Highway Hypodermics

Mo Fregia

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 first ask Floating Flo if she wanted to do this and if they needed her and were willing to pay more, would she do it on an as needed basis. Based on Flo’s answers, I would contact the facility contact and inform them that the contract calls for a 10 mile commute between facilities. Floating Flo obliged her manager’s request to go outside of the 10 mile radius to help out; however, is now being taken advantage of.

Per our agreement, Floating Flo will not be allowed by our facility to go outside of the 10 mile radius, effective immediately OR Floating Flo is happy to do this, but it’s outside of the scope of her contract. She can do so if we increase her pay from X to Y per hour for each hour she travelers outside of the 10 mile radius. If they’re agreeable, we’ll adjust the clients contract AND Flo’s contract for the duration. If not, then we will insist that Flo not be asked to float beyond the 10 mile radius

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 contact the facility contact and state that I will not permit Nurse Betty to float to NICU due to orientation stipulations and liability stipulations of our agreements. If they insist, then I will inform them that as a Joint Commission Certified Staffing Firm, they leave me no option but to report them to The Joint Commission for working our employee out of the competency level approved by our liability carrier.

If that doesn’t matter to the clients, Convergence would suspend our traveler from reporting to work until it’s resolved with the CNO. If they persist, we will place the traveler elsewhere after giving the client a termination notice with stipulations that the traveler not work in the NICU. Obviously, we will first attempt to keep the contract in place and resolve with the client facility amicably.

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 place Nurse Roach in a hotel until I could secure suitable 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:

I would keep her on our benefits program until she is discharged. Then I would discuss returning to work MUTUALLY with Nurse Asthmatic. We MUTUALLY identify another location where her asthma will not be affected negatively.. I would guide Nurse Asthmatic through our workers compensation process.

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 NEVER send a traveler anywhere without a fully executed contract with a client facility. There are no exceptions to this rule at Convergence and is grounds for termination. The only similar situation was a traveler on her way to the assignment and the facility cancelled the nurses contract due to census. I would work with the client to secure another competency appropriate assignment within the facility for the same start/end dates with the same pay/bill rate, based on the travelers approval to work the new assignment. All worked out well.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

Procrastinating on completing an application and skill checklist is never going to result in a good ending. Just do it b/c it’s usually each client’s requirement to submit the nurse for consideration at a facility.

You may have tested two years ago, but tests are updated annually, not by decade… Tests may be the same, but companies are different. The testing companies are not repositories for all companies to use. Please don’t argue the issue.

I do what I say that I will do and expect you to do the same.

Don’t hold your recruiter to a standard that you cannot uphold yourself

Credentialing results are due on a deadline date. Don’t procrastinate. Clients do not like to schedule start dates back further and often cancel the contracts. We are not badgering you. We are setting you up for success.

When we work together, we respond to you almost immediately. We expect the same in return.

Don’t lie. We’ve already heard them all – from “my scalp fell off” to numerous family deaths where evidence cannot be supplied. Just tell us the truth. No one’s judging…

Email this Recruiter!