How are You Treated at Various Hospitals?

Specialties Agency

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Most of the hospitals I go to, the staff is happy that I came to help out, they have no problem showing me where things are, and that makes sense. What doesn't make sense are the places you walk into where the staff nurses look at you like crap on the bottom of their shoe. And don't mention that it's your first time at the facility and you need to be shown where vital things are like the, oh.... say med carts for instance. It's like you just asked them to give you their first born. I recently worked with these 2 staff RNs who snickered with eachother whenever I would ask a question pertaining to where something could be found. How immature is that?? And believe me, I ask questions as a last resort. I always attempt to find the item on my own. If these nurses are unhappy with their current situation, they can do the EXACT same thing as me and get an agency job for better pay and better hours. If any staff nurses are reading this forum, remember when we come to your facility, it's to help your shift out so you won't have to take care of as many patients. And don't assume that just because we're agency, we don't know what we're doing. There are excellent agency nurses out there. Lots of us better than the staff nurses that we follow behind and have to clean up after.

Now that I've vented, I have to say that switching to agency nursing is the best thing I've ever done. Almost double the pay, better hours, more days off, and no politics. One of the staff RNs I worked with told me I made more than her at $20/hr and I'm an LPN in the New Orleans area. That's sad. Hospitals need to pay more and stop making empty promises if they're going to have any staff left at all. :cool:

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It really is all relative. I have worked agency and been treated like gold and been staff and treated like sh**. It all depends on how mature the staff is on the floor. I have found management plays a big role in determining how accepting staff will be of agency nurses.

I think there are many nurses who would go agency if they offered the basic benefit package, I know for me and several of my fellow staff that is the only thing that holds us to a hospital job.

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I work in a local health care center most of the time, and alternate between LTC and psych wards. Most of the staff is very welcoming and helpful, but some of the RNs can get testy, especially if they haven't been REAL nurses as long as I have been a Living Practical Nurse......

For the most part it has been great.

MRed

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the hospitals I have worked at so far have all been pretty great. the nurses pca's have been great .they always say thanks for the help.I offer help to them and they do the same for me...i love agency nursing!!

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Then there was the time I went to a nursing home out of town from where I live....

Orientation scenario:

"Here are the keys. There is the med room. See ya!"

I didn't even know which way to run if the fire alarm went off.

Needless to say, I didn't work there for long!

MRed

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Hey Brita,

I am also an agency nurse in the New Orleans area. I started out as an LPN and now work as an RN agency nurse. Most hospitals that i work, the staff is very friendly and helpful. They understand that you are there do help with the extra load, so they welcome you without problems. I've only had one bad experience at facility due to the fact that there were two newly hired staff nurses and four agency nurses. The pay here in LA for nurses, especally agency nurses is good. I made $21-25/hr as an LPN and now make $32-36 as an RN. I've met several nurses who worked staff and now work agancy for the pay. We do the same work except I don't have to go to the same hospital on a daily basis, take weekends and holidays off if I want, and request extra money per hour if they call me at the last minute. Yes , we are called off sometimes, but so are staff nurses. I don't know if I'll ever work staff again. If the hospital likes the job you've done, they often request that you come back often. I understand that this isn't for everyone because some people need stability in they're lives. I fell like nursing is nursing no matter what. The setting may change. ospital policy and procedure may change (slightyly), but a patient is a patient and they all deserve and need the same nursing care.

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PhantomRN, there are many agencies that offer benefits including mine. The health insurance premiums are more expensive, but when you look at the money that you make, you end up way ahead. My health insurance is paid for with one shift.

Wildtime88, I know where you're coming from about hospital policies. In this one hospital I go to, I'm not allowed to hook anything up to or flush a central line because I'm an LPN. Even though I can do it in my sleep. The charge RN made a point to tell me this and then would grumble and sigh everytime she had to get up to do something with one of my central lines. Believe me, I would have rather done it myself.

JanRN, I'm glad you're having such a wonderful time of it. Agency nursing can be very rewarding.

MRed94, I'm surprised they showed you where the med room was before they took off. :D You're a braver soul than I am to work nursing homes as an agency nurse. I used to be on staff at a nursing home and when I first started, my favorite part of passing meds was trying to figure out who John Smith was in a sea of 100 dining room faces while looking over a picture of Mr. Smith taken about 200 years ago.

Mamboyaya, which agency did you work with that paid LPNs $21 - $25/hr. I need to sign up.

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Uh...Brita01....

They didn't SHOW me where the med room was, they just flipped their hand down the hallway in the general direction.

The first night I was there, it was ENTIRELY agency staff in the building, charge and all.....NO actual facility staff in the place. Talk about sacry!

I love working agency, and going to the nursing homes.....same stuff, diff pts. Usually the CNAs are wonderful about pointing out who is who, and they are wonderful to work with. I usually replace a nurse that nobody likes.... :D :D

So it is great!

They pay us $21-$25 here, too.

:)

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ccc : I have done agency Nursing for the past 2 yrs. You will never get me to be on staff anywhere ever again, for the obvious reasons, such as politics, and pay. You also have to love the fact you do not have to attend all those ridiculous staff meetings. I work third shift, and I drive a good distance, but as a LPN I make 26.00 a hour through the week and 27.50 on weekends. It is a Hospital, telemetry unit. When I first went to this Hospital, they did not allow IV certified LPN's even to fluch a peripheral line, and in OH, LPN's can't do anything to a Central line, except change the dressing. It is a ratio of 25% staff nurses, and the rest are all agency. The Hospital had reached a point where they are now allowing LPN's IV certified to do their IV's, flushes, and what the state will allow with piggy back antibiotics. I must say that I have always had a positive experience at this hospital. I have gone to a couple of LTC facilities and been treated badly. I just do not go back. That is the beauty of agency. It just boggles my mind that more nurses do not do Agency, I do understand about benefits, but heck, you could buy your own and still be money ahead. I pick my own schedule too. I do work weekends, because I like that increase in pay.

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HI I'M NOT AN AENCY NURSE BUT WANTED TO ASK... DO YOU AS AN AGENCY NURSE OR PERDIUM NURSE THAT COME TO THE SAME FLOOR ALL THE TIME(IF YOU DO) MAKE COMMENTS LIKE WE HEAR FROM OUR AGENCY/PERDIUM NURSES LIKE..."I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO COUNT,I'M PERDIUM" OR "I SHOULDN'T HAVE AN ADMIT", OR I HAVE THE WORST PATIENTS"(WHEN IT'S ACTUALLY NOT TRUE). I'M CERTAINLY NOT SAYING ALL DO THIS BUT SOME DO EVEN WHEN THEY ARE THERE ALOT AND DO NOT HAVE THE WORST PTS.

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Hi Tiger. I have no problem with doing anything that the staff nurses do. When I go to the hospital, I go there to work, I don't feel that just because I'm "agency" I shouldn't have to do certain things. In this area, believe it or not, there is this one hospital that is notorious for giving the agency nurses or nurses within their own float pool the worst patients. I found this out after I had gone their and took my assignment. Out of all the patients on the floor, 2 were full dress isolation and 2 were to receive blood. Guess who got these 4 patients? Plus I had 4 other patients, and there was no nursing assisant. But I didn't complain to the staff nurses who sat around kicked back all night long while I ran around, I did my work and then let the agency know the next day not to send me back there.

I also have no problem taking admits, as that is a part of the nursing job I expect to do. And if the hospitals would allow it, I would count the narcotics (and would probably get to leave on time because of it).

And you say that you've heard agency nurses complain about their patient loads and the work they have to do, I've heard staff nurses do the same thing, and do it loudly.

What all nurses have to realize is that when we're working on the floor, we're all in the same sinking boat together and it doesn't matter what our title is or who we're working for. Nurses need to learn to work together and stop picking at eachother.

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I just wanted to chime in and say that I have had really good shifts at various places and really bad ones. The bad ones, I just don't go back. That is 1/3 of the reason I like agency work. You get to "quit" if it isn't a pleasant atmosphere.

Another 1/3 is the $$$. I really do look at as I am getting closer to what I am worth than being on staff somewhere.

The last 1/3 is I never again want someone else to decide WHEN I work or how many hours. You can't make agency nurses work manditory overtime. I have missed too many special days in the past because someone else decided when I would work.

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