kabrn05

I've been traveling for 2 1/2 years. I was recently at a hospital where I had a really bad experience. The people were rude and unaccepting of travelers. The travelers were not involved in any inservices on new equipment or just things that were happening on the floor. I was floated a lot to a tele unit that was using med surg nurses with no tele experience to staff their floor all the time. It was very disorganized and unsafe. Almost all the staff nurses were new nurses and they had new nurses training new nurses. I had never cancelled a contract before but I felt like my license was on the line. I feel like hospitals give you bad assignments and don't really give you that right to refuse. I just recieved a lecture from an agency that I recently signed on with about cancelling contracts. He said if it ever happened again hospitals in this area won't have anything to do with me. I have a really good resume and have never had a problem at a hospital before. I feel like nobody sticks up for the nurses. I am very disappointed in most all the hospital systems. I don't feel like we are able to do our job safely. I feel like the stress of nursing is tremendous. Hospitals are allowed to cancel and fire us, and tell us not to return. But, if we find our situation unsafe, then we are not allowed any say in the situation and are penalized or threatened if we decide not to wager our licenses and careers on whether or not their refusal to manage their facility will come back to bite us. It is very common for people to feel that the healthcare industry doesn't care about the patients anymore. Has anybody else had similar experiences that lead you to believe they don't care about their employees either?

I have done some research on traveling outside the US. I found a couple companies. Premier Health care Professionals http://www.travelphp.com/ Nurse on Holidays http://www.nurseonholidays.com/ O' Grady Peyton http://www.ogpeurope.com/ (but I just found out OGP doesn't travel to the UK anymore for some reason but still go to Australia.)

Thanks so much. I am doing some research on the test and I will spend the beginning of next week doing a little reviewing and go in there calm and confident. All I can do is do my best but I know getting nervous won't do anything for me. I hope it goes well. Thanks again.

I only have a year experience as an RN but I was an EMT before getting my RN. I did very well on my NCLEX a year ago I don't know if it is anything like that. I know I should have more experience before starting to travel but I'm willing to put in the time to make traveling work. I will try to find out as much information as I can about the test and maybe review some information if possible. If I don't make it through I can always find another assignment at a hospital who doesn't require me to take the test but this hospital is giving me a really good deal on money. I'm going to give it a shot. It will be good experience. Thanks for your help Kim

I have just set up my first travel assignment. They want me to pass a test that the hospital requires called a PVDS test. They said it is a test with scenarios they gave me an example: You walk into a patients room and you know they had a stroke what would you do?...If I don't pass this test my assignment will be cancelled. I'm a little nervous and was just wondering if anybody heard about this test. I've only been an RN for about a year or when I start my assignment in April it will be a year. I was an EMT before nursing so I have a little background. I've decided to take a chance with travel nursing to get out a see the world a little bit. I'm 24 years old and me and my boyfriend are going to get married and travel together. I'm very excited and I hope it works out. I have a great recruiter. I would appreciate any tips on this test if anybody has ever heard of it. I'm going to be working at Naples, Florida Hospital. Thanks, Kim