Traveling to Cali

steelcityrn, RN · Jan 9, 2006

Only working for 7-8 months in critical care does not seem long enough, BUT I must say it would depend on how you feel your skills have been mastered in such a short time. You will be expected to work along side others who may or may not have been in their job that long also. Independent and skilled you need to be. Good luck to you if you go.

rntravlon · Jan 10, 2006

Which Kaiser in LA? Kaiser hospitals are hit and miss. Some are good and some are bad. I finished an assignment you couldn't pay me enough to go back to.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 10, 2006

I've made a post in the California forum about this, and I'd love it if anyone could peek at it and give me an opinion. In a nutshell... I'm a new grad in a critical care unit of an 800+ bed, level 1 trauma center off orientation since August. A travel agency (Ready Link) is all over me to go to Kaiser in West LA. My unit gets vents, multiple drips, cystic fibrosis patients and adult & peds traumas in addition to the normal COPD, CHF, older people stuff. The recruiters say with my experience I should be ok, but I'm not sure. Anyone have experience with the agency or hospital? I would really appreciate any info I can get. They want a final answer in the morning

Run as fast as you can from that agency. I would also be very surprised if Kaiser would accept you with only that training, they are usually quite picky with several phone interviews, etc. That agency should be ashamed of themselves. Most critical care units are actually nor requiring 2 years of experience before even offering them a job.

The recruters for the agency are also not nurses..............they only get paid when they place someone. But it is your license at stake.

fergus51 · Jan 10, 2006

Any agency that tells you to be a traveller without AT LEAST one full year of working is shady. Do not do it!!! Even if you are a great new nurse, you're still new and travelling is not for the new.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2006

Agree with Suzanne and Fergus.

Any agency that recruits ANY nurse with less than 1-2 years of RN (on your own/not orientation/not clinicals) experience does not have your or the facilities best interests at heart and is down right dangerous. And recruiters get paid to lure you in, have you take assignments...many have never worked as a nurse nor know anything about what safe.

I know that the vast majority of new nurses "think" that how hard can it be...I've got plenty of great experience...I had great clinicals...I work at a world class teaching/trauma facility.... that should count for SOMETHING.

It really doesn't. I have worked with nurses that work at "world class" facilities that could not function well in a rural facility. Plus the vast majority of Nursing schools had great clinicals, etc.

These are never a substitute for experience.

A good thing to do, to see if traveling would work for you, would be to float frequently, or to pick up per diem shifts in the float pool at a different facility. This will give you experience in different nursing environments.