Cancelled

Orient at another hospital, then when you book with your agency tell them if one cancells you to automatically reschedule you at the other facility.

Definately agree with going for another facility as well... also are you being to specific ie) you will only work with ICU pts, etc... maybe you can offer to also do stepdown, etc. Don't know your speciality area. Also..maybe there is another shift that you could do. Just ideas.

Agree with the above, try another hospital. Maybe your scheduler can have a standby client ready so you can go there. I could never survive on a schedule like that either.....how frustrating and bad for the pocketbook!

renerian

Do you ever get into the situation where you have gotten cancelled after you arrive @ work??GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Yes, that happened to me once. I neglected to call my voice mail at 9 PM after a class, I arrived at 11PM and was told I was cancelled. I was so pissed. Now I always check at 9PM to see If i am concelled.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I am going to get oriented to some other hospitals. I am also thinking about taking a travel nursing job in my own city, where i can get a 12 week block of time.

I was cancelled 7 out of 9 shifts at one facility in a 9 day period. Then they called my agency and wanted to book me for the coming weeks. I said no I would only go on short notice to that facility. They tend to double book and then cancel. Several of us are not scheduling them a head of time, now they are sucking on my toes. I worked this evening with 4 hour notice. I think for a while I will play this facility like that. JMHO:devil:

Hag good idea.............I like the devil face.......

renerian

Great idea Hag. I am sitting here now, waiting to be cancelled. I am going to try that tactic. The staffer at my agency say"you gotta play the game--we supply nurses to supplement their staff, they can cancel if they want to." I hung up and then dialed another agency number, and I am going to sign up with them this week.

I am looking for a new agency too...they aren't staying competitive.. We can't allow these agencies(or hospitals) to treat us badly or they will surely continue to do so...

I've read all the above post.....I have to say I can truly relate. I gave my agency 5 days for a particular hospital, and like an alarm clock they called me 4 out of the 5 mornings @ 5:40 to cancel me. So now I give them 1 or 2 days at the most and if they needed me to stay and work a double that day I would.... but you definitely cannot rely on those hosp... they will cancel you in a heart beat.. (They even called to cancel me when I wasn't even on the schedule ) I thought that was really bad.

It is frustrating to say the least. For me, the key has been to diversify. I make it clear that my agency should only book me where I am treated well and that includes call offs at a minimum.

Try to see if you can book directly with the floor of your specialty. That sometimes is my "sure thing". Try talking the the Nurse Mager on the unit you go to for block booking.

I have had facilites cancel me after I get there (and I have received time and trouble pay) or send me home early after the 4 hours that are guaranteed by the agency. I always make it clear I want to get my hours in and can sometimes negioiate a float to another floor.

Good luck to you and let us know how you are doing.

This week I didn't get cancelled at all for 5 shifts. One day I had a run-in with an aide that refused to get working at 7:45 AM and the shift starts at 7am. None of the nurses stuck up for me. I was so disgusted. All the aides and nurses gave me the cold shoulder that day, like i was such a tyrant. You know, stupid nurses who don't know how to delegate are their own worst enemies. I won't feel sorry for them when they tell me how "busy" they were on the shift at report time. The nursing supervisor did support me, and gave the aide a talking to.