Highway Hypodermics

Jason Bares

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:

In this situation, I would talk it out with the Nurse and listen to their concerns about this. I would then turn around and get in contact with either the facility directly or the vendor (pending if this was direct contract or through vendor) and let them know about the concerns and see if there is anything we can do to fix this. If the facility claims they would get this fixed and she would not be floating as much, and it still continued to get worse. We would address it again, and I would try and come up with a plan of action with the nurse on what they would want to do in that moment. (ie: tough it out for "X amount of weeks", put in 2 week notice, etc.)

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:

This is something I would suggest the nurse talk with the manager about and voice their concern about being floated to an area that it out of their competency level. If that does not solve the problem, then I would turn around the next day and reach out to the facility/vendor about the concerns of this being an unsafe practice as the nurse does not feel comfortable doing this.

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:

To make her feel comfortable we would come up with a solution. ie: Do you feel comfortable staying in there for the night? If this is a No, then we would help to set her up with a hotel for the time being (if she pays for it, we would help to reimburse). Then first thing the next morning we would figure out a solution with the facility.

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:

We would first inform the facility about her being hospitalized. Personally, the fact she has worked with us for several years we would do anything in our power to help compensate her in a fair manner for time missed.

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:

Unfortunately, I have never seen this happen. We personally make sure all plans are in place before we go ahead and set up contracts with nurses. If this is the case though, what I would do it turn around and see if we can get her an automatic quick start somewhere close to the facility. Would also help compensate for mileage since they would have to turn around and head back home. This is not something we normally see, but I do know this is an issue in this industry.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

Communication, Communication, Communication. There's no such thing as over communicating in this industry. The other piece I would say, is when doing compliance with a new company, you have to make this Top priority otherwise if there is procrastination in any way, whether people are busy or whatever it might be, it tends to look bad on the Company and the Nurse.

Email this Recruiter!