Highway Hypodermics

Deborah Hannon

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 only contracted to float between three hospitals within a 10 mile radius if her housing, so Nurse Flo should only have to float between those 3 hospitals. As soon as I found out, I'd contact the account management team and have them reach out to the vendor to uphold the specifics in the contract, and see that the extraneous floating stops immediately. A lot of times the facility doesn't know about the minutiae of each nurse's contract, and this could have likely been a miscommunication easily resolved with a phone call to the vendor.

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:

If the hospital is wanting to float the nurse beyond her competency level and outside of her contractual agreement I would encourage her to ask for clarification of their expectations (are they sending her there just to monitor but not asking her to provide direct care?), and if she does not feel comfortable with their request she can offer to float within LDRP but firmly decline floating to a higher acuity floor.

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:

Right away I look up nearby hotels with immediate vacancy and help her book a room (assuming she took the housing stipend, otherwise I'd call the manager of travel and housing and have her book it for Nurse Roach). She is tired and needs to rest before heading into the hospital for orientation so it's priority 1 to get her into clean housing.

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:

This actually happened to one of my nurses recently in Nebraska. She was open with the facility and kept them in the loop after she was admitted to the hospital, and they were willing to add a few weeks on to the end of the contract to make up the time she was in the hospital. I know not all hospitals respond that well but typically communication with the nurse manager goes a long way in saving contracts when a traveler gets sick.

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:

The recruiter's main purpose is to staff that nurse, so if she shows up and there's no job that recruiter is immediately back to the keyboard finding the nurse a new job. It's the recruiting manager's responsibility to follow up with the account management team to figure out how the agency was able to offer a job that didn't exist, to keep it from happening again.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

The recruiters you choose to work with are your teammates in traveling; pick recruiters/agencies that align with your values and your needs! Communication is so important, and trust is definitely a two way street. Be flexible with your wants/needs, and a great recruiter will bend over backwards to get you as much as they can!

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