IntelyCare

TravelnursePA · Jul 25, 2023

Your post was over a year ago, but I'm an RN and started with IntelyCare recently and there are definitely pros and cons, as with any job. It depends what you're looking for and how far you are willing to travel if the available shifts "near" you are still pretty far. Almost all of the ones I've gone to are 45 mins - 1.5 hrs away so I only accept shifts with Hero Pay, given that I spend roughly 2 hrs driving (time + gas = $). I was doing homecare and recently put in my 2 weeks notice as it paid much less and they really want to lock me down with set days (which I completely understand), but then I felt like I was always working there and missing a much better shift opportunity with IntelyCare that I wasn't able to accept. I am able and willing to pick up any shift (day, evening, or nights), but the homecare job was preventing me from working a nightshift the night before I was scheduled with them as well.

Pros: Choosing your own schedule, the pay (when boosted, and on holidays especially), meeting new people who are usually very nice, and experiencing different workplaces (could be a con if you don't like change). Being a Nursing Supervisor (also a con, see below!) is a pro also because of the additional responsibilities and you can learn some nursing leadership experience, as well as many other things. I am enjoying the change of scenery but still returning to places for some familiarity. You get to know the patients if you keep returning to the same place(s), rather than a one time visit or short stay, then never see them again.

Cons: LACK OF TRAINING!!! Facilities don't train you because they think, "You're agency, you should know what to do.", and IntelyCare (IC) doesn't train you, so I'd love to know where we are supposed to get trained and learn how to use the EMR systems and other ways in which LTC in general and each specific facility does things. Also, there is a lack of personal contact with the company. My recruiter was awful. She'd take forever to respond and I swear she would tell me things just to sound good or apease me at the moment, but then I'd find out the info wasn't true. I'm not sure who is in charge of it, but if a shift is not boosted, the pay can be low for an RN. That could be the facilities though. But someone told me she left IC because they lied to her about the facilities canceling her shifts, when she actually talked to the facilites and they said IC cancelled HER because (at least one place told her) IC found someone who would work the shift at a lower rate, but IC still received the "boosted rate" that the facility was going to pay for having that girl work! So basically, they seemed to screw her over. Other cons are that there may not be places they've contracted with near you and there may not be desirable shifts or places you want to work.

IC has some "training courses", that so far, seem to be your run of the mill education stuff that we really should already know, but good as a refresher. However, if you are new to LTC or Point Click Care (PCC) which is their EMR system, there is zero training on this, on accessing meds from the med cart. And most of all, as an RN, most facilities put as the Nursing Supervisor - for the entire building!! Again with ZERO training!!! This just blows my ever-lovin mind! My very first shift was 12 hrs as the only RN in the building, the supervisor, and I had NO IDEA that was what I was going to be doing. There was a binder with very little information, but even something like "check crash carts" doesn't give any further explanation. Where are they? What does that entail for someone who never did it or hasn't in years? Even who is on call for things I did not have info for (now I know to make sure I do). Every place has their own supervisor responsibilities but you don't usually get to read it until after you get report and the previous sup left, and there are often questions you have when reading it (like where things are located). Even when I do ask lots of questions to the outgoing sup, they often give quick answers so they can leave and are like, "You'll be fine, don't worry. It should be an easy night." Then they leave and in no time, the $hit hits the fan and you're left scrambling and angry at IC and the facility for putting you in this position! Grrrrrr!! I have been an RN for a long time and worked in several different areas/specialties but never in LTC, so even just the way they do things is so new to me and I'm learning as I go, but everyone so far has seemed to expect me to "just know".