Agency Tips

wearingmanyhats, RN · Apr 19, 2012

I have done agency for 22 yrs, and have worked with a variety of agencies...

My biggest pet peeve? when "confirmed" doesn't mean confirmed! I get a call, I take a bunch of shifts, I get a call back that they are "confirmed" and then one by one, they get cancelled, sometimes, even as late as the morning of a 3-11. I get that the regular staff has first dibs, but there should be some sort of policy that if I am confirmed, it means I HAVE THE SHIFT!!!

There was a point in time, where I was turning down other shifts, because I was "confirmed" only to have only a very small portion of the actual shifts stick.

That is NOT fair, and makes paying bills very difficult. The LTC would not be happy if the morning of, I called and cancelled, so why should it be ok for them to do it?

Maine · Apr 21, 2012

I love the agency I work for because I believe the owner is a great guy and their values as a company fit me well. I like that they focus on the clients and also the nurses as customers. The one issue I do have is that they will have multiple people I have never met or talked to calling me, sometimes two different people call me for the same shift. I like to make relationships with the schedulers so they know me, know where I live and how far I usually will drive, know the places I've found to be a good fit for me etc. I usually am more willing to pick up for the people who called me or emailed me when they started there to say hi, my name is, I'm a _insert position here_ at your agency and I have some hours you may be interested in. One girl even called and asked when I might stop by the office because she liked to meet the nurses and asked that I try and say hi to her while there. I really liked that! There's one girl I rarely pick up for because she's called 100 times asking me to go to the same place I've chosen not to return to, and once or twice she's scheduled me for CNA shifts only to cancel me when she finds out I'm a nurse haha. But really these are all minor annoyances and overall I think the schedulers do a great job even when it gets pretty hectic. I think reaching out and having as personal a relationship as possible with your nurses will help with loyalty. Oh, and call them, don't expect them to call you because if they work for multiple agencies they may not.

meandragonbrett · Apr 22, 2012

Treat the nurses who work with you as if you were their nurse manager in a hospital. Be fair, be flexible, and most of all be approachable.

overtonis · May 9, 2012

The key to retaining agency nurses is actually pretty simple - treat them like staff. This assumes the staff is being treated properly :)

RNGriffin · May 12, 2012

My only issue with agency nursing is, a lot of the times these cases are taken on with no serious medical history or need for skilled nurses. If you hire a nurse or send a nurse out to a case, be sure it's in the scope of a nurse's duties and not just an assignment that could be fulfilled by a pct or hha.

Other than that, scheduling has always been the largest pet peeve with agency nursing. Be sure you have enough cases before hiring on so many PRN staff.

Kashia, ASN, LVN · Jul 8, 2012

If one plans on doing agency for awhile, like year or two or more, collect written references along the way- in case you should decide to apply for a staff position. My tip of the day!

What I have run into is my 5 yr ago references - where I worked full time on staff- are to old to be considered now. So in hindsight

I see much better if I had collected references from facilities I worked through agency along the way.

amoLucia · Jul 9, 2012

If one plans on doing agency for awhile, like year or two or more, collect written references along the way- in case you should decide to apply for a staff position. My tip of the day!
What I have run into is my 5 yr ago references - where I worked full time on staff- are to old to be considered now. So in hindsight
I see much better if I had collected references from facilities I worked through agency along the way.

Verrrry good advice in these times of prolonged job searches.

NedRN · Jul 22, 2012

I am a scheduling manager for a home health care agency. What are some things that aggravate nurses and what are ways to retain great nurses? I understand nurses move from one agency to another, but what would keep a nurse with one agency?

This is a strange thread starter. Shouldn't you be asking your employees what will make them happy? Just asking will help retention.

I also notice that you have not responded to any of the advice that you have been given since posting a month ago. If you also ignore your employee's input, it is not surprising that some of them leave.

dfk122 · Aug 2, 2012

I am a scheduling manager for a home health care agency. What are some things that aggravate nurses and what are ways to retain great nurses? I understand nurses move from one agency to another, but what would keep a nurse with one agency?

Sorry guys and girls! I have been quite busy the last several months.

Thanks for your input!

Mulan · Aug 2, 2012

I have done agency for 22 yrs, and have worked with a variety of agencies...
My biggest pet peeve? when "confirmed" doesn't mean confirmed! I get a call, I take a bunch of shifts, I get a call back that they are "confirmed" and then one by one, they get cancelled, sometimes, even as late as the morning of a 3-11. I get that the regular staff has first dibs, but there should be some sort of policy that if I am confirmed, it means I HAVE THE SHIFT!!!
There was a point in time, where I was turning down other shifts, because I was "confirmed" only to have only a very small portion of the actual shifts stick.
That is NOT fair, and makes paying bills very difficult. The LTC would not be happy if the morning of, I called and cancelled, so why should it be ok for them to do it?

My experience with that is, it's not the LTC (or in my case the hospital) that is cancelling you the morning of, it's the agency itself.

The agency will tell you that you are confirmed so that they will have a body in case the hospital needs someone at the last minute, and if the hospital doesn't need anyone the agency will call and cancel you.

You are "confirmed" with the agency, not the hospital.

Just another way the agency is looking out for itself.

uRNmyway, ASN, RN · Aug 3, 2012

One of my biggest pet peeves was getting called at like 11am several times a week. That doesnt sound like it should be a problem, except for the fact that I was a night shift nurse, and by that time, I had barely just hit my REM sleep...I asked nicely to remember Im a night nurse and I sleep during the day. Then I told them to leave me alone between 9am and 5pm at least. Then I told them that the next one who called would get a 2am call when *I* was wide awake. That made my point, and it stopped