Highway Hypodermics

James Sessions

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:

Firstoff, I would praise the RN's drive for taking on responsibilities that were notin her contract, and let them know I will do everything that I can to get thisresolved. I would contact the Account Manager about the situation and then ifneeded get my Experience Specialist and Director of Nursing involved to get thesituation handled.

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:

Oncethe nurse has explained what was going on, I would call my manager and also theDirector of Nursing, due to her being floated to an area which she is notcomfortable in.

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 be completely sympathetic in a situation like this statingto the nurse that they should not have been exposed to that at all, and then Iwould offer resources for housing in the immediate area, and also help searchhotels in the local area until it gets resolved. If it was housing provided bythe facility, then I would escalate the situation further to my manager

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:

Ifshe was in an emergency situation, I would offer anything our company could dofor her. I would let our Experience Team team know and see if we could getflowers sent to her house, or if she is the hospital, her hospital room. I wouldlet my AM know about the situation and see how they would like to proceed forthe duration of the contract, with the RNs health concerns as the main prioritymoving forward.

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:

Iwould first be very apologetic to the situation, and explain we are doingeverything we can to try and figure out how this major error happened. I wouldthen call my account manager and figure out where the disconnect occurred andsee if it could be rectified. After finding out where the error occurred Iwould voice that we may need new protocols with our Director of Operations andother managers so that this does not happen again.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

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