KLKRN

Highway Hypodermics

I've done both contract and per diem with them for 2 years. For per diem they're good. There are other companies like RNNetwork and others that offer better benefits. What will really make or break your experience in travel nursing is your recruiter, so if you aren't happy with the recruiter, yes - run! Waffling on a contract is not a good thing. I"ve had that happen with them - tell you at the last minute it isn't 13 weeks, only 8, etc.

Alaska sounds beautiful. I have been traveling again recently and dreamed last night that I went to Alaska. I think that will definitely be on my list. My specialty is Med/Surg.

Where are the moderators? No one should be calling anyone an @ss on this forum. It shows not only a lack of professionalism, and respect for self and others, but anger management problems. To go to the original question, which I believe should be the focus here, and not name calling and personality conflicts, it is very easy to google "preparing for deposition" into the search engine and come up with some good resources. You will find, for one thing, that RN 1989 is absolutely correct. You should be careful of your words because they will be used against you by the opposition. A deposition should be treated as seriously as being on the witness stand. I am personally aware of one instance in which a witness was seen by an attorney taking something out of his pocket, by an attorney, that looked like a pill bottle. When the witness was on the stand he was required to show the courtroom what was in his pocket. And my last experience with being in court was last week. Attorneys in my experience do suggest you bring nothing to court that you are not asked to because should it come up in conversation, or as in the case of someone seeing it and asking about it, you could well be called on to show it to the court. Karen L Kelly, RN, LNC

Nope. Some of us were just using silence to make our statement

I often work in a border town and there are always nurses and case managers sitting at the nurse's station talking incessantly, and loudly, in Spanish. More than once, I have had to ask them to tone it down just so I could hear a doctor on the phone! I think there is a decided lack of consideration for others when people do that. It is rude, to say the least.

I would get the local news media involved in this story as well as an attorney. That management was entirely out of line. As for the message it sends to nurses: we don't care about you, you have no rights, not even the right to protection. The message to the obviously unbalanced daughter: it's okay, honey, you just go ahead and tear the place up and express your feelings any ol' way you want. No need to accept responsibility for your behavior. What planet is this hospital on?

Calling for the ICU bed shouldn't be your responsibility; it should be the charge nurse - at least in my experience (admittedly not ER, but if there's a charge nurse, that's what he/she does). I agree with not signing anything but the contrast error.

newlvngrad: In my experience, almost all registries place you in either nursing home or hospitals, but check out home health agencies, too. I did know of an agency per diem nurse when I worked in home health. I have also gone six weeks without a paycheck because of being cancelled. What has worked for me is to sign on with two registries. But I'm an RN and a lot of times the LVN will be cancelled before me, even though I'm costing them more. And "per diem" means "by the day." Latin

I used to routinely go to work sick, but over the years I noticed that it's others coming in sick that often starts me on one of my bouts of bronchitis, so now I don't go in if I feel sick. As for hitting a doc up for a script, I can call my own MD's office to call in a Rx for my frequent sinus infections (yes, it's been worked up and I do visit in person regularly) and if I've just seen him in the past few months, he'll call it in. I have never asked a doc I work with to give me anything. And I've never had a doc ask me to run and get him anything, either. In fact, one doc went back to their lounge and got ME a Diet Coke a few weeks ago because I couldn't go on break to get one.

Oops my mistake. I thought I'd stumbled onto a professional site where adults were allowed to come and go and leave comments. I didn't realize this was only for the disgruntled who want to ****** and moan.

I do hope that's tongue-in-cheek, Earle58. Let's not encourage the disrespect we already encounter, but find a positively productive way to counter it.

Nutrition and hydration are important to the healing process, and if you work with patients whose fluids are restricted because of the disease process, and incorporate teaching into giving them these things, it does mitigate (at least for me) the idea that all I'm doing is waiting on people. I recently asked a doctor to explain the rationale to me in restricting salt on someone whose sodium was already low. I find it easier to look at the big picture. But I have many times in my career had the feeling that I am just a warm body, a name on the schedule to fill in the blanks. Which is why I do registry now, to make my own rules, my own schedule, to go where I want and not feel owned and used. I do hear what you're saying; too often we are seen as servants, and not given the respect we've worked for by anyone, and it's not onlydegrading but discouraging. That's why we have to make sure we're respecting ourselves first by not allowing anyone to abuse us. Sorry, another mini vent - or rant. Now I really am going away.....

Many hospitals use the Spectralink or similar cellphone system. I personally like it because I'd rather the patient call me on that for a cup of ice than be paged to the desk only to be told "room xxx needs you" then go to the room, find out all he needed was ice, go get it, go give it to him. And while I'm on that subject, why can't the unit clerk ask the patient what they need or the caller on the phone who only wants the call transferred to the room instead of paging me to the desk to handle it because I'm the nurse? Mini vent on that.... Also, though, I can page a doctor to call my own spectralink, hand it to the patient and let them talk to the doctor. If pharmacy is calling, I can walk into the med room and explain just what the pyxis is doing, just what I'm missing, etc. Or I can call any department without having to go to the desk to find a phone. The walkie-talkies on the other hand are a pain. I'm sure I'm off topic now, so I'll just be on my way. Hope everyone has a good week.

Geeze, I'm wondering if any MEN are peeking?