Do you make your own schedule?

She may have been on the rude side but she was right. We are there to fill in the needs they have and very often it may not seem fair. But not very often do we get treated like staff. A lot worse then that can happen as a traveler then getting a crap schedule. It might make for a rough 13 weeks but is def not uncommon. Its the life of a travel nurse and hopefully your next assignment will be better.

Thanks for your response, maim, but my question was if you have been able to make your own schedule in your travel assignments?

Where I work, they are very grateful for their experienced travelers and I do get most of my schedule requests. This is my first experience as a traveler so I cannot speak for the majority.

all the travel contracts i have have been self schedule and i do get what i put except for a few occasions. Next time right the dates you want off in your contract.

I too have been very fortunate on most of my travel assignments I have been able to make my own schedule or block time off. Occasionally, the schedule has been adjusted but it has always been fair. Unfortunately it is true that we are there to fulfill their needs so they can schedule us any way they want. I'm sorry you were spoken to so rudely, that wasn't an appropriate response from the scheduler.

That was a rude response from your charge RN, I'm sorry. Sometimes people have this misconception of travelers; that we are money hungry, bad nurses who don't care about the hospital or are patients and so they treat us like crap. I've seen a couple union fliers here in So Cal that sort of paint a bad light as well, that we're basically "stealing" shifts from the per diem and float pool staff. It's not always accurate or nice.

My response to an argument like that made to me was, "yes, I am here to fill your staffing needs, but I'm also here to be part of YOUR STAFF for these 13 weeks. Therefore, EVERYONE should be adhering to the scheduling guidelines if we are doing self scheduling, and I should be allowed the same requests as others, if we are doing self scheduling." Ex. I've seen RN's block out EVERY WEEKEND on their schedule, and the charge RN allow it and just put the travelers on those weekends, and tell us to suck it up. Not cool, and I said something. That's not why I'm there. Every other night is unreasonable, and I would speak to the manager about it. It also somewhat defeats the purpose of hiring a traveler; there's no continuity of care, and that's not fair to the patient.

Thank you BD-RN. I really appreciate your response.

This being my first assignment, I have had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what was expected and what really is ok to ask for and say out loud. I guess I am so scared of saying something people don't like and risk being alienated. Yeah, I feel like I have been put into some sort of "sub-staff" category, that is totally unfair.

Another traveler I worked with today said to make sure I am asking how a unit schedule works IN THE PHONE INTERVIEW. And to write any important dates into my next contract!

It is a "live it-learn it" kind of business isn't it? Luckily I was thinking about traveling for a long time before I started and asked a TON of questions. I'm only on my third contract but I've learned to stick up for myself. You can do it without being rude, you just have to be firm.