Question regarding contracts...

[Missuz560]

Hello all.

I have a question as to where I should go. Started an assignment at a Boston hospital on Monday morning. Local travel, thank god. I went through the hospital orientation, no problems. Towards the end of the day they brought us to the units we were working on. My contract was for ER, states ER on the contract with no floating specified.

Somehow I was put in ER Hold, which, at this particular hospital, is actually a tele unit. Mostly admissions, you are responsible for all admission paperwork, daily meds, monitoring, etc. until they can find a bed in the hospital. NOT the ER itself. The nurse manager told me that the hold are is only called ER Hold because it's located in the back of the ER. You can end up with patients that are direct admits.

If I had known that this was the assignment, I would never have taken it. I work in the ER, not a tele floor. I have no experience on Tele, and I haven't done any Med/Surg in forever. I called my recruiter and told her of the situation. She told me that ER and ER Hold are the same thing. I tried to explain to her that this was not the case, at least here, and was there some way to work this out. She got nasty with me, telling me that I was going to have to deal with it.

On my way out of the hospital, the ER Nurse Manager stopped me and asked if I was interesting in working in the ER itself. I said that yes, that was what I thought I would be doing. She said that she may have a travel position available for me and to hang tight for a couple of days and she would let me know.

Now what? I haven't heard from my recruiter, she hasn't returned my calls or emails. I got a call from the same agency, different branch to see if I was interested in going to another contract in RI. When I said I wasn't sure what was going on with my original contract she told me that she had submitted someone to that position earlier today...which meant my contract had been cancelled...When I called my original recruiter again after this conversation she didn't answer her phone.

On top of that, I'm waiting to hear from the nurse manager to see if I can start next Monday in their ED. Does this mean that I'll get another contract with my agency, or am I supposed to set up another contract myself? I'm livid...anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do?

[ERRNTraveler, RN]

I would not sign another contract with this agency- I would find another agency ASAP! I also work ER, and when I interview with different hospitals, I always ask if I will be required to float or do ER holding at all- if the answer is yes, I won't take the assignment.