Highway Hypodermics

Kerry Galligan

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:

Situations like this is what makes me love working for my company, where we live by our motto "We Put You First". As soon as I heard of the first instance of the hospital breaking the terms of the contract, that would immediately cause for concern, even if the nurse was ok with the first few times. Even though travel nurses are expected to be a bit more flexible than staff, contracts are built to protect them from being taken advantage of, and the rate negotiated is based on the expectations set in the original contract. I would call my account manager, explain the situation, and get in touch with the hospital so we can get our nurse back in the original radius determined in the contract.

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:

I would simply not allow for the nurse to float to the NICU. At the end of the day, this industry is about patient care, floating to an unfamiliar unit would risk both the nurse's licensure and the baby's well-being. I would get our on-staff clinician, Nicole, involved as well, who works here in the office to assist with clinical issues, as well as working PRN at a children's hospital during the week. Using her as a resource, alongside my account manager, allows us to discuss the issue in more clinical detail than myself and the account manager alone since she is a registered nurse.

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:

If the nurse was in our company housing, we would immediately let the complex management know the unit was unfit, and put her up in a hotel for a few days while we find a new unit for her and furnish it. Luckily, PPR housing is very selective of who we use so we can avoid shoddy rentals like this one. On the flip side, if this was a rental the nurse found independently and was using her housing stipend for, this is one of my favorite parts of the job! After watching one too many episodes of House Hunters on HGTV, I absolutely love helping my nurses find housing in creative ways they may not have thought of before. We also make a habit of saving housing options our PPR nurses have used during past assignments on our share drive that is great to use as an additional resource, beyond what is currently listed on airbnb, VRBO, etc. :)

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 and foremost, I would make sure my nurse is okay! Next, I would get my account manager involved to see how we can work this out with the hospital so she has time to recover fully, and finish out her contract. If the nurse was up to it, I would suggest asking the hospital to add on another two weeks so she could make up for that lost time - I'd also speak with my manager to see if there's anything we can do to help beyond the free sick day we give each contract, as this would clearly be an extenuating circumstance. The beauty of working with PPR is we don't believe in black and white - we understand life can be in the grey area and we want to be flexible to handle bumps in the road when they come up!

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:

In the odd case that a nurse's assignment does get cancelled, we can't control what the hospital does, but what we can do is control how we react to it. I would immediately get all hands on deck to ensure that we can get the nurse into a contract ASAP so she isn't out of a paycheck she's expecting, putting her in a bad spot financially.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

I think the key to being successful as a travel nurse is building TRUST with your recruiter. I know there's lots of of us calling you all the time, but I wouldn't be able to work for a company that I feel doesn't truly align with my values and have our nurses best interest at heart. Be transparent about your expectations, and I will be transparent about industry factors that I see every day as a recruiter that need to be taken into consideration when you're making your decision :)

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