I am a new grad and hired with 2 nursing agencies

[elomi18]

Hi everyone,

It's my first time posting a topic here and looking forward for some opinions. So I'm sort of in a tough situation I guess. I had been hired in two agencies, one agency is for different long term care facilities and the other one is different hospitals. However, I am recently a new grad and no doubt I am very excited to finally start my career but a couple things do worry me. Agencies don't really offer in-depth training that I need to transition and be confident enough in my skills. I'm not exactly sure if I had made the right decision in accepting agency job offers as I have not been offered a parttime or fulltime at one hospital yet. I am receiving shifts that the hospital agency emails to me (which of course are mostly specialized) but I've been too hesitant to take a shift even in a General medicine unit. My recent and last clinical placement was in LTC so I thought I could maybe take on an LTC agency. Now after reading a couple of posts of agency nursing I don't know if I should let go of one of the agencies that hired me, or keep it and see how it goes on my first shift?

I feel it may be too risky, but I get mixed opinions. On one side, I should keep it because as a new grad I do need the experience and it is a tough job market for new nursing graduates if you don't have experience. On the other hand, I am putting my licence at risk because of lack of experience..

Sorry for the super long post.. I need to really get this off my chest.

[Rocktheman]

I'm still in nursing school, but are you essentially like a float nurse kinda?

[elomi18]

I guess its sort of like a float nurse but I don't have experience as a float nurse either so I can't really imagine working as a new nurse to different hospitals and units..

[caliotter3]

Not considered to be a good idea. It takes a good year to get used to nursing itself and used to a particular workplace. You can't do that when you are not necessarily going to the same facility or unit twice in a row. If you want to give yourself a chance to acclimate, look for a full time position in a LTC facility if you can't get hired in an acute care facility. If they can't offer you FT, then part time in two facilities would give you a better chance to get used to things.

[Wave Watcher]

Most agencies do not care about your experience. They are about the money when it comes right down to it. I worked for an agency and told them I only wanted to do school nursing at the time....they continually called me begging me to do double shifts on a specialty floor knowing I did not have the experience and told them I did not feel comfortable with it. They get paid approximately double what they pay you. Many (not all) agencies just want a warm body to fill a shift.

Only work what you are comfortable working. Don't be a hazard to your patients. :-)

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Crazy. They are setting you up for a big time FAIL. An agency nurse needs to really know her stuff. Most agencies I have worked with in the past would never hire a new grad without training. The hospitals they supply would have fired them for that and had minimum standards even for agency nurses.

This is true for LTC also.

[elomi18]

Thank you for all your feedback.. I feel I should let go of agency nursing for now and move on.. I'll just wait for a better opportunity where I can hone my skills and confidence :)

[caliotter3]

Good decision. Too much at risk at this point. A friend from school worked agency as a new grad by lying about her experience. She said she was barely able to survive due to her very real lack of experience.

[rn2728]

Good decision, at the end of the day it is your license on the line not the agency.

[elomi18]

Ohhh that's unfortunate... did she end up quitting agency afterwards?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

How you get those positions?

Most agencies will NOT, and I do mean not hire a new grad with a 10-ft pole.

[elomi18]

I'm not sure and it's not like I completely lied about my experiences. I thought this would have been a chance to gain experience and with endless opportunities by going to different units. I did not research enough about agency nursing at the time and was a bit misinformed.