I'm sick to my eyeballs of incompetent agency nurses.

[bulletproofbarb]

:angryfire

I am sick and tired of having to work with incompetent agency nurses. Ones that have no clue what to do but take the shift anyway because it's money.

I'm sick of having to teach them stuff, I am not there to teach them, I am happy to teach our own nurses but not agency nurses. If they feel they are suitable enough for agency, then it is their responsibility to make sure they have the skills not mine.

I'm sick of having to pick up the pieces and listen to complaints from relatives about them. I have had a gutful.

I'd rather work shortstaffed that watch someone do the bear minimum or nothing yet getting paid better. It really irritates me.

I hate it.I have had a gutful. I am ready to crack up.

I think that standards to become an agency nurse need to be raised. I've recently bumped into someone who has been out of the hospital system for 7 years and has come back through agency. She ended up on our ward and couldn't cope. Tonights idiot didn't know he had to empty the catheter bag of the bladderwashout and it burst. Considering they hold 4 litres, you can imagine the mess. He didn't know how to get a patient ready for theatre and a patient who was in pain was told by him to wait for another 2 hours until the medication was due again. Didn't know how to do a NJJ feed. It's appauling.

So I spoke to the manager who said he'd make a note to say he wasn't suitable, but I know from past experience it won't happen.

Then the agency nurse got offended when I told him he shouldn't take placements on a surgical ward if he doesn't normally work surgical. He said he worked medical. I don't bloody care if he is offended, that is his problem not mine.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

I have no problem helping agency nurses with finding things, charting, etc. I do have a problem when we get a GERIATRIC nurse working in the NICU!!! Yes, this happened at my hospital. Those rigorous yearly testing and competency evaluations are apparently not all that impossible to bypass if a geriatrics nurse can wind up in the NICU. Those people drive me insane and they give a bad name to others. We have also had several agency nurses claim to have NICU experience only to find out they were really newborn nursery nurses.

Having worked agency, I can say that it is not always the agency nurse's fault. I have walked in for a scheduled shift only to be told that the NICU did not need me and that I was to report to CCU. WTF??? How safe does that sound? I refused to go. My agency was not pleased and the facility put me on their 'do not return' list because I refused to work in an area in which I had no experience. (shows how much they care about patient safety doesn't it...). I dropped my agency after that. I refuse to let an agency make money off putting ***MY*** license at risk!! This same agency would call me day in and day out offering me shifts in areas they KNEW I had no experience. It was all about the $$$ for them. :angryfire

That said, there are some deceptive (not to mention STUPID) nurses out there. Last spring, our unit contracted two travelers who allegedly had NICU experience. Well, when they arrived, they did not even know the BASICS about working in the NICU. Who does that? Who says "Yes, I have NICU experience" when they have never set foot in one? How on earth do they think that they are going to be able to fake it for a 13-week travel assignment?? Oh, I forgot...all NICU nurses do is feed and rock babies. :angryfire

[KatieBell]

As a traveler, which is akin to agency, I can hear your complaints. What I expect from the nurses who are permanent is help finding things, knowing how things are done at the place I am at, and occasional assistance with "What do you think is going on with Mr. J. He's had x amt ofnebs and is still really not moving air..."

I will only work Emergency though. I did a year of ICU 4 years ago and recently my company wanted to place me in ICU. While I might could do it, it isn't my expertise, so I said, heck no...find me an ED with a shortage.

Many many people take those tests from agency at home and can look up the answers on line. Please see my post regarding agency nurses...

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

What I expect from the nurses who are permanent is help finding things, knowing how things are done at the place I am at, and occasional assistance with "What do you think is going on with Mr. J. He's had x amt ofnebs and is still really not moving air..."

...

That's a reasonable expectation. I know sometimes travelers and agency nurses get a cold shoulder from staff, making it more difficult on them. Plus some areas (not when I've been in charge) give the agency nurses the worst assignments (because they make more money), and then complain about them when they can't manage the unfair assignment.

[fergus51]

Having worked agency, I can say that it is not always the agency nurse's fault. I have walked in for a scheduled shift only to be told that the NICU did not need me and that I was to report to CCU. WTF??? How safe does that sound? I refused to go. My agency was not pleased and the facility put me on their 'do not return' list because I refused to work in an area in which I had no experience. (shows how much they care about patient safety doesn't it...). I dropped my agency after that. I refuse to let an agency make money off putting ***MY*** license at risk!! This same agency would call me day in and day out offering me shifts in areas they KNEW I had no experience. It was all about the $$$ for them. :angryfire

It is always the agency nurse's fault if she is too stupid to refuse to go to an area where she has NO knowledge or experience. Those nurses are dangerous fools and I don't want them on my unit. I won't apologize for that. We treat our agency and travellers very well, considering the fact that they ALWAYS get the least acute assignments. I expect them to come with the basic knowledge and experience needed to take those assignments, end of story. That's why the hospitals pay more for them. If we wanted someone with no experience, we would just get a new grad.

[nicholrwalker]

Wow, I do not know where you guys work, but I know facilities where "agency nurses" kept it going. Maybe your facility should have a skill checklist or small compentency test for thos dreadful agency nurses.

I have been on both sides of the table and never had a problem, usually agency nurses have worked more places and bring more experiences with them. However, i have encountered angry nurses such as your self who may know how to do things only one way and are not open to other ways of nursing, usually once I work through a shift I don't have anymore issues with them either. I think your administration should work on a criteria for agency if the ones that have been coming through are so awful. Or maybe you could just work understaffed?

[grannynurse FNP student]

It is always the agency nurse's fault if she is too stupid to refuse to go to an area where she has NO knowledge or experience. Those nurses are dangerous fools and I don't want them on my unit. I won't apologize for that. We treat our agency and travellers very well, considering the fact that they ALWAYS get the least acute assignments. I expect them to come with the basic knowledge and experience needed to take those assignments, end of story. That's why the hospitals pay more for them. If we wanted someone with no experience, we would just get a new grad.

I have been an agency nurse and have received assignments I have refused and have been blasted by the facility for my refusal. I do not work OB and peds. I haven't worked either since the early 70s. MCH, Bradenton,Fl, once assigned me to a peds unit. I refused and the supervisor told me that I would basically be working as an aide. Sorry, I am an RN and should anything adverse happen, while the peds patient is under my care, I will be held to the RN's standard of practice. My agency backed me up and told the supervisor to use me in an area suited for my skill level. I was sent to CCU, which was to my skill level. Once I worked a facility two or three times, no questions were asked about my skills or competency level. I too am sick of agency nurses and staff nurses being lumped together as good, poor or bad. And I am one of the few nurses who does not believe that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse.

Grannynurse:balloons:

[fergus51]

Wow, I do not know where you guys work, but I know facilities where "agency nurses" kept it going. Maybe your facility should have a skill checklist or small compentency test for thos dreadful agency nurses.

I have been on both sides of the table and never had a problem, usually agency nurses have worked more places and bring more experiences with them. However, i have encountered angry nurses such as your self who may know how to do things only one way and are not open to other ways of nursing, usually once I work through a shift I don't have anymore issues with them either. I think your administration should work on a criteria for agency if the ones that have been coming through are so awful. Or maybe you could just work understaffed?

I don't know if this is directed at me, but I have to say, I am not an angry nurse with limited experience in different ways of doing things. I have worked in different units in different hospitals in different countries and I have no problem with an agency nurse doing things differently. I have a problem with agency nurses who are unsafe or just plain dumb (and you have to be dumb to take a shift in a specialty you've never worked in before). Like I said, I have no problem helping an agency nurse out with where things are, charting, etc. as long as they come with the knowledge and experience to take a stable assignment. Otherwise, it's better to work short staffed. I don't understand why saying that causes agency nurses to get defensive. If you are a good agency nurse, I wasn't talking about you.

[nicholrwalker]

Lest we forget there are good and bad in all things. Good agency nurses/bad agency nurses. Good staff nurses/bad staff nurses. I noticed you said you would help a staff nurse out if she needed it but not an agency nurse, are you this hostile towards them on the floor? That must make for a pretty "professional" picture. I cannot imagine asking a felllow nurse a question and she give me attitude just because I choose to work independent of a facility, through an agency. What is the difference in helping a staff person who may not know something as opposed to an agency nurse who may ask the same thing. I hope I never harbor that type of ill will towards another living human being. Form a committee in you facility that monitors the criteria of nurses being assigned there, be proactive not just angry.

[nicholrwalker]

I don't know if this is directed at me, but I have to say, I am not an angry nurse with limited experience in different ways of doing things. I have worked in different units in different hospitals in different countries and I have no problem with an agency nurse doing things differently. I have a problem with agency nurses who are unsafe or just plain dumb (and you have to be dumb to take a shift in a specialty you've never worked in before). Like I said, I have no problem helping an agency nurse out with where things are, charting, etc. as long as they come with the knowledge and experience to take a stable assignment. Otherwise, it's better to work short staffed. I don't understand why saying that causes agency nurses to get defensive. If you are a good agency nurse, I wasn't talking about you.

Well the next time you are met with that dillema, send the nurse home and pick up that assignment, I am sure the other nurses would'nt mind. If it is safer. I have worked in places(as staff) where we did just that.

[nicholrwalker]

I am directing that reply towards anyone as angry as you are.....Please tell me you are doing something to fix the problem in you facility, if not you are going to stay angry and that helps no one. I for one would not want to step into a facility where people have preconceived ideas of my work without me even working, it makes for a bad work enviroment. Ease up, talk to the "powers that be", get other nurses involved who are just as fed up as you are, and see what you guys can get accomplished. Maybe your facility could start a in-house pool, with your own "ageny nurses" trained to the P&P of your facility. NOw that is not a guarantee that they will be better, but at least you all can consider them one of your own. Not trying to insult anyone its just that when people use words like "dumb" to me that is like profanity.

[fergus51]

I am directing that reply towards anyone as angry as you are.....Please tell me you are doing something to fix the problem in you facility, if not you are going to stay angry and that helps no one. I for one would not want to step into a facility where people have preconceived ideas of my work without me even working, it makes for a bad work enviroment. Ease up, talk to the "powers that be", get other nurses involved who are just as fed up as you are, and see what you guys can get accomplished. Maybe your facility could start a in-house pool, with your own "ageny nurses" trained to the P&P of your facility. NOw that is not a guarantee that they will be better, but at least you all can consider them one of your own. Not trying to insult anyone its just that when people use words like "dumb" to me that is like profanity.

Again, I'm not angry. Is it anger to want to work with competent nurses? I think that's completely reasonable. I doubt you would want a geriatrics nurse looking after your sick baby. I don't have any preconceived notions about agency nurses that are negative. I actually expect them to be pretty awesome nurses if they are able to work in different units daily and I have never been mean to one of them in my life.

I'm sorry if you don't like my use of the word dumb, but I don't know what else to call it. What would you call it when a geriatrics nurse accepts an assignment in NICU? Seriously, I am open to suggestions.

Oh, forgot to add, we already do in house registry and fortunately have been able to get enough experienced travellers and agency lately to keep things going well. The time when we had real trouble with incompetent agency nurses was when we were waaaaaaayyyy busy and the agencies seemed willing to just send us any warm body they could find.

[nicholrwalker]

Enough said...I feel your pain, sadly there are people who will accept any assignment just for the money. They think they can wing it, I call that desperate and dangerous. Good Luck on your unit.