jdickrn

We just use baby wipes. Works like a charm

When I traveled I found that facilities were not putting their orders in for travelers more than 6 weeks in advance therefore I would be working my last week and not have a contract lined up until the last minute. I learned to go with it as that is one thing that travel nursing will do for your personality, but ultimately stopped traveling because I needed a break from living that far on the edge. I stopped traveling last year. I didn't work with more than 1 company because I was too lazy to do all that paperwork and I also really loved my recruiter. I also found that all my facilities were willing to give me a contract extension if I needed it while looking for another assignment. I actually never had a facility that wasn't willing to do that for me, which is why it is important to work super hard and build a good repoire with your manager and the staff.

I traveled for 18months, and am currently taking a break from traveling and got a staff position. In my opinion, what it boils down to is travel nursing just isn't the money maker that it used to be. I have 10yrs of experience and now that I'm not traveling my paychecks are the same as they were when I was traveling, I'm just paying for my apt. now. When traveling I never took the stipend because sometimes you get down to the end of your assignment and may not have a contract lined up until the last minute so the thought of setting all the housing stuff up on my own did not appeal to me, but taking the stipend is where other nurses made more money than I did. My health insurance was provided through my company, I personally wouldn't work for a company that didn't provide my insurance for me.

Start applying for a new job now and don't ever put this job on a resume, you're not going to use them for a reference obviously and no employer is allowed to say that you were terminated, they are only allowed to confirm you time of employment, and once again don't even list this as a job, start over.

I will agree with the fact that when you're working 3 days a week for 13 weeks that yes, you can get through it especially when you have adventures on your days off. Just remember that the 3 days you're at work you have a nursing license to protect.

My last assignment prior to my current one was at an HCA facility and I couldn't get through that 13 weeks fast enough, I will NEVER work for an HCA facility again. All of your supplies are the cheapest of the cheap, the staffing ratios are inappropriate in my opinion, morale was horribly low. I set a very high standard for myself very early on in my career as far as the level of care that I want to provide to my patients, and I also prefer to surround myself with a group of nurses that intend to give a very good level of care to their patients as well- I did NOT find that at the HCA facility, I have never seen a group of hospital nurses and doctors not care about the patient care as I did there. Substandard care was just the norm and noone seemed to have any intentions on changing that. There were a ton of travelers on my unit and we all hated the facility, some were crazy enough to renew their contracts for financial reasons, money is not the most important thing to me when I'm traveling, you should ask yourself what are the most important things to you as you go about traveling.

I've been traveling with American Mobile for the last year and have been very happy....honestly, no matter what company you work for it's ALL about your recruiter. I attempted to get things going with Cross Country but they were so flaky and couldn't seem to keep my info straight and I don't have time for that. Good luck!

I was told that if more than once agency submits you to the same facility you won't be hired and it's just bad practice. You have to keep track on your own of where each agency is submitting you and no agency should submit you without talking to you first. Good luck with that, I just can't bring myself to work with more than once company at a time, too confusing if you ask me!

I would think if no signature on a written contract, then no contract to breach.

First of all, I'm sorry that happened, I too would be devastated. Second of all, meds are often on pt's allergy lists that aren't true allergies and those meds or meds similar are given to the pt after confirmation between pharmacist, MD, nurse and pt. Is it just me or isn't this true? The other night I had a patient who had codeine on her allergy list but had been receiving Morphine for days without problems. Lastly, I would be sure that this fee is somewhere in writing and maybe you could talk to your clinical liason, this if definitely a clinical error that didn't ONLY involve you, not a behavioral issue. Good luck.

Coumadin should be given in the evening and the INR should be checked in the morning, why are you having to call the MD in the middle of the night for an abnormal INR?

I started travel nursing in November at the age of 29. All of my friends are settling down and having babies but I've always wanted to do travel nursing and I knew if I didn't do it, it would always be a regret. I miss my friends and family but I wouldn't trade my experiences thus far for anything. My current contract ends at the end of October and I will have been out west for a year and I'm going to attempt to take a travel assignment on the East coast so I can be home for the holidays and get some family time in and then go back out west- it's a pretty sweet gig :)

Do not stress about med-surg not being your strong point in nursing school as nursing school is not reality at all, and med-surg is THE best place to learn. I remember my first 2 weeks on the floor (I started in med-surg 9 yrs ago and am still in med-surg) walking around thinking "they didn't teach me any of this s**t in nursing school". Being a brand new nurse is painful no matter what specialty you start in. I've said over and over again, I love nursing, but one thing I would never want to do over again is the first year of my nursing career. The first year is just insane, but when that year is over, all of a sudden, you will feel like you have a grip on things. There is a book out called "Your 1st Year as a Nurse". I used to buy it for each new grad I precepted because it helped me when I was new. Good luck with the beginning of your career.

I needed to read this right now. I'm struggling with my current assignment, it is the most frustrating placed I've ever worked. I've hated it from the get-go, there are a lot of other travelers on my unit (more travelers than core staff) and they all hate it too. Fortunately I never ever let my patients see that I'm miserable, actually, being in their rooms makes me the happiest. The staff also doesn't seem to feel my misery either because 3 weeks in the manager gave me the very positive feedback she received from the staff about me and offered me an extension, I had an honest conversation with her and told her no thank you. Lately I feel my attitude slipping a little bit so I guess I need to remind myself of everything you just wrote. I have 5 days off and my mom is visiting so hopefully I will go back feeling happier.....and only 7 more weeks to go!

Can't figure out how to delete!

I believe what you did is called good nursing care. Your supervisor is clearly a supervisor because she has no bedside manner and probably never should have been a nurse to begin with.

Ha, this totally happened to me, I worked a 12 hour night shift, the pt's family was there during the beginning of the shift, the pt just slept and slept, they weren't too concerned but then I tried to get her up for meds and she was unresponsive, VS all normal. The doc came, we did ABG's, CT head, labs, all negative. She woke up at at like 6am all bright eyed and bushy tailed and a/o x3.......apparently she needed some sleep.

Travel nursing is not the money maker that it used to be, I'm not really making any more money than I did at my last perm job, but I'm not out chasing the big money as some people are. The travel part is definitely the best part of travel nursing in my opinion. I had 8.5yrs of nursing experience when I began traveling and I can't imagine doing it with less than 2 years experience under your belt. I started my career in med-surg nursing and I still believe it's the best place to start nursing- many will disagree but that's my personal opinion.

I'm on my 2nd travel assignment, I'm finding that travel nursing is a learn as you go business. I was feeling the same way, that noone was looking but I found that part of the problem is that facilities aren't putting their orders in for travelers very far in advance, the start dates may only be 2 weeks in advance maximum. My 1st contract ended on the 7th and I didn't start my current one until the 25th which did not make me happy- I learned that you must save money in preparation for this! You may have to be flexible and look outside of Florida, I was hell bent on an assignment in Washinton state but it wasn't happening and had to apply in many states- I'm in Texas right now, not my cup of tea, but thank goodness it's only 13 weeks. My recruiter was beating down the doors for me, you must have a good recruiter. Good luck!

I have a great recruiter at American Mobile, private msg me if you would like her contact info. My friend has used her for over 2 years and I have been with her since November.

I am currently on assignment at my first HCA hospital and I will never work for one again. It may be my current facility vs. the other HCA facilities but other travelers I work with say the other HCA's they've traveled too are the same. The charting system is antiquated, I feel like the patient is on the bottom of the priority list. I feel like I don't get to spend any time with my patients and that seems to be an acceptable atmosphere among the core staff nurses, part of me thinks they don't know any better. This is also my first non-teaching hospital experience as I've spent my whole career in large teaching hospitals so that may also have some bearing on my disliking this facility.

I work for American Mobile and I traveled to the Denver VA, finished my contract on July 7, I wouldn't expect too many VA positions to be available in the near future, the budgets are in HORRIBLE shape ( go figure right?) and the Denver VA was eliminating all travelers and agency staff. I stayed there for 8 months and was unable to get a safety net extension in case I couldn't find another assignment.

I am currently on my 2nd travel assignment and it took me weeks to even get interviews for this assignment. I have 9 years of med-surg experience with stellar references and was submitted for 13-15 assignments and only received 3 calls for interviews, fortunately I had offer from all. I was really frustrated but I'm learning that if I want to continue in this profession I need to learn to fly by the seat of my pants. Good luck!