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Carefreeliving · Feb 28, 2018

Congrats on the new job.

I did agency nursing for 3 years in WA state. I never worked for another agency, so I'm not sure if my experience concedes with the experience of other agency nurses. The first time I pulled a shift, I was so nervous too; I didn't know what to expect. The agency I worked with did not do a good job of managing my expectations.

According to my experience, they would tell me when a unit needed a staff nurse on a certain day of the week and the type of shift. I would agree to the shift. When that day came, I had to call the agency two hours before the shift to confirm that the unit still needed me. (Agency nurses are always the first one to be called off due to low census, etc)

If I was going to work at a new facility; I would recon the place the day prior. You never know what the parking situation is and which elevator you need to take to go to whatever unit. When I arrived on the unit, I would ask to speak to the charge nurse. Then I would explain who I was and provide her/him this checklist that the agency gave me. It was a simple checklist that mainly consisted of a quick unit orientation, providing temp pyxis access, and computer login. That is what the unit orientations were like for me. If there are other nurses who can comment on their experience, that would be great for comparison purposes.

Then you get your assignment and head off to battle.

You can do it. You have two two years of nursing experience! It can be a little daunting, but difficult isn't impossible.

Good luck.

KKEGS, MSN, RN · Feb 28, 2018

I have been working with a staffing agency for 14 months now. I pick up through the agency at the hospital I worked at prior to going straight agency. At that facility I'm supervised by the Float Team so I met with their Clinical Educator who made sure I was set up to clock in, get into the Pyxis, sign into the computer so I could chart, etc. But I didn't do an orientation shift with a floor nurse or anything which was fine because I had been a staff nurse there and knew the drill. I'd only left the hospital 4 months prior.

I then got set up to work at a different hospital, one I'd never worked at before. Again I met with the unit's Clinical Educator and she gave me a tour, made sure I could sign into the charting system, etc. When I signed up to take my first shift I just hit the ground running.

I'm now working at getting set up with a third hospital and I've been told I can request a 4 or 8 hour orientation shift. I'm still in the beginning stages though so I haven't confirmed that with my agency yet.

Glycerine82, LPN · Mar 3, 2018

Congrats on the new job.
I did agency nursing for 3 years in WA state. I never worked for another agency, so I'm not sure if my experience concedes with the experience of other agency nurses. The first time I pulled a shift, I was so nervous too; I didn't know what to expect. The agency I worked with did not do a good job of managing my expectations.
According to my experience, they would tell me when a unit needed a staff nurse on a certain day of the week and the type of shift. I would agree to the shift. When that day came, I had to call the agency two hours before the shift to confirm that the unit still needed me. (Agency nurses are always the first one to be called off due to low census, etc)
If I was going to work at a new facility; I would recon the place the day prior. You never know what the parking situation is and which elevator you need to take to go to whatever unit. When I arrived on the unit, I would ask to speak to the charge nurse. Then I would explain who I was and provide her/him this checklist that the agency gave me. It was a simple checklist that mainly consisted of a quick unit orientation, providing temp pyxis access, and computer login. That is what the unit orientations were like for me. If there are other nurses who can comment on their experience, that would be great for comparison purposes.
Then you get your assignment and head off to battle.
You can do it. You have two two years of nursing experience! It can be a little daunting, but difficult isn't impossible.
Good luck.

Thank you for this response! This is pretty much how it was for me, except I'm in sub-acute or LTC settings. I thought I was going to throw up the first day, but so far I've been ok.

It's absolutely what I thought, zero orientation, BUT the staff nurses have been wonderful and helpful. So far I really like it - I'm just so afraid I will do something wrong or against policy, but then again I'm only human. I pretty much have been just focusing on prudent nursing duties and covering myself from a license standpoint - again, thank you for such a thoughtful and thourough response. :)