Highway Hypodermics

Tanner Werth

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:

The first thing I would do would be to contact the client manager so we could get the hospital involved and explain it was okay for the first couple of times but based on the contract, she is only open to the locations you told her at the beginning she could possibly be floating too.

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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:

If she is being asked to float to NICU with no experience in the NICU department, we would contact the facility and explain that she can float to postpartum and nursery. She is not comfortable floating to NICU, and that wasn't part of her contract either.

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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 call her immediately so we could discuss what to say to the landlord. If she didn't feel comfortable staying there after problems were fixed, I would work with her to try and help her get out of that lease and then help her find new housing close by the facility. I would look at past travelers who worked there and see if they had any good recommendations for places they stayed there.

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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:

Since this nurse has proven to me for over three years that she is a phenomenal nurse, I would do anything I could to protect her. I would ask her to communicate with the facility about her pneumonia and report back to my contact.

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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:

First thing, I would contact the client manager of the hospital to see if there was anything we could do to fix this current situation, but if that didn't get fixed, I would then start looking at all options close by and seeing if any of those places would work out. This RN would be at the top of my list of things to do until I found something new.

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Question 6:

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

Answer 6:

My number 1 advice would be not to believe everything you see on the internet. Also, communication is vital. The better communication we have, the easier it makes it for both of us.

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