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.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

That happened to me, I haven't been back since.

Sometimes when I read your posts I wonder if we are in the same place, or if the same type of things just happen everywhere.

Yes, it happens everywhere.

[KatieBell]

Agree with Carol

This happens everywhere. Also, pretty much everywhere I have worked I have run into the same personality types on each unit (ie: The Prima Dona, The ball buster,Ms. Super-cautious, the clown/comedian, etc) Not all bad, but essentially everywhere I have been its been the same people with different names and slight variations on personality.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

Where I work we got rid of agency nurses a year ago. Everyone is now complaining of how they were so good and why did we piss them off. Go figure.

[fergus51]

Yes, it happens everywhere.

Not at my place. Any place that does that isn't interested in patient safety. Our agency nurses get lighter assignments than staff because we know they aren't familiar with the routines, the docs, the paperwork, etc.

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

sometimes there is a jewel hiding in an agency. 15 yrs ago the icu unit I work bought my contract. so I must have been doing something right

[TypicalFish]

We have many aganecy nurses come through; some are great, some aren't; One we have right now I've worked with before and she is super; calm, competent and extremely professional. I'd work with her anyday. You can't generalize about everyone-there's competent and incompetent people everywhere....

[bulletproofbarb]

Not at my place. Any place that does that isn't interested in patient safety. Our agency nurses get lighter assignments than staff because we know they aren't familiar with the routines, the docs, the paperwork, etc.

Same on our ward. The agency gets the majority of the basic cases plus maybe one post-op.

Anyway, some good news. After all our complaints we have booked an agency nurse for 4 weeks full time who is good. So, hopefully things will improve.

By the way, the bladder washout bag states it holds 4 litres, (although it has markings to 5 litres) actually, it can hold a good 6 l without bursting.

[misschelei]

6 liters is alot!! Was that all in one shift?

[nicholrwalker]

And I am sick to my eyeballs with dealing with incompetent staff nurses.....

Your point is?

Yeah Baby!!!!!!! :coollook:

[nicholrwalker]

Not at my place. Any place that does that isn't interested in patient safety. Our agency nurses get lighter assignments than staff because we know they aren't familiar with the routines, the docs, the paperwork, etc.

When I did alot of agency, I was routinely dumped on by the staff....especially if you are coming on a 11-7 shift and everyone has been there since 7p....I would usually end up with a group that all had a lot going on( ie blood transfusion, family issues, going "bad", or needing more pain meds and the md has not called back. After I became tired of going home half dead after 8 hours, I wised up. I refused to take any patien that wasnt "reasonably" caught up, I would just tell the nurse give me a patient you are caught up with and then you could finish up with this one instead of me trying to catch up you earlier work and my night work...I mean come on not doing the patients wound care and the such so you can dump on the oncoming agency nurse...that is just pathetic. Anyway I did that a couple of times, involving the supervisor one night, and I started getting the team of the nurse that was going home instead of some frankenstein team of patients the other nurses were tired of dealing with.

[fergus51]

When I did alot of agency, I was routinely dumped on by the staff....especially if you are coming on a 11-7 shift and everyone has been there since 7p....I would usually end up with a group that all had a lot going on( ie blood transfusion, family issues, going "bad", or needing more pain meds and the md has not called back. After I became tired of going home half dead after 8 hours, I wised up. I refused to take any patien that wasnt "reasonably" caught up, I would just tell the nurse give me a patient you are caught up with and then you could finish up with this one instead of me trying to catch up you earlier work and my night work...I mean come on not doing the patients wound care and the such so you can dump on the oncoming agency nurse...that is just pathetic. Anyway I did that a couple of times, involving the supervisor one night, and I started getting the team of the nurse that was going home instead of some frankenstein team of patients the other nurses were tired of dealing with.

That's a sign of a bad hospital IMO. Simply for reasons of patient safety, it isn't a good idea to give the sickest patients to someone who is new to the unit no matter how much experience they have as nurses.

I work NICU and our agency nurses generally don't even get intubated babies, they get feeder growers just like floats from other units would get (unless they are ex-staff or something). It can be hard on the staff sometimes. I have actually had to give up a feeder grower assignment at 11 pm when I had been there since 3pm in order to give that assignment to an agency nurse so that I could take the sick babies for the nurse going home at 11pm. It doesn't thrill me to do that 8 hours into a 16 hour shift, but it is expected of us and I think it's the right thing to do. I would happily work agency in my unit. The pay sounds nice and the assignments aren't heavy. Hospitals that dump on agency are just asking for trouble. This can be especially true in NICU with the family dynamics we often deal with. Agency nurses aren't always well received by those families no matter how great they are as nurses.

[nicholrwalker]

Well I agree, but telemetry is a little different...either you are a tele nurse or you are not, I dont mind having acute patients, but I tell you some times every last person on my team would have an issue. Then after a little investigation I would find they were given to me for that reason ( I guess the other nurses did not want the headache) My solution was to deal with each situation,do a little problem solving and actually work. I mean that's what we are here for, I just think its bad when staff dumps on you like that, just so they can have a better night. Needless to say I was scheduled 4 days there and have not ben back since.:rotfl: