Am I ready??

[LUVtxNursing]

Hello everyone,

Well, I have a couple of questions for all you experience agency nurses. I am an LVN with 8 months experience on a BUSY Med/Surg floor and I have recently decided that I want to try Agency Nursing, mainly because I will be returning to school for my RN in the Summer and will need the flexibilty and higher pay because I will be working less. Anyway, my question is how hard is it to adjust to a new facility, especially since there is little or no orientation, I have only worked at one place and that is why I am a little nervous about this. I was also wondering if it is at all possible to gain some experience in a different area while working agency? I want to work OB after I get my RN and here in TX most hospitals will let you work PP as an LVN and I have worked a little on PP at my hospital, so do you think I could take a few assignments in this area even though I am not really that experienced with PP? Thanks in advance for all your help!!

Blessings from Texas!!

[merei]

Hey, I just started doing agency last month with 11 months of exp. I had only worked at one hospital. I love it, most everyone that I've met on my assignments has been nice. Looking for stuff at each new place is kind of a pain in the butt, but I have no problem asking someone else if they know where it is either... :-)

The agency I'm working for had me do a check list with experience in different areas, so that when they get a call they can double check with that facility if they think I have enough exp to work the area they need. It was a long list to fill out cause they went through every area they could think of that someone might have worked, but I can see how it would save time/money/stress from someone being put somewhere they have no exp in.

Hope that helps a little.

[horrorxgirl]

I worked agency with only six months of staff experience, and it turned out well for me. The only thing I can think of, is that in order to get all of the hours I want, as an LPN I have to work a lot of nursing homes. MOSTLY nursing homes, actually. And that is a lot different from hospital work, as you generally have a HUGE patient load. This may not be true of all regions though. I live in PA.

[RN1121]

One thing to consider before you jump in to agency nursing. You can (and will) get cancelled, and often times it can be right up to 2 hours before you are due in for your shift. It is for this reason that agency nursing is not the most reliable source of income. I prefer to pick up shifts now and then, and I would be worried if it was my main source of money flow.

Having said that, some hospitals and nursing homes can "block" you in for a certain amount of time, say 3 months, which is much better than doing agency per diem.