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Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????



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Jun 26, 2006 09:56 AM

Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????


I have 2 weeks left on my current assignment and even that seems unbearable. I have been working at what has to be worst ER in country since April. I thought it would get better but it hasn't. It is flat out dangerous and disgusting. Travelers are definitely " picked on" and the skills of the staff nursing are substandard at best. You are basically a glorified nurses aid there. Nurses aids do NOTHING and give you attitude when you ask them for help. The nurse has to draw all the blood, do the EKGS, take the pt to and fro xray and ct scan. Doesnt leave much time for actual nursing. The doctors (including residents)treat the nurses like gum on the bottom of their shoe The triage nurse assigns pts based on quanity rather than acuity. I actually had a nurse try to give me a pt while I was bagging somebody. ***? And last week I had a pt in sustained vtach whose icd kept shocking him and charge nurse yelled at me because I hadnt checked crash room. When I told her I had critical pt she said " thats not an excuse" and made me leave bedside to go and change bags of saline. I also had 9 other pts by the way. Doctors dont communicate with nurses about the pt. I guess they feel they dont need to be kept informed because we are only nurses. Yesterday I had 10 pts including vented train wreck nursing home pt with rectal bleed, acute intracranial hem. So triage nurse gives me ANOTHER vented NH pt even though no one else had any vents. Then brain bleed had rxn to FFP and they STILL gave me more pts. IF you complain they belittle you and just give you MORE pts. I have been to charge nurse and I have spoken to agency and NOTHING has changed. Also...sharps containers and biohazrd are usually blocked by stretchers, there are no bedside tables so you have to put everything in bed with pt or on top of trashcan, and supplies are blocked by pt stretchers. There are no central monitors so if pt is on monitor you cant see it. Pysch pts are treated like caged animals in a zoo. Very inhumane. I actually want to report this ER. Someone has told me that because it is a union hospital nothing will happen to them. I feel very sorry for the pts here and I am quitting travel nursing because I cant bear to have another experience like this.


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21 Comments
No. 1
from Krither
Old Jun 26, 2006, 11:27 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
Wow, that just sounds horrible.

I'm not even a nurse yet, but I would say that not all hospitals would be like that. They can't be, otherwise, wouldn't the travel nursing industry simply die out?

I hope you find a good way out of this!
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No. 2
from jde8767
Old Jun 28, 2006, 05:48 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
Never "walked out" but quit. It was my first assignment. It was horrible. My travel agency said that it would look bad on my "record" and recommended going back. I was stupid at the time and believed everything they told me. I had made a list of all the unsafe things that were going on. They said it would cost me thousands to break the contract. I told them it was unsafe, and I did not agree in my contract to work in unsafe conditions. They asked me if I did incident reports on everything. Well, Of course NOT! I hardly had time to think, let alone mess around with their ridiculous system.

I finished the contract. I will probably never work in Florida again. And I do not recommend American Traveler.

I had the hours counted down on that assignment.
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No. 3
Old Jun 28, 2006, 02:23 PM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
Terra,

My regrets on the poor assignment.

If I recall, you have had a number of harsh assignments. Have they been with the same company, or have you changed companies?

If so, have you maybe considered revamping your interviewing technique, to weed out the bad assignments.
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No. 4
from readysetgo
Old Jul 02, 2006, 09:54 PM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
I am not an ER nurse, but I can imagine the shifts can get pretty hectic at times. However, that seems like a conspiracy to make or break the travel nurse for the fun of it with no interest in pt care, safety or anything else.
Call OSHA after you leave there. Get another agency. How long have you been traveling? Never walk out - they may turn you into the state for abandonment. When that assignment is over - run fast and far away from there and don't look back. I pray you make it through the next few days of the assignment. By the way, who was shocking the vtach pt?
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No. 5
Old Jul 12, 2006, 04:46 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
I left a 13 week assignment after 30 days, once. I gave my recruiter notice. It was a lot like your ER assignment, only it was chronic dialysis unit. I wouldn't want a dog to dialyze in that place.

My recruiter begged me to stay, but I told him I just couldn't do it. It cost me several hundred dollars to break the contract; I had to pay back the rent money my agency had already paid on a 3 month apt lease. But, it was worth every penny.
My recruiter respected my decison.
I've since done three more contracts with this recruiter, and everything worked out fine.
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No. 6
Old Jul 24, 2006, 01:13 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
i would recommend getting out if it's that bad - before anything really terrible happens with one of the patients -
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No. 7
from frazkw
Old Jul 24, 2006, 03:05 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
WOW!! I just signed up for my first travel assignment and now I am scared. I hope you are able to get out of that bad situation. Good Luck!!
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No. 8
from JazzyRN
Old Aug 13, 2006, 07:00 AM

Default Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
Ive walked out on an assignment before due to unsafe assignments and poor staffing. In my experience I told my clinial liason about how dangerous the hospital was and they released me from my contract without a problem. I also spoke with the hospitals management and director of risk management about the craziness of the situation there. I say definitly get out of these kinds of situations ASAP, because when something happens, it will be YOUR license in jeopardy. If I were you I wouldnt give up travelling altogether. Yes it was a bad experience for you, but not all hospitals are that way. Ive had some great travel experience, OK ones and this really bad one. What you can do is, do a little more research on the hospitals you choose to take an assignment with. Visit the facility, speak with the TRAVEL nurses there about their experience, which can be very different from staff. If possible, do some agency work there first, so you really know what your getting into. Good luck and dont let one bad experience turn you off to traveling.
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No. 9
Old Aug 15, 2006, 11:06 AM

Exclamation Re: Ever Walked Out On An Assignment????
enguin: Hey,

Get out no matter what. If somethng bad happens you know YOU will be blamed and your license will be on the line. Even if you have to pay to get out of it, do it.

I used to work in an ER and it was busy beyond belief but nothing like that ever happened. We didn't have travelers then. Do you work with real nurses? It doesn't sound like it.

I can't imagine that your company would make you stay in an unsafe environment. That sounds as unethical as your coworkers sound incompetent.
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