I have a few questions I would like to pose to fellow agency nurses. I have been an agency nurse since oh,, I think March. I find it enjoyable and yet very difficult. I have come to the conclusion that it takes one hell of a nurse to be able to walk into a facility and pick up the ball and not miss a beat. I take great pride in my ability to do that, though I will state that I only take assignments to ltc facilities, for that is what I know. You wont see me jump from ltc to a hospital setting.
I guess I don't have questions, more like thoughts I would like to hear responses too. Be aware that I intend to bash agency nursing, which I am enjoying so much for many reasons, money, scheduling my own hours,,ect. In another post I stated that I felt that Agency nursing was a brilliant idea that served a good pupose, that seems to have turned into a money making monster. By this I meant that over the last five years, agency's have come outta nowhere, to take advantage of the shortage. (Somebody out there is making alot of dough).
I have also stated that I fear that there are too many agency nurses out there that have the horrible attitude. The attitude of I am just agency, dont ask much of me, I will pass my pills and be on my way, I will not lift a finger unless I absolutly have to, I will insist on having the regular staff hold my hand all shift.....you know what I mean. I also stated that Agency nurses with this attitude have been the down fall of many facilities. Too many agency nurses floating in and out, not caring about the facility itself and barley caring about the patients they are to care for, just covering their own butts and nothing more and sometimes not even that.
Now mind you one of the reasons I turned to agency is to escape the pressures of management, but I didn't throw out the idea of caring for the facility. By this I mean showing concern for the things that keep the state from shutting them down. The little things that I have seen agency nurses say "let the regular staff take care of that", like reordering med's, charting properly, stocking supplies, knowing the protocols they have inplace reguarding skin care, toiliting charging for supplies, dating insulin bottles etc. These are things that we all know need done, why don't we do them? Why do so many of us go in, do the least we can do and leave.
Now tell me that the reasons are due to lack of info provided by regular staff, no orientation. Then I will ask you how many times do you need to be oriented and can you not ask questions.
Why is it do you think that so often you enter a building for the first time and get "the eye" from the regular staff as well as the patients and their families. Why is it that so often you feel the staff is rude and cold, unthankful for your prescense, unwilling to orient you. Why are we often viewed as a hinderance instead of help. Why have so many of us gone from a regular staff position to agency?
I often wonder if we have become too much of a self sevrving society. By this I mean, do we all tend to merely look out for number one. Take the easiest road for the most amount of money.
Why do I so often find myself bashing other agency nurses?
