Nurse Supervisor References

NedRN · Jun 20, 2014

Would that be the only bad reference? Managers understand that for a multitude of reasons, there can be outlying references. Fairly early in my travel career I was working for Cross Country who had a policy that all references in their files must be submitted for consideration with traveler profiles (they claimed it was FL law to do so). I had heard about a bad written reference from my recruiter (which I eventually got retracted by the hospital in question), but didn't see it until a friendly NM in Maine let me see it (and copy all of my written evaluations). It was really bad, in fact so bad I thought perhaps they had mixed travelers up as I didn't know the person who wrote it. That doesn't really matter so much but it was so bad I asked the Maine NM why she had hired me. She said it really didn't match the other dozen references so she discounted it completely.

So you have to try anyway and you might be OK. There is an alternative, get one from one of your peers who has acted as charge nurse.

Defensively, you can prevent this from happening to you again. Since my own wake-up call, I collect my own written references/evaluations on every assignment, starting just a couple weeks in. I have them now from every single nursing job I have ever held. If I'm terminated me for any reason, I want some protection against made up crap. Every nurse should have a professional portfolio including written references that are current. After you leave a job/assignment, references are really hard to get.

A good collection of references can come in handy in a number of cases. For example, I sometimes learn that an interviewing manager was trained at another hospital I worked at and they are super impressed to get a great reference from their former manager or director (I go as high up the food chain as I can).

PanTravelers has several examples including editable ones you can customize of reference forms you can download for free. They only take a manager or a charge a couple minutes to fill out. Your agency will also collect at least one written evaluation per assignment, but they may not share it with you as you can use it to go work with another agency. So collect your own!

ewrn · Jun 20, 2014

I asked about other types of references and the agency said it had to be only a direct supervisor. Too bad because I have plenty of coworkers and doctors that can give me rave reviews. They said they just wanted to ask her a few questions about my skills. I know I got great reviews on my evaluations and received a merit raise. I was a charge nurse after only 6 months working on the night shift. and precepted new employees and students. I only left my job because my mom died and I had just finished an IVF cycle. It was high risk so I though it would be best to take time off because I knew I couldn't give patients 100 percent at such a difficult time. My daughter died in Feb. and then I was ready to go back to work but that is when I found out she was not willing to take me back.

NedRN · Jun 21, 2014

A charge nurse is a direct supervisor. Go ahead and collect what written references you can, and go with another agency! There are lots of agencies without such stringent policies. What really matters is if the interviewing hospital accepts your references, not a two bit agency. If you can, also collect copies of your evaluations.

trackhead, APRN · Jun 21, 2014

Great ideas, Ned. I like the idea of written references extending back for work history. Really does provide good back up in the event someone, or some facility pulls shady maneuvers.