Published Dec 1, 2008
Sweeper933
409 Posts
The census at my unit is still unbelievably low. We are still working with about half the staff that we should be working with. Any of you seeing low census problems in your units???
It's gotten to the point where a lot of us are looking for agency jobs to supplement our income. It's getting to where I almost have no vacation time left to get paid with when we get downstaffed. Not getting paid really isn't an option... have bills to pay!!!
Do any of you know know any agencies in the Chicago area that will staff NICU? Feel free to PM me with the details if you don't want to post on the thread!
Thanks everybody in advance!
(I have also posted this in the agency forum and in the Illinois forum...)
ChicagoRNStacy
3 Posts
i replied to your post on a different thread. i thought i would put it here as well to make sure you saw it.
i have been doing agency nursing in chicago for a few years. im on staff as a nicu nurse and most of the agency nursing ive been doing is nicu nursing. i do have a critical care background as well so i also do tele agency nursing.
i have also noticed a slow down in my nicu.
the chicago nursing agency im working for had a lot of nicu work available for me all summer long and into the fall. in the last 3-6 weeks the agency nursing work available for nicu nurses has really slowed down. the hospitals are just not ordering nicu nurses from the agencies. this doesnt surprise me because i noticed this last december as well. nicu is somewhat seasonal so most of the agency nursing work available for nicu nurses is in the spring and summer months.
good thing i have a tele background because when the nicu agency work slows down my nursing agency just sends me out for tele work.
the nursing agency i work with now is call healthcare personnel inc. they are a local nursing agency that has been working with the chicago area hospitals for almost 20 years. you can always call them and talk with them about the available nicu work. they are very nice people and im sure they would be happy to talk with you. im guessing that they will tell you that the nicu work is slow now and will pick up in feb/march.
here is a link to their web site if you want to contact them.
http://www.hcpersonnel.com
if you call them call the chicago office and ask for peggy. she is very nice.
good luck in your search.