first day with agency - lol.

[mmccool719]

First day as an agency nurse and wanted to share some highlights.........literally got thrown in the mix of a haphazard facility which was grossly understaffed and undergoing some big management problems. The charting system was all paper for agency nurses. There have been some major medication errors recently at this facility - sending 3 patients to higher levels of care. They have a very poor system for charting orders and med passes - huge risk for errors. Agency cannot access computers therefore cannot see lab results, vital trends. They wanted to train me for just 4 hours and then put me in charge of a 12 bed floor which luckily I was able to fly under the radar and stay with another RN for the whole day.

I was also told I am very underpaid by the agency I am with by another agency nurse.

So, in these types of facilities with MAJOR safety issues, what do I need to do to keep myself and my license out of trouble? I'm afraid if I say I won't go back, my hours will be limited because this is a larger client for the agency.

[sailornurse]

I would not go back. My license is my livelihood, without it I won't be able to work in nursing. Sign up with another agency. If you can not access the labs, vital signs then they need to print them out for you. You are missing crucial information. For ex; pt on BP meds, you should know what BP has been trending, notice I said trending, not just the most recent BP. Same for labs.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Getting thrown into the mix is normal.

Getting thrown into a haphazard disaster is not. I agree: there's too many red flags in this facility that would make me very wary about going back.