[mailnurse]

There have been some top drawer comments and opninions in this discussion.It's obvious you are very intelligent people!

It would be an honor,if the opportunity arose,to meet you and shake your hands/give big hugs.

I sure wish I could open my own hospital-I would offer most all of you jobs.What a happy family we'd be!

Am I idealistic,or what!

[tazpint]

I have worked as a staff nurse for 20 years and I am on my first travel assignment.It is great. I don't have to get involved in the politics of the facility and don't haved to get involved in the petty disputes among the staff nurses. It is a great way to combat burn-out. I can go to work and do a great job with none of the negative stuff.On my off days I can explore the area and learn about new people,places,and things. I will accept another assignment and hope I get lucky again. The staff where I am have been warm and open. It will be tough to leave them. I am currently working in Los Angles at Cedars Sinai in the Thailians Buliding.God love them and bless them for making this a postitive experience. :hatparty:

[katscan]

I just want to remind you that when you label a group of nurses as "gypsies" and portray them in a negative light that is offensive to those of us that are of Hungarian, Romanian, etc. descent. As a second generation Hungarian, that name was hurled at my father after the Klan burned a cross on his front lawn. Gypsies travelled because they HAD to-they were nomadic by nature. And many were decent good people. This is not a bad thing-only different. If you want to talk of nurses who travel please just say that. Don't imply that whatever negatives there are associated with it, they are automatically "gypsies."

[tazpint]

Excuse me,...I am not the one who used the term "gypsies" I was just adding positive feedback. You are too sensitive! Who cares what label they give you just do good work.If you get angry at a label,you are buying into that label,so chill baby,chill!

[katscan]

The comment was not directed at you but to the whole "name calling" tone of the article and the offensive tone associated with the term "gypsie". I am not angry but I won't chill, either. Neither am I buying into any label, I was merely asking that we not refer to travelling nurses as "gypsies" either now or later.

[seanymph]

As a traveler I really resnt that article and the whining in it. I started to travel for just the reasons mentioned in the article, interference from management, mandatory staff meetings that always fell on your day off or when you were trying to sleep for a night shift and the biggie....not being able to take care of my patients the way they deserved and up to my level of standards d/t my burn out and stress.
When I started traveling it was like a great weight lifted from my shoulders and I enjoyed nursing again. Before I started traveling I seriously considered leaving nursing, but couldn't think of another thing I wanted to do, so I tried the traveling just to see if it saved my career and it did.
I resent the statement that "alot more people are being hurt lifting because the travelers don't help." Well, I am not the one sitting around chatting and checking out the messages on my cellphone constantly, I am the one out there giving my patients the best care I can and answering your call lights. I actually had one of my labor patients tell me at one facility how much more she enjoyed my care as I saw to her needs constantly and did need leave her in the room by herself with her husband and just check on her once in a while.
Yes, I make good money doing what I am doing, but that is not the reason I am doing the traveling, it was to save my career and stay in nursing. I would love to be able to live back home and be able to take my elder Father to his cardiolist and spend holidays with my brothers and family, but the hospitals don't make it a conducive working environment to stay as staff and until they do I will continue to travel.
The staff nurses need to stop and think we are there so they won't be working the mandatory overtime and have the time and energy to spend with their families. We are all in nursing together and need to stick together, whether it is traveler or staff nurses, we are there for the patients. Yes, we ask alot of questions, but so do those new nurses you are orientating, it is all part of being new to the floor.
I have also had staff nurses tell me what a great resources I am for them for info as the many diferent things I have experienced, but hey, you know what....I have learned alot of things from them too. I must say the facilities I have worked have been great and the staff nurses wonderful.
Sorry this is so long, but this is a sore subject for me.
We need to all work together!!!!!

[oramar]

Here is the big secret that nobody every wants to discuss. However, we nurses all know that employers that pay their staff well and treat them even better rarely need travelers. That article sounds as if it is blaming traveling nurses for the shortages that were actually cased by decades of nurse abuse.

[abarlowe]

I traveled to Providence Rhode Island 2 years ago, and you would not believe how ugly the staff nurses were to me. i was introduced as "The Traveler" instead of my name (even in the last few weeks). I couldn't believe that psych (staff) nurses of all could be so coldhearted. This was also the first time I had ever been exposed to a union. I learned that the union was set in place to help the nurses resolve issues with their administration, but lead to worsening work conditions...so said their own nurses. They alledge that good nurses couldn't get promoted and they couldn't get rid of bad nurses. Maybe the staff nurses there were angry and burned out, and due to that it causes a need for travelers because the hospitals can't bring in RNs easily anymore.

"Easy come, Easy go"

[teeituptom]

think the term Gypsie rather than traveler is really so much cuter.

[RosieGlow]

I've always wanted to be a traveler but I feel like something is always keeping me here. Maybe someday...