 650 doctors.

"You can feel the energy when you walk through the door," she says. "The pace draws professionals to the place but it's the way everyone here helps to save lives, regardless of their role, that keeps them dedicated. It's a passionate organization."

Bayfront is growing its trauma center staff, including registered nurses, lab technicians and respiratory therapists. Adair says the facility can offer health care professionals an exciting and rewarding work environment. "Health care providers in our trauma center will find opportunities here that they won't find elsewhere. We get many trauma and critically ill patients requiring major procedures and this can make it exciting for people coming on board because they get to see results firsthand."

Adair says ideal candidates must be open to a fast pace and passionate about what they do. "You must have the innate ability to care because it does get stressful. In those stressful moments, if you lose control, you can't give patients the level of care that's needed to heal them," she says.

Bayfront is committed to ongoing education and makes scholarships available at every level, Adair says. This emphasis on learning extends beyond its employees to future health care professionals studying locally. The facility offers various medical training programs to University of South Florida and St. Petersburg College students, including nursing, respiratory therapy and radiation technology. "We're the training ground for many nurses and allied health professionals like nowhere else in the area and the level of skill provides them with growth opportunities.

"We also provide continual development of skills, including orientation for those professionals out of the field for some time."

Bayfront also seeks to fill specific positions requiring professionals with highly-developed skill sets and familiarity with related medical equipment, including a mammographer, a medical technician with blood bank experience and an MRI technician. She notes a need for health care providers with the confidence and experience to work night shifts. "We need well-rounded health care professionals with experience in a trauma center who care, communicate and relate well to others."

The organization offers employees a number of family-friendly benefits including on-site child care and sick child care as well as a fitness center on the premises. New hires are eligible for insurance benefits effective their first day of employment, including medical, dental, vision and life.

"Bayfront has worked hard to develop a comprehensive benefits plan and to offer competitive pay opportunities in a not-for-profit environment," Adair notes. "For those choosing to come on board and commit themselves to this fast-paced, dynamic work environment, they need to feel comfortable about their own needs being met."

Qualified candidates are encouraged to attend one of Bayfront's monthly virtual career fairs. On the third Tuesday of every month, Bayfront recruiters representing all hospital departments are available in online chat rooms to answer questions and provide information about positions, benefits and company culture. "It's a great chance to ask what you'd really like to know in a nonthreatening, convenient way and be assured anonymity and honest dialogue," Adair says. "Candidates can get their questions answered, and it often leads to a direct interview."

To learn about job opportunities at Bayfront Medical Center, participate in the virtual fair Tuesday or apply online at www.bayfront.org.

Share this:

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT