I'm new to agency. Any advice???

Yes, I'm a scared but I'll try it and see how it goes. This hospital is a small one with only 8 ICU beds. Another agency nurse who used to work with me in my previous job, has been there and said the acuity is low and I'll be able to handle it ok. She told me to give a try and see how it goes.
Here in Houston the shortage is so bad that every hospital has tons of agency nurses working. You can count in one hand hospitals that don't resort to agency here and believe me to work for these hospitals is very competitive because they pay well, they are magnet hospitals and they provide their staff w/ equipment and support to provide pts with the best care possible. But this is a minority not majority. The big ones as HCA hospitals and Memorial Hermann(s) have to get agency nurses or they have to close doors... So you have some idea how bad it's... I used to work for a hospital with 22 beds. The shortage of nurses was so bad at nights that every night (still nowadays) you'd see at least 9 agency nurses working with us. They work so often there that they became a part of the staff... meaning we all hang around, ate together, helped each other, talked, played around and so on... I surely miss them... So, here in Houston almost every big hospital hires agency nurses.

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I've been talking to many pple and they all tell me to go and try it. I agree w/ you. I'll feel better as time goes by and I learn more and most importantly, feel more confident about my own skills. Mostly, it's just the fear of not having anybody to "hold my hand" so to speak. It's like moving out for the first time! In my previous job (the only one as a nurse), all the season nurses were there for me ( and all new grads for that matter) holding our hands and protecting us. They used to call me their "baby nurse". My preceptor (tough as a nail.. that nurse gave me the hardest time ever for my own good...) had a hard time to let me go. She would be around me all the time until somebody told her that she had to let it go... So even though they let me do my work on my own, I knew I could ask for help if something new showed up or if I wasn't sure of something. They would not treat me as if I were stupid. Besides that, we all were helpfull towards agency nurses which kinda molded my atittude towards them because the patient always came first and we needed the extra help. We were there for the patients, not to make each other's lives miserable. Besides, as known, agency is not a previledge of a few ones. It's there to whoever wants to go for it. If agency nurses make more money, good for them. Being jealousy of something that you can accomplish but choses to stay in your comfort zone instead, it's your problem, not anybody else's. So if an agency nurse was having a hard time and asked for help, we all would jump in and help her out as if she were staff because she was part of the team and if one falls... we all fall. I remember spending my entire shift helping one w/ meditech documentation of restraints. She was so happy that when she said bye, she had tears in her eyes. She said she had never been treat as a human being working as an agency nurse. It broke my heart. I was like... what the heck... with this shortage or nurses.. other nurses are still eating their own? How ridiculous can that be. Guess what? She came back many times because we were professional... and believe me... we need that help or some of us would be tripled out... and that is not fun in an ICU setting w/ crashing pts...So, my fear is more related to having unwilling people to help out (even if it's at the patient's expenses) and also because w/ 2 years of experience there is NO way one can be exposed to everything... but again... aren't we nurses learning every day???? Even those season nurses who are on the floor for 20 and some years are learning and asking questions. If they have problems with me asking questions and/or asking for help when I need... let them do the job of 4 nurses by themselves then. Too bad for them. I have thick skin and I'm stubborn. I will ask questions and I'll want the answers... because before any animosities... comes the patient. That is my take on staff who wants to give agencies a hard time... I'll keep you posted on my experiences....