[sandstormsdust]

I worked for two plus years as a labourer on job assignments through a temp agency....

As a general rule... we could garuntee that the hired employee saw us as a threat... I have no idea why but they would make comments like _ Why not get a real job? _ How they heck can you do a job in one day that I took weeks to learn??? - and I was wondering if you all encounter the same thing.... as nurses...

[nightingale]

Hi SandStorm:

No I do not. I have heard many comments from collegues that there was no way they could do what I do.

Treatment really does vary as much as individual vary. I float to many facilities from hosptials, to clinics, to health fairs. I am usually treated very well. Often the regular staff is pretty quiet and I need to be assertive in asking for lunch, break, help etc. To me, this is pretty normal, we as humans tend to gravitate to what is and who we are familiar with.

I have never been told anything like you have said. My demeanor is such that I doubt anyone would say something that harsh to me. I am rather clear on who and what type of nurse I am. The facilities I work in are very used to having agency as part of their regular schedule and are very grateful for the extra hands.

I will only speak for myself and my experiences. By and large, I am treated better then when I was regular staff. I do not get sucked into the gossip and politics of regular staff, if I do not like the way I am treated or the work load, I speak up and if it does not change I do not go back to that facility; for me, it is all about choices. I choose to work in positive and stimulating environments.

B.

[BadBird]

Sandstorm,

No I was never treated that way. I usually get along very well with regular staff and after you work in one place for awhile you kind of blend in and they think of you as one of theirs; at least that has been my experience.

[Nurse Jenni]

I feel strongly compeled to respond to this one. I am a staff nurse with a facility that relies HEAVILY on agency staffing. We as a staff are really very welcoming to agency, we treat our regulars as one of our own and try to get the new ones oriented as quicly as possible..(it took us months to learn all the paperwork) but our peeve is when we get overconfident sometimes very rude, incompitent nurses in house...oe in particular right now has full time hours with us, but has been proven to with hold narcotics, skip a/o res. meds and various other med errors reg. staff would have been fired for weeks ago..and she says were "picking on agency"! from your point of view how should this be handled? Yes we've written her up "office" is aware and still nothing...this is the kind of thing that makes for poor relationships. but for the most part our agency staff is top rate and we treat them as such!

[PhantomRN]

I have worked agency and as a whole I was treated well. They always seemed to ask If I "worked a regular staff job as well"...and as it turned out I was working staff and supplementing my pay with agency.

[Sundowner]

I have experienced the staff nurse that is somehow sure that us agency folks dont give a rats behind about their patients and are void of caring. She stated to me that "you people" dont have to worry about anything.

My response to her was yeah, your right, I dont worry about how management is screwing you on a daily basis, I dont worry about how staffed your next shift is, I dont worry about being mandated. I also dont worry about having to know the patients for six months before I can care for them.

What I dont understand is how it is inconcievable to think that an agency nurse cant possibly learn the job in one day...the job never changes, the paperwork changes, yeah, but its all the same when you get down to it. A couple of quick questions and I am ready to rumble.

[Brita01]

Most of the hospitals that I go to work in, the staff nurses are very happy that I am there. When they have a potluck that you brought nothing for, they always offer you something to eat. I never WILL understand the one or two hospitals that treat you like they wish you weren't there. And this is the shift of nurses that you've come to help out. Nurses that would have over 11 or 12 patients if you weren't there. I usually try to find the charge nurse (because in these cases they won't even tell you who they are), and ask the standard couple of questions regarding CNA responsibilities. In one hospital I worked at, the stupid cow of a charge nurse ignored me when I asked her the questions, like she was f*****g deaf or something. And when I asked her what her name was, she said MRS so and so. She was MRS to me and I heard the other staff calling her by her first name. Stupid ass f*****g cow. And these are usually the places where the working conditions are so bad, they can't keep their own staff. Some people just never get a clue.

[HavinFun]

I have been working as a traveler on a brand new floor. It started out with all travelers. Now, they are gradually hiring on full time staff. As these nurses come to this floor, transferring from other areas in the hospital, we hear comments about how ineffiecient travel nurses are. Their are only a few nurses that are rude enough to say that. As I've gotten to know them, Ive found that their not nice people anyway. They have an attitude about everything, not just travelers.
I havent been a traveler that long and my skills havent changed from when I worked on staff. Im still a great nurse. I just look at the source.

[jude11142]

I am a new nurse and work full-time for a facility and just took a part-time job with an agency(well, one or two shifts a week). It is too soon for me to know how I am treated as a "pool nurse", but in the ltc, we have pool nurses. I'm ashamed to say that the "senior staff" there, tends to underrate the "pool nurses"......I have heard them say that they are uncaring, they don't have the responsibility, etc.............I say, "no responsibility?", don't know but so far they have showed me that not only are they experienced/caring nurses, but they have been very open to me as a new nurse. They have showed/teached me many things and they have nothing to do with our facility on a long-term basis but they still took the time to teach/explain certain things to me. I pray that I never get so closed minded and forget that we are all in this profession for the love of nursing. Guess I am still wet behind the ears, lol..........

JUDE