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Reimagining medical services and excelling in patient care outcomes, Advocate Health Care is a leader in the healthcare industry. This health system’s commitment to fostering a supportive and patient-centric environment attracts many top-tier healthcare professionals. Advocate Health Care boasts abundant staff and travel career opportunities for nurses and allied health professionals to choose from. Investigate what it’s like working for this large healthcare organization and the numerous employee perks it offers in this comprehensive health system spotlight.
Overview of Advocate Health Care
Advocate Health Care is a large health system founded in January 1995 when two large Chicago-area health systems, Evangelical Health Systems Corporation and Lutheran General Health System, formed a partnership. Dedicated to positively impacting its communities, Advocate Health Care has vastly expanded and is now part of the larger Advocate Health system. Advocate Health provides exceptional medical care across six states with its healthcare organizations, including:
- Advocate Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin
- Advocate Health Care in Illinois
- Atrium Health in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health has 68 hospitals and more than 1,000 ancillary medical facilities. The healthcare system employs over 155,000 people, including more than 21,000 physicians, 2,000 medical residents and 42,000 nurses. Some of the numerous employment opportunities available across Advocate Health for nurses and allied healthcare professionals include:
- Advocate Aurora Health Jobs
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Roles
- Advocate Sherman Hospital Positions
- Atrium Health Career Opportunities
Advocate Health Care strives to improve health equity, affordability and patient care access. The health system supports medical research and partners with the Advocate Aurora Health Research Institute, which has over 500 ongoing academic and biorepository research projects. Committed to training the nation’s next generation of healthcare leaders, Advocate Health partners with and recruits many medical professionals from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and offers more than 200 medical residencies and fellowships.
Mission, Values and Philosophy
Serving its communities for more than 100 years, Advocate Health Care strives to provide holistic patient care. The healthcare system further defines its philosophy: “We understand people have physical, emotional and spiritual needs and their relations to God, themselves, their families and society are vital to health and healing. All human beings live under God’s care and must be treated with dignity and respect.”
Advocate Health Care identifies and incorporates spiritual care during every aspect of patient care. Its mission is “To serve the health needs of individuals, families and communities through a wholistic philosophy rooted in our fundamental understanding of human beings as created in the image of God.”
By embodying its mission to serve and take a teamwork approach, Advocate Health Care seeks to live its core values, which include:
- Compassion
- Equality
- Excellence
- Partnership
- Stewardship
Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
Advocate Health Care’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategy drives meaningful change by delivering safe and equitable healthcare. As noted by its achievements, the organization embraces diversity and advocates for the LGBTQ+ population while fostering a positive, respectful environment. Advocate Health Care’s Gender-Affirming Program aids transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals in achieving their health goals through a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, 100% of Advocate Health Care’s hospitals received a perfect score on the LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Index in 2022.
The health system strives to enhance patient experiences and outcomes by expanding its language services by offering interpretation support for 193 languages. With this expansion, Advocate Health Care has had over 1.2 million language line encounters, with a growth of 125% in interpretation services from 2017 to 2022.
Community Initiatives
Advocate Health Care seeks to enhance its community presence and make a positive impact by fostering partnerships with local charities and organizations. This highly-regarded health system contributed over $1 billion in charitable care and services in 2022. Some of its initiatives include:
- Seeking to close health gaps in uncontrolled hypertension rates amongst Black and Hispanic populations by incorporating screening tools and improving patient communication technologies
- Safely reducing primary cesarean birth inequalities between Black and White populations by increasing patient education and ensuring consistent application of clinical standards
- Partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to diversify its leadership pipelines and offering scholarships, sponsorships and mentor programs
- Helping trauma survivors recover through its Trauma Recovery Center, serving more than 1,150 patients and providing over 4,450 individual therapy sessions in 2022
In 2023, Advocate Health Care’s trauma program collaborated with the University of Chicago Medicine and Southland Resilience Initiative to Strengthen and Empower to award $150,000 to summer programs focused on violence prevention and trauma resiliency. Many of these summer programs also offer community activities like dance, gardening, sports and leadership skill-building workshops.
Additionally, this healthcare system seeks to diversify its suppliers by switching to and purchasing from more diversified and woman-owned businesses. As mentioned on its website, Advocate Health Care reports a 50% increase in Tier 2 suppliers from the second quarter to the end of 2022 compared to the previous year.
Notable Awards and Honors
Zol87 from Chicago, Illinois, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Recognized for providing exceptional and quality care, Advocate Health Care has received a multitude of notable awards and accolades for its many achievements throughout the years.
Several of Advocate Health Care’s hospitals have achieved Magnet designation for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). This esteemed Magnet Recognition Program awards nurses for providing excellent, collaborative care and ensuring the utmost quality in nursing practice standards. Healthcare organizations may apply for ANCC Magnet redesignation every four years when ANCC re-evaluates them on their continuous, rigorous nursing clinical practice and achievements.
Advocate Health Care facilities that have earned and upheld this highly-regarded recognition include:
- Advocate Children’s Hospital since 2020
- Advocate Christ Medical Center since 2005
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital since 2009
- Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center since 2008
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital since 2005
Some additional awards, certifications and honors the healthcare system has achieved include:
- Chicago magazine’s list of Chicago’s Top Orthopedic Doctors for October 2023 recognized many Advocate Health Care physicians
- U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” for 2023-2024 named 10 Advocate Health Care hospitals on its list
- Chicago magazine’s list of Top Beauty Doctors in June 2023 named several Advocate Health Care physicians
- Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence award in 2023 for environmental sustainability performance
- CS Modern Luxury magazine’s list of Top Doctors in April 2023 recognized more than 300 Advocate Health Care physicians
- Chicago magazine’s January 2023 issue named over 45 Advocate Health Care primary care physicians on its Chicago’s Top Primary Care Doctors list
The larger health system Advocate Health has also earned several honors and awards, including:
- Named on Newsweek’s 2023 Top 100 list of “America’s Most Loved Workplaces”
- Recognized on Modern Healthcare’s 2023 Top Diversity Organizations list
- Received accreditation from the Joint Commission for Advocate Health and Hospitals
- Had two top leaders at Advocate Health included on Modern Healthcare’s list of “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” for 2023
Working at Advocate Health Care
As a prominent healthcare employer in Illinois, Advocate Health Care boasts numerous competitive and comprehensive benefits. The health system also provides a myriad of career advancement opportunities for nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Benefits and Other Perks
Advocate Health Care values its employees and offers a wide array of industry-leading benefits, including the following:
- Medical benefits, including behavioral health services and well-being programs
- Dental, prescription and vision benefits
- Flexible spending accounts
- Retirement savings plan
- Financial wellness classes
- Long-term care and pet insurance
- Generous paid time off
- Life and accidental death & dismemberment insurance
- Educational assistance program and adoption assistance
- Legal services and identity theft protection
- Mentorship opportunities and leadership and clinical development programs
- Discounts on auto, home, cell phones and more
Nursing Programs
Nurses at Advocate Health Care can select from various specialties, including orthopedics, neuroscience, women’s health and cancer care, depending on their chosen location. The health system shows its commitment to its nurses by offering several training and development programs, including these nursing programs.
Advocate Faith Community Nurse Program
Nurses have the unique opportunity to partner with local ministries and congregations to provide health education and services. Opportunities may include facilitating referrals, connecting people with resources, assisting with healthcare decision-making conversations and organizing support groups.
Future Health Leaders Program
High school and college students interested in healthcare careers may join this program. Participants learn about healthcare career areas, such as nursing and leadership, while building their professional network and skills. They also gain access to volunteer, research and internship opportunities.
New Graduate Nurse Residency Program
This program provides new graduate nurses with a high-quality clinical learning experience by fostering collaboration between new nurses and their preceptors. Paired with experienced nurses, new nurses gain valuable, expert nursing knowledge and skills while working alongside their preceptors.
Contact Information
Advocate Health Care
3075 Highland Parkway
Suite 600
Downers Grove, Illinois 60515
(800) 323-8622
Elevate your career by exploring Advocate Health’s numerous employment opportunities for nurses and allied health professionals on Vivian Health’s job board today.
Feature Photo Credit: Nguyenm20000, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
