rncopper

Karen, Let state some facts: You stated in another post you have a BS instead of a BSN. (no comment) You also stated you went straight into administration and you were "published" before you took the NCLEX. All of this is taken from posts you have made in other threads. Am I impressed? Does this make you a knowledgeable RN? Should I look up to you for information and guidance? A resounding NO! With those facts YOU yourself stated - you have no practical nursing experience!!! Therefore, your lubricous statements have no merit. You quote facts, though when asked numerous times to validate your statements with citations from published works, you give none. The rhetoric you pontificate is mired in lies, half-truths, and misperceptions - an administrator who has no real world experience. You have stated you don't have travelers at your facility BUT now you are stating they have come to you to "confess"??? Which is it Karen??? Why are floors empty because facilities cannot staff them? Why are some facilities staffed with mainly travelers? Why do some facilites have more than a 60% turn-over rate? Why can I get a travel assignment in 3 hours if no one uses travelers or if travelers are so inferior to staff nurses? Why have I precepted perm employees while I was a traveler? Why are there over 300 travel nurse companies who place travelers every day? Your comments are magniloquent - with no basis in fact. If you truly are a nursing advocate, you might try and support all facets of nursing - which traveling is one.

Karen, While you "spout" there are statistical facts, you give no references to back up your claim. And until you cite some references, your argument is invalid. I have been a traveler for over 7 years - the last 14 months in Saudi Arabia. In those 7 years I have grown as a nurse, learning things that could never be learned in a stiffling environment that many facilities provide for their staff. Management believes their way is the only way, the right way, and evey other way is wrong. You sound like a typical rhetoric speaking administrator - having no clue on what is out there and what the "real world of nursing is". I have been from AK to NH, from the US to KSA. I have learned and absorbed skills and tasks no perm nurse could even imagine because they have administrators, like yourself, who have blinders on concerning the PROFESSION of nursing. I can hit the floor running because of my varied experience. Many, if not most times, I am the most experienced nurse on the floor. I can critically think "outside the box" because I have worked "outside the box"!! Facilities who retain management with your narrow attitude - truly is a reason there is such a turn-over in staff. Travel nurses come into a facility to help and enable a facility to keep floors and beds open. We do it at a personal sacrifice to our families and ourselves. If we are paid a little more - it is compensation for the sacrifices we make. No vacation pay, no sick time, no education reimbursement, paying for multiple licenses, no real job security (we look for positions possibly every 13 weeks), not sleeping in our own bed. Your statement all agencies offer vacation, insurance, taking the family along is a complete fallacy. Your information source is faulty - if there is even a source. Your statement is something we travelers come up against frequently. Mgmt has told the staff what great "wages and perks" we get. And that fosters resentment towards travelers from the staff. What is sad, it is false!! Traveling is NOT for everyone. In fact, many long time staff nurses could never cut being a traveler because they know nothing different, things must stay the same, anything out of the routine throws them for a "loop". By your statements, it sounds like you could never cut it as a traveler - too narrow-minded. Your blatant disregard for a valuable part of the nursing profession - it states volumes and is a sad commentary for the management of your facility.

The BKAT is not designed as a "pass or fail" exam. It is an educational tool that, according to the author, is to be used for determining the educational requirements of nurses. There are BKAT's for ER, Peds, etc. The author states in her preamble to the "test" that it is NOT to be used for hiring or firing. There have been at least 6 versions of the BKAT. You can get the exam from the author directly. I am sorry I do not have the address.

Well, I got here in Seattle to see my HUGE daughter. A little excitement last week (started labor WHILE I was at home in SD.....!!!) but then it stopped; now with just intermittent contractions, some periods are hours long. Lots of walking, they wanted to do a scheduled c-section because of the size (on Fri est wt - 10.5 lbs!!!!), so did the amnio but the lung maturity did not make their cut off (don't know the exact test, but they wanted the number to be above 50 and it was 32). So it looks like it will be the 6th of April, or sooner (by natural labor), if Christie has HER way!!! Again, thank you for all your support. Will let you all know when it happens and I become totally gray from this experience!!! :rotfl:

OH, THANK YOU GUYS VERY MUCH for the info, hugs, and good vibes!!! Jolie: Thank you for a very GOOD in-depth answer to my questions in my head! It is VERY difficult to have my daughter ask her doc MY questions (she is not medically oriented!!! LOL!!) Christie has now been transferred to a high-risk OB (she had been seeing him for the GD) and he will be doing the delivery. She also had to change hospitals to one that was associated with the cardiac echoneonatalogist (hey, that probably isn't what he is called!!!) and within close proximity to Children's in Seattle. The room will be JUST A TAD crowded with the all the people (docs) that said they will be there!!! ME, TOO! so I am glad you guys gave me a heads up on all the pathophys!! BagLady: I will email you right now! Again, thank you all, and I will let you know when HUGE Julian Gabriel is born!!

Ok, I will confess: I know 'nuthin 'bout birthin babies!!! (Gone With the Wind) So, here is my scenerio (oh, BTW, I am a ICU/ER RN): My daughter is about 36 weeks. Was dx with gestational diabetes, difficult sugar control (they don't know why; previously a diabetic???), boderline pre-ecclampsia (per MD), and 2 weeks ago, was told the baby (by the way, a boy: Julian Gabriel!!!) has a very large VSD. Aorta is 4mm (maybe a blockage, they said; I wonder coarctation???) and the doc brought up "Down's". Measurements last Friday showed fundal height 40, and weight between 7 lbs 7 oz and 8 lbs 2 oz. Her due date is April 13 (though the US said it is March 23, the doc did not change her due date). Cardiac surgery is a given, though when is up in the air, depending on how he does after birth. Doc said they could not tell now if he has pul HTN (said they would be able to tell after birth). They told her she could delivery naturally! I don't understand this. My thinking is: bad heart, huge baby, chances of complications high: should be scheduled C-section! I had her specifically ask the doc why (I am not there yet; she is in Seattle and I am leaving my travel assignment 1 week earlier to go there). His response: He is not in failure yet. So, if they can't tell if he has pul HTN, how can they tell he is NOT in failure??? It has seemed that every time she goes to the doc, which now is 2x/week, also with NST's twice a week, nothing is good news! Oh, I forgot, she said she was GBS negative!!! LOL!!! Does anyone have any insight for me, the worrying grandma (at least until I get across the country - NH to Seattle - leaving tomorrow!!!) Thanks for any tidbits or questions I can ask the doc when I get there!!!

Yes, Delphi is alive and well. http://www.delphiforums.com and then go under the travel section. The forums name is Travel Nurse and Therapists. SUCH good info there!:)

I agree! But when the "men" in the article were addressed as "Mr." Brian so-and-so, I should have been addressed similiarly. I would have RATHERED that we would have ALL been addressed by our first names!!! I am NOT Mrs. "my last name"; that is MY MOM!!!! I am Pennie!!!

Thanks for the clarification, Tom! I am very familiar with HT Magazine! I was interviewed for an article in April 2003 concerning Urban vs Rural assignments (the ONLY traveler interviewed, I might brag!:roll ). Was pleased at how the article was presented, except for one item: The references to the others who were interviewed (travel company management people, some who were ex-travelers, but who were all men) were all preceded with "Mr." So-and-So and I was referred to as "Pennie". Felt a little slighted and discrimminated against as a female. Felt that I should have been addressed as "Miss", "Mrs.", or "Ms.". Ok, concerns of travelers: 1. I was interested in the benefits of the companies that I interviewed before I started traveling. What was the companies policy in terms of housing. Travel pay? - per miles or set rate. And of course, how I connected with the person who would be my recruiter. 2. NOW my concerns: How am I being taken care of by my company: do they listen, are they easy to get ahold of, do they back me up when I have a problem. Housing, retirement benefits, and insurance is a biggy. 3. Most of my information comes from the hundreds of travelers who frequent Travel Nurse and Therapist thread at Delphi. Also, the travelers I meet "on the road". 4. All of those concern me and I research them (thru asking others about the assignment/company/area from other travelers) as thoroughly as I can. 5. The Internet is a wonderful thing! I check out whatever I can find about the area I am going to on the net, then check out any Chamber of Commerce or visitor centers. 6. Ratios, floating policy, are they "traveler friendly" (how many travelers do they have on the floor, etc), what problems does mgmt SEE in their floor: I want their perspective on their floors/facility good and bad, and THEN I research IT out!), dress code, types of patients. 7. Whatever MIGHT affect ME as a traveler: recent tax changes, wage matters (such as the OT bill in Congress), BON nursing changes, compact states.......Geez, could go on and on and could add things probably everyday I travel as things come up. Good Luck to you. Kind of gave you generic food for thought!

This is ABSOLUTELY horrifying!!!! I am not going to totally side with the nurses (esp when they admitted they were not trained for what they were caring for........REFUSE to accept the assignment, comes to mind!), but what about the hospital's obligation in this entire mess? Nurse to patient ratios?????? It is a sad state of affairs when people have to die needlessly because the nurses were overwhelmed or threatened to lie to keep their jobs. May not necessarily be true, but I bet that is part of the reason. Will it ever get better????

I agree with BagLady. A little wary of answering questions to an unknown, but would be VERY willing to give an interview to answer your questions! I have traveled almost 3 years, not as long as BagLady (whom I know!!! ) but can give you some insight on travelers. I really would LOVE to see an article based on the travelers perspective; i.e. - why we travel, how we are looked upon by facilities, patients, and staff, our conerns while traveling, etc. A newspaper near my home town (I receive it online while traveling) had a reference to "travelers" in the paper just about 1 week ago. I did not think that it gave the REAL picture of what we do and how we affect a facilities operation. Wrote the author, spoke with him on the phone, and STILL waiting to be interviewed (he told me that it would be a while, but that he was interested!). You may send me a private message thru here with your verifiable credentials, and I would be willing to talk to you!:)

The article is in the Jan 19, 2004 edition. Bill Cissell was the author. Of course, I get it online, so I am not sure which section. If you look for it online, you have to go to the archives. The headline was about Rapid City Regional Hospital. Something like: Hospital uses.......... Not really sure exactly the title. The references to travelers is in the middle of the article, after the references to the new MRI and 2 cath labs.

No, unfortunately, I don't. Haven't been home since Sept!!!!

I am a traveler presently in Lebanon, NH. My permanent home is in Lead, SD, and I receive the Rapid City Journal online everyday. On Mon 1/19 there was an article concerning the strides that Rapid City Regional Hospital was doing to stay afloat. In the article, there was a negative reference to their use of "travelers". I took offense and emailed the author of the article. He is considering doing an article on travel nurses and wanted to know if I knew of any other "local" travelers, i.e.- travelers from SD. If you are interested in being interviewed, please email me at [email protected] Put RCR or newspaper interview in the subject line so I will not delete it. Thanks!

I am looking for travelers who are from SD and are willing to be interviewed for an article about travelers in the Rapid City Journal. RCJ had an article Mon 1/19/2004 concerning Rapid City Regional Hospital and their cost saving measures to stay afloat. There was also a mention about NEEDING to have "travelers" at the facility, at a LARGE cost to the hospital. I took offense to the negative implications of travelers in the hospital, that I contacted the author of the article. He is thinking about doing an article on travelers, with input from "local" travelers. If you are interested in being interviewed, please email me at [email protected] Put RCR, or newspaper article in the subject line so I do not delete it. I am presently a traveler on assignment in Lebanon, NH, but my home is Lead, SD. Thanks!