Miserable in my contract

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2015

Seattle's hospitals are unionized, with excellent ratios; they practice very good medicine, and I was treated very well. It is true, the West coast is ahead of the East coast by 5 to 10 years in their medical research, politics, urban planning, and environmental safety. It's very different though. You will see they play baseball, basketball, go hiking and ride bikes in the rain. The ferries around Puget Sound are a great way to spend the day. Take one to Victoria BC. You can take the ferry to Alaska and pitch a tent on deck for the four day journey.

Dungeness crab restaurants are everywhere. There is a pho restaurant and a casino on every corner. Sea Tac airport has three recycling bins one is just for making compost. The only rain forest in North America is on San Padre island and it is where the twilight movies were filmed. I loved the people and the region but I would only go back there during the Summer months.

The weather just sucked all of my energy. It's no wonder to me that they legalized marijuana.

V-Neck T-Shirt · Jan 22, 2015

I took two travel contracts in Seattle and loved the city and surrounding area; however, both contracts were during summer months!

imanedrn · Jan 23, 2015

Seattle's hospitals are unionized, with excellent ratios; they practice very good medicine, and I was treated very well. It is true, the West coast is ahead of the East coast by 5 to 10 years in their medical research, politics, urban planning, and environmental safety. It's very different though. You will see they play baseball, basketball, go hiking and ride bikes in the rain. The ferries around Puget Sound are a great way to spend the day. Take one to Victoria BC. You can take the ferry to Alaska and pitch a tent on deck for the four day journey.
Dungeness crab restaurants are everywhere. There is a pho restaurant and a casino on every corner. Sea Tac airport has three recycling bins one is just for making compost. The only rain forest in North America is on San Padre island and it is where the twilight movies were filmed. I loved the people and the region but I would only go back there during the Summer months.
The weather just sucked all of my energy. It's no wonder to me that they legalized marijuana.

This made me so teary-eyed! I started travel nursing last year because I want to explore the country through these "working vacations." I've been in love with Seattle for many years and ended up in Everett for my very first assignment, last year. I actually went for the rain (I moved to Las Vegas at age 10 from Hawaii and desperately missed it!), and I was so sad when I arrived in the summer, and it was so warm and sunny! I ended up extending and loved when it got gloomy and rainy (and even snowed one day!) before I left.

I'm in Houston TX now. I came here instead of Austin for the pay. I like it fine, but damn do I miss the west coast! I miss the wildly progressive culture - and even the recycling bins and coffee shops on every corner! I hate the way the tap water smells here. People just feel different. I can't explain it, there's just a different feeling to them.

Part of why I wanted to travel was to find a place at which I'd like to settle down. I want to live and work in every big city in the USA. But I think the PNW might be my home!

Glutton-4-Trauma, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2015

Thank you guys so much for the positive advice! I will try to keep a positive outlook and stick it out.
Even though it's not many shifts left, I work 6 in a row with only 1 off in the middle of that so it's a doozy. I attempted to call out for a mental day after a particularly trying 3 days but got called back and given a horrible guilt trip so I ended up not being able to take a day off. It's only my second assignment and I'm a fairly new RN but I am proud of the fact that I can run circles around some of their staff nurses. Everyone complains there. Several of us cry on any given shift. They employ more agency than staff because no one wants to work there and now I see why! The staff nurses have called a union rep about their horrible staffing issues so that will be taken care of soon for those who are stuck behind.
I got back on my antidepressant because of the horrible weather here and also use the tanning bed! And started the DASH diet as well so that is all great advice! There is literally nothing fun to do where I live but luckily my fiance is here with me as well as our cats.
I am looking into a bigger hospital in the Seattle area now but I am considering taking some time off because of how burnt out I feel. I got so spoiled on my first assignment in Hawaii. I wish I could go back. I'm waiting on my California license which has always been the end goal of becoming a nurse so I am trying to keep my eyes on the prize.
So glad there is a place here I can come for support.

I've been thinking about Seattle for my next assignment this Summer. I'm not at all bothered by the excessive gloomy weather, but I would love to know which facilities to steer clear of during my search..I would be greatly appreciative if you could shoot me me a PM if you are comfortable doing so!

My last assignment was at a moderately sized ER whose staff were less than hospitable to some of their travelers. Not sure how I managed to make the "naughty" list, but I felt unwelcome from day one. I considered leaving early d/t scheduling conflicts with management but I stuck it out for the sake of maintaining my rep as a consistent and dependable traveler. The day after my contract ended I was contacted by my recruiter after the facility called the director of my agency claiming that I no called no showed. Turns out administration hadn't communicated the correct end date of my contract to the ED so they were expecting me to show up for a shift that I wasn't scheduled to work. I'm sure they were severely understaffed, so for that reason, and for the sake of not burning any bridges, I emailed the director of the ED as well as the agency coordinator apologizing for a mistake that wasn't my own and I even attached an email proving the date that the facility and I had agreed would be my final shift. Never received a response.

I'm fairly certain that this facility would likely give a bad reference (for whatever reason..still unsure), but I am still okay with the fact that I didn't cancel or walk out on my contract. I was able to maintain the respect of my agency and I am much more aware of the red flags when choosing an assignment (got an offer in less than 24 hrs of submitting and no interview). I figure we've got to experience the bad in order to thoroughly enjoy the good..all about perspective!

garn12 · Jan 23, 2015

Op pm where are you from? Im from Georgia was thinking about traveling to Everett for an assignment but I had changed my mind. Im not fun of where im currently at either i worked 5 days this week and was floated every single one of those days. I always i always get the rough assignment i too am taking a break after this

Travel_RN_0714, MSN, RN · Jan 24, 2015

Everyone complains there. Several of us cry on any given shift. They employ more agency than staff because no one wants to work there and now I see why! The staff nurses have called a union rep about their horrible staffing issues so that will be taken care of soon for those who are stuck behind.
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Welcome to the wonderful world of travel nursing. Most of the places I've been sent are as you described. Why do you think hospitals need travelers ? The hospital is understaffed, RN's are overworked and the staff RN's quit. Morale is low and the hospital has traveling RN's come in to fill in the void. Get used to it because I've grown accustomed to going into hostile environments wherever I'm sent. If the staff was all happy and paid well, there wouldn't be a need for travelers. We travelers are given the crappiest patients, have to stay when everyone else gets to go home and usually get dumped on by the staff and management. "Make the traveler do that" They make SO MUCH MONEY ! I'm a genuinely happy person, attend church with my parents, have a nice life and smile so much at work, staff RN's comment on how I can always be so happy and smiley. I just think if my paycheck and how lucky I am to be able to come to work, do my job, mind my own business and not have to get caught up in the gossip and politics of the hospital I'm sent to. I've made some great friends and many are my facebook friends and we keep in touch. However, most of the time, the staff RN's are crabby, complain and are back stabbers. Like one of the other RN's commented, we get to leave after 13 weeks and the staff is stuck there. The only ones that can change the working conditions of the hospital is the staff that works there. So many times... well at just about EVERY hospital I've been to the staff practically beg me to tell the upper management on my exit interview how "bad this place is". I always respond that they need to do their own dirty work.

Just do like the other comments and stick with it. Smile when you see your weekly paycheck and know that you get to leave and all of them have to stay there.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jan 24, 2015

That explains why there are always contracts for Everett. I have been fortunate to mainly go to hospitals where the staffing is good and they need a temporary replacement for someone who is ill or on maternity leave.

I do not let anyone dump on me. If your workload is unreasonable you need to speak up and say no these two patients need to be split up. Trust me they do not want you to go home and leave them in the lurch.

I will not work for HCA, or the other for profit hospital corporations or in the low paying regions of the U.S.

I will not take a contract that requires me to work more than one hospital or be pulled more than once per shift. My hours are guaranteed, meaning that I can not be cancelled. Ask about ratios and scheduling in your phone interview and if you need to be off for any special events, such as a wedding or birthday, be sure that is agreed on in the interview and written in the contract.

MsConstrued · Jan 25, 2015

I ended up quitting unfortunately. Start my next contract at a big hospital next month. Hoping it'll be the last one until my CA license comes through and I can go somewhere sunny and settle down.

Thanks Maggie, I did ask about ratios in my interview and they were much better than where I just left. I also put into my contract about not being pulled in the middle of the shift and a date that I need off. Excellent advice! I think I will be much happier at the new job and in Seattle proper.

Hex, LPN · Feb 8, 2015

Welcome to the wonderful world of travel nursing. Most of the places I've been sent are as you described. Why do you think hospitals need travelers ? The hospital is understaffed, RN's are overworked and the staff RN's quit. Morale is low and the hospital has traveling RN's come in to fill in the void. Get used to it because I've grown accustomed to going into hostile environments wherever I'm sent. If the staff was all happy and paid well, there wouldn't be a need for travelers. We travelers are given the crappiest patients, have to stay when everyone else gets to go home and usually get dumped on by the staff and management. "Make the traveler do that" They make SO MUCH MONEY ! I'm a genuinely happy person, attend church with my parents, have a nice life and smile so much at work, staff RN's comment on how I can always be so happy and smiley. I just think if my paycheck and how lucky I am to be able to come to work, do my job, mind my own business and not have to get caught up in the gossip and politics of the hospital I'm sent to. I've made some great friends and many are my facebook friends and we keep in touch. However, most of the time, the staff RN's are crabby, complain and are back stabbers. Like one of the other RN's commented, we get to leave after 13 weeks and the staff is stuck there. The only ones that can change the working conditions of the hospital is the staff that works there. So many times... well at just about EVERY hospital I've been to the staff practically beg me to tell the upper management on my exit interview how "bad this place is". I always respond that they need to do their own dirty work.
Just do like the other comments and stick with it. Smile when you see your weekly paycheck and know that you get to leave and all of them have to stay there.

Jesus. That may be the single most negative post I've read on AllNurses, and I've been a member for like 10 years.

A newbie reading something like that would be terrified of traveling. I hope they know that some of us have had much more positive experiences than that. In 5 years of traveling I've been to maybe two crappy places, did my time, survived and got out to better places. It is not that bad.

revkev007 · Feb 9, 2015

Jesus. That may be the single most negative post I've read on AllNurses, and I've been a member for like 10 years.
A newbie reading something like that would be terrified of traveling. I hope they know that some of us have had much more positive experiences than that. In 5 years of traveling I've been to maybe two crappy places, did my time, survived and got out to better places. It is not that bad.

I agree with you. A lot depends on the attitude that the traveler has. I have always been treated like staff because I go there with the attitude of "I'm here to help you." Have I been given crappy assignments? Yes, but no more than the staff is. I've had only one person say somrthing about my pay and after I answered her, she understood.