Highway Hypodermics

Alli Pokorny

Question 1:

In a large metropolitan area, Nurse Floating Flo contracts to float between three hospitals within a 10 mile radius of her housing. Starting in the 6th week, the company ask her to float to a hospital 15 miles away, the 7th week she goes to one on the other side of the city, that is 30 miles away, plus one that is 17 miles away. The nurse is willing to take the first few, but after the behavior continues, she has had enough and voices this to her recruiter.

Answer 1:

Nurse Flo is absolutely valid in her feelings of being upset about floating farther away than was initially expressed. I would first thank Nurse Flo for making me aware of the situation and letting me know her concerns. I would then see if Nurse Flo had spoken with her manager at the facility about the floating and encourage her to do so if she had not to see why the floating requirements had changed. I would also pass along this information to my client manager so Nurse Flo's concerns could be conveyed to our contacts as well. This way, we could approach the problem from all sides and find a solution that best fits our traveler and the situation. While flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to traveling, every concern from a traveler deserves to be addressed, especially when original agreement parameters have changed.

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Question 2:

Baby Nurse Betty is a skilled labor and delivery nurse, who also can float to post-pardum care after the delivery as well as the well-newborn nursery. At 7:30pm, the staffing company hotline gets a call stating that they want her to float to the NICU, which is beyond her competency level. What is your company’s response?

Answer 2:

While skilled in several other areas, we would reiterate that Nurse Betty is uncomfortable in a NICU. She is happy to help where she is needed, which is also within her skill set. We would never want to create a potentially dangerous situation for Nurse Betty or the patients, nor would the hospital. We would fully support and back Nurse Betty in saying that she should only float within her skillset to maintain the safety of all involved.

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Question 3:

Nurse Roach is all excited about her first travel nursing assignment. She drives 750 miles to her new assignment housing. After getting the keys from management, she opens the door and three cockroaches scurry across the floor. After further investigation, she also finds a ring of mold in the shower. She can’t stand it and immediately texts you with pictures. How do you respond?

Answer 3:

I would ask Nurse Roach to call the landlord with the concerns immediately. If it were company housing, we could get involved as well. I would have Nurse Roach show the landlord the pictures and see if they could come up with a plan to fix the issues immediately or find alternative housing if this was not an option. If the concerns were not able to be addressed, I would assist Nurse Roach as much as possible in finding alternative housing as soon as we could.

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Question 4:

You have worked with Nurse Asthmatic for 3 years now and she has done a great job for you, when she takes an assignment in Southeast Colorado. She envisions magic mountains that reach to the sky, only to find that she has landed in wheat country. Not wanting to cause problems she continues to work and everything is fine, until harvest. She has an asthma attack, ends up in the hospital, and is told that she is going to miss at least 2 weeks of work related to asthma induced pneumonia. How do you work things out?

Answer 4:

First, I would talk with Nurse Asthmatic to ensure she was okay and see if I could do anything to help alleviate any situational stress. Next, I would see if she had been able to talk with her manager at the facility about the situation. If not, I would immediately call my client manager so we could communicate the situation on behalf of Nurse Asthmatic. Our first approach would be to see if the facility would be okay with her taking the necessary time off to recover and returning to work when she can, depending on how long she has left on her contract. If it were more feasible for all involved to end Nurse Asthmatic's contract early so she could recover fully. I would then keep working to find her another contract as soon as we could once she is recovered and make sure it is somewhere that won't cause so much aggravation of her asthma.

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Question 5:

You have worked hard to find Nurse Roulette a job in Las Vegas. You send the nurse a contract that she readily accepts, signs, and sends back. The next morning the bags are packed and Nurse Roulette is on the way to the assignment of her dreams. At 0800 she is out the door and to the hospital. Checking in with HR, they inform her that there is no contract between the hospital and the company, related to the fact that it has not been approved by HR. About the same time, the recruiting manager comes to you and tells you not to send Nurse Roulette on the assignment. This shouldn’t have happened, but unfortunately it does happen. What do you do?

Answer 5:

My first step would be to call Nurse Roulette and convey the information I knew. I want her to be aware and be able to adjust immediately before I work on any other communication. After touching base with her, I would then work with my recruiting manager and client manager to see what happened between the time she signed her contract and now and see what we could do to resolve the issue. My first approach would be to open the lines of communication and see if we could get the contract approved by HR and keep Nurse Roulette in Las Vegas. In the meantime, I would also look for other options in and around Las Vegas if that option does not work out. I would want options for Plans B, C, D, etc., as we do in traveling since, unfortunately, these things do happen sometimes.

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Question 6:

What would you like travel nurses to know about being a great traveling nurse and making your job easier?

Answer 6:

Flexibility, adaptability, and rolling with the punches are absolutely crucial! Trust that I will do absolutely everything I can to find you a position that fits what you're looking for, but also know that it often takes some flexibility on the nurse's side as well to come to a consensus. If I can find a position that checks three out of your four boxes, we are in a good spot. It is my goal that I have built a solid enough relationship with my traveling nurses that they trust me to find jobs that I know will fit them, even if they don't check every single box. Also, communication is huge! If I don't know something is going on, I can't try to fix it. I'd rather have a nurse overcommunicate with me. Had a great shift? Call and tell me about it! Struggling with some of the staff? Call and tell me about it! Any insight you can give me is incredibly valuable.

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