Highway Hypodermics

Meagan Farris

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:

I would listen to her concerns and make sure to write down exactly what she was expecting to do based on the interview with the manager. I would talk to her and see if she would want to approach her manager first, because maybe they don't realize the inconvenience. I would also ask if she would like us to step in and have the conversation with out point of contact there to fix this because it's not what she signed on for.

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:

The response would be she will not float to that unit because it's out of her competency scope. They need to honor where she is knowledgeable and agrees to float and not go above her skills to put her license or contract in jeopardy.

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:

Our response would be getting her a hotel for that night while we search for further housing. We would then contact the landlord with the pictures and request compensation for their incompetency to rent a clean room.

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 ultimately leave the choice up to the nurse. If the assignment compromises her health it would make sense to grab that doctors note of the instance and hand her notice into the client.

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:

I would first talk to the account manager to find out where the disconnect is. With our company we do not send out nurses to assignment until we receive a client confirmation in writing so we have a a leg to stand on. If this ever DID happen we would make sure the nurse was compensated for her travels and find a back up assignment quickly.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

I run my desk of honesty and transparency so I expect my travelers to be the same. We are a small company so we don't have every single job and I get that, so it's okay to work with other recruiters- just keep me updated on where you are being submitted so neither of us are wasting time in the process.

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