traumaqueen1993

I appreciate your unbiased opinion, really. This is all new, so I don’t really know how to react to it. All I know is that I feel like I’m being treated as an expendable employee that is expected to fulfill duties regardless of the circumstances, and that angers me. I did reach out to our local news stations, so we’ll see if that goes anywhere. They’re expecting our surge to be mid to late May, so that would give at least a handful of nurses who don’t have an income at the moment to take a short travel assignment. They could stagger deployments in a way that would still allow for sufficient staffing, especially since so many aren’t even working at the moment and they are all training in ICUs. And, we’re not getting slammed right now with the 300+ cases we have in our area. We had 20 new cases each day for three days, and it has been trending down for the past few days. I get the reasoning behind it, but the way the information has been delivered feels very controlling and insulting; it goes against everything that nursing stands for. This is off topic, but perhaps I can gain some insight anyway: As far as long-term travel nursing, I’m afraid to make that transition permanently. I’m a single mom to a preschooler, so I don’t know if that’s even feasible. I think I would be able to find travel assignments in areas that are nearby once all of this is over with, so maybe it’s a realistic option. Are benefits effective immediately after contracting? Are there resources for child care?

I’m trying to figure out how to join a union on my own in order to fight this. Is that an option or do I just have to deal with it? This isn’t OK and I want to do something about it! So I’m not crazy for thinking this is totally unethical? It has to be in violation of some labor law.

My hospital is implementing new policy that states that any nurse who wishes to take a temporary travel assignment for Covid-19 relief in hot spots will be terminated. As if that isn’t enough, they’re making those nurses ineligible for rehire if they resign appropriately. We are in a small city with about 300 cases thus far. Our hours are being cut, bonuses and raises will not be distributed this year, and we are expected to perform with dwindling PPE. I feel that it is completely unethical to deal such extreme consequences for nurses who want to 1) help those who are in dire need, and 2) maintain a comparable income to pre-covid. I’m curious to hear about what other hospitals in low-risk zones are doing about nurses wanting to participate in relief efforts. I would also like to know how one would go about fighting this while remaining anonymous to the establishment for which I work.