Does anyone have opinions on Maxim(agency) good or bad????

Hairstylingnurse · Sep 19, 2005

chello again everyone, i wanted to mention my main goal with agency nursing is to do homevisits and ltc, which i have plenty of experience with and private duty. i just hoped i could get some peds experience since i love munchkins. when i talked with a pediatric agency (pediatric services of america) they also told me they would provide all the training and orientation i would want to be comfortable. but what i'm taking from these replies is not to trust these agencies on whta they are saying, is that correct???:uhoh21: i will proably let them orient me and then request an adult. do you advise that or no?????? i truly don't want to put my lisc. in jeapordy but would like to work with kids. i'm going thru a new divorce so less money isn't an option right now with 2 little hungry mouths to feed besides my big one:rotfl: . thanks again, as usual, this is a very helpful site.

mattsmom81 · Sep 19, 2005

Just out of curiosity, how much do they pay? As I said, they only offered my $22/hr for work in a nursing home. I only want to work as an Independant Contractor, and I would have charged alot more than that. I have over 25 years of experience in ICU, have my CCRN, and am ACLS Certified. What they offered to me was what I consider to be not much more than HS drop out wages. I am worth alot more than that, and like MD's do, I want to be paid what I am worth. I do not need an agency to steal more than half of what they are being paid for my professional services. That is why I exclusively do Legal Nurse Consulting, as an independant contractor with attorneys. I set my fee. There is not enough money in bedside nursing to make it attractive.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington

The rate of pay changes per facility and by locality. I worked ICU and only did 12 hr shifts. The ICU shifts I accepted paid 38 hr..but this was in Dallas Fort Worth Texas. Some agencies paid better, but also charged the facilities more, thus were first canceled. Cancellations are part of the agency game. I survived many years on agency wages, so its doable ...not as lucrative as legal consulting I know. :)

I enjoyed the flexibility of agency work when my kids were small...nice to make one's own work schedule and stay out of hospital politics. One has to do what's best for them..some prefer staff and 40 hr weeks, I prefered 2 12's agency . :)

The last few years in Dallas, agency work got more difficult to tolerate due to the dump mentality of the staff nurses, and ridiculous expectations. Facilities are much more demanding as to orientations and such (they never used to be) I don't know if I would do it today, specially in that locale.

But I still know nurses who wouldn't do anything else but agency, as it works for them.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2005

You probably have nothing to lose if you give it a try. They're not going to screw you out of any wages. The most disappointing thing I found working with agencies is that I got cancelled a lot, or they offered me shifts to work in places that were not what I had asked for. I think they do that just to get you working. I believe that one particular very large national agency (I'm not going to mention their name) doubled booked jobs (set up two nurses to work the same assignment) and then cancelled one of them 2 hours before the start time of the assignment. So, one of the nurses, without her knowledge, was being used. However, I also think they fairly rotated all their working nurses around like this so they would at least be getting some work and they would be able to keep the nurses around to work for them. The other advantage for the agency is that to the hospital they are reliable and don't cancel out a nurse at the last minute. Therefore, the hospital will favor calling their agency as opposed to another one. That spells income coming in for the agency whenever they can put one of their nurses into an assignment. Remember I said in my first post on this thread that my mother ran a nurses registry some years ago, so I know a lot of the little tricks these places use to keep nurses dangling around waiting for work. The business can be cutthroat, believe me.

My mom had home health nurses recently following a hospitalization. I got to talking with the RN on her case (you know how 2 nurses can talk shop when we get together!). Anyway, she was telling me that she worked for 2 different home health agencies and that she got paid by client visit. Between the two home health agencies she got her full time work. The nursing assistant who came in 3 times a week also told the same thing. Now, this is California, so maybe that is how it works. However, the agency this RN was working through for my mom was a large national company. When my mother was originally discharged from the hospital, the nurse, as part of mom's discharge paperwork, gave her a two page list of home health agencies for us to chose from with the one which was the choice of our doctor circled. Makes me think that if you can find someone in a local hospital to get a similar list from it would be a place for you to start looking for HH jobs rather than going through an agency.

graysonret · Sep 22, 2005

I've worked with Maxim since 1991, except for 18 months with Hospice, and have had plenty of work with them. Other agencies that I have been registered with, tended to be "hit or miss" situations. Plus, here in the D.C. area, I get benes that other agencies don't offer...such as a paid week off, insurances and 401Ks. Doing agency work full time requires that you establish a good reputation as a reliable, knowledgeable nurse. It's the same as being "self-employed". Once the agency(s) know you, work comes faster.

MadisonsMomRN, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2005

I have an interview at Maxim on Monday. I have to admit I am a little scared of agency but feel pretty good with different nursing skills.

I am an 'agency virgin' too :rotfl:

Hairstylingnurse · Sep 23, 2005

just wear pants with really good cushioning if your going to get all of your tests and other paperwork done that day. it is a couple of hours, i hope it will be worth all i have already put into.it. ofcourse i won't get paid for any of the office orientation but start getting paid for the in home orientations. good luck to ya and let us know how it goes.:)

i have an interview at maxim on monday. i have to admit i am a little scared of agency but feel pretty good with different nursing skills.
i am an 'agency virgin' too :rotfl:

suzanne4, RN · Sep 23, 2005

Just be aware that when you are doing a peds case, they are normally going to be for the ones that are considered medically fragile. Meaning trach, GT, etc. You need to be quite adept at changing out trach tubes, the use of the home ventilator, reinserting a G-tube, etc. Children are quite different from adults, they are not just small adults. I personally would not suggest doing a home case for a child, unless you had peds hospital experience. Least of not all, the insurance company is paying for someone to be there that has experience in that area, a few shifts of training does not meet the requirements for that.

Hope that this helps clear up things.............

Hairstylingnurse · Oct 1, 2005

I have an interview at Maxim on Monday. I have to admit I am a little scared of agency but feel pretty good with different nursing skills.
I am an 'agency virgin' too :rotfl:

Hi agency virgin,oops I mean madisonsmomRN, how did your interview go with maxim??????? I go in this coming wed. for hopefully my last office orientation (this is the one on home health). If you did take the job, did you start your mountain of paperwork. The sign out side of maxim stated they had immediate work and I've been going thru the procedure for like 2 or 3 weeks.