Highway Hypodermics

Paul Miller

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:

First, I would recommend that Flo speak with her nurse manager about the ongoing requests to go beyond the contractual agreement. I would also have TaleMed’s Clinical Director Susan Abbott reach out to Flo to talk through the situation and find the best path possible for resolution. If the issue is not resolved after speaking with her nurse manager, I would advise Flo to email a written statement about the multiple incidents. TaleMed will then follow up with the facility to get the issue resolved in a timely manner.

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:

Nurse Betty should not float to the NICU if it is out of her competency; It would put her patients, hospital, and license at risk. Betty should explain this to her nurse manager, and if her duties on that unit would fall outside of her skills, she should deny the assignment. If Betty wants to get experience in the NICU, then she can do this by requesting help when floating to this level of care under supervision. If she is not wanting to float, TaleMed would reach out to the hospital on Betty’s behalf to get more information and work on a solution. We would also try to offer the hospital help by sending them a NICU nurse who would be able to fill their need and no longer require nurses to float outside of their competency.

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:

This is an unacceptable situation for any of our travel healthcare professionals. Nurse Roach should return the keys to the manager, remove all of her things from the apartment and get a hotel for the night. TaleMed will reimburse her for the cost. We will use all the resources available to find ready to move in accommodations immediately. If Nurse Roach would prefer (since she is already in the area), she can opt to look for new housing herself before booking.

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:

Sometimes, even nurses get sick. We'll take care of work-related issues so Nurse Asthmatic can focus on getting healthy again. I would advise Nurse Asthmatic to speak with her nurse manager about the situation. I would also ask Nurse Asthmatic for all medical records so that TaleMed has any and all documentation available regarding her illness. If the nurse manager agrees that there’s still a need, Nurse Asthmatic can return to the facility to finish out her contract once the two weeks are over and she has been cleared by a physician to return. If the hospital deems it necessary to cancel Nurse Asthmatic’s contract, TaleMed will relay all relevant documentation of her illness to the facility. Once Nurse Asthmatic is feeling better, we will work hard to find her another assignment.

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:

Because of our onboarding process, this situation would be very unlikely for a TaleMed professional. However unlikely, my first step in this situation would be to communicate with Nurse Roulette and assure her that we will handle the situation. I would advise her to head back to her hotel/apartment and enjoy the day off. In the meantime, I would go to my recruiting manager and the account manager to find out where the lack of communication occurred and what exactly we need from the facility's HR department to get the assignment approved. Of course, I would be in communication with Nurse Roulette every step of the way.

Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

Hands down, open communication between a travel nurse and a recruiter is key. We are our nurses’ biggest advocates. If there are issues, questions, comments or concerns - we want to help! We just need to maintain an open dialogue.

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