Rn

[catalina62]

Hi everyone. I wanted to post a recent experience I had as a travel nurse in order to warn people about a major pitfall that happens supposedly rarely, but DOES happen (as it did to me.) Let me first say that I'm an RN with 14 years of experience; never have had any problem or complaints from an employer.

I was about 5 weeks into a 13 week assignment at Boston Shriner's; had not ever received feedback about my performance from a manager. I did sense that maybe they thought I was taking a bit "too long" to become independent on the unit... I haven't done a lot of traveling and felt that I was getting "up to speed" at that point. It is always necessary to ask questions about how specific things are done; they encouraged that. Though I hadn't been directly spoken to about it, i know they didn't feel I gave report very well (we had to "round" and give report to the whole team, doctors, manager, staff, etc. and I found this a bit intimidating, though i was getting more comfortable with it.)

Anyway, last Mon., a day off, I got a call out of the blue from someone with my agency, Crosscountry travcorps, and she said "Shriners wants to terminate your contract" (meaning as of NOW, as in I'd just worked my last shift the previous day.) She said there was no option to discuss things or give my side of the story. The reasons given (through the agency; I never was contacted directly by the Shriners manager) were that I needed better organizational skills, better communication especially when giving report. These don't seem like grounds for immediate dismissal to me. I was shocked, naturally. I couldn't believe my agency would allow this, or wouldn't have some process where I would be at least WARNED, much less given a chance to improve. I was simply dismissed with no warning, no notice, and according to Cross Country's "'terms and conditions," a facility has the right to cancel a contract at any time, for whatever reason, and without notice. In addition, Cross Country's policy states that if one is in their housing, they need to vacate within 24 hours. Fortunately for me, I was living with family, but think about it: a travel nurse in this situation could be suddenly without income and without housing. There is apparently no recourse, though I will contact someone higher up than my recruiter within the agency to protest the policies.

This is just to warn people considering travel or agency nursing to ask lots of questions, be very cautious, when signing a contract, and to be aware that this kind of unfair treatment can occur. I really never would have expected that I could be let go "just like that" without any due process.

Thanks for the opportunity to put this info out there!

[CHATSDALE]

that sounds horrid exp the no notice and the living quarters

did the agency offer you another job or transport pay??

good luck..this was a learning experience and you will land on your feet

[leslie :-D]

do they give you any sort of contract when you sign up with an agcy?

if so, do you think anything was written about employer cancellation policies?

i'm really sorry you experienced this.

i am familiar w/this hospital and it's known to be one of the more elitist facilities.

they don't fool around there, and are highly selective in who they hire.

but as chatsdale said, you will undoubtedly land on your feet.

wishing you the best of everything.

leslie

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

[banana]hi and welcome to all nurses![/banana]

this sounds very immature and unprofessional. i am dumbfounded by their treatment of you. however, we must understand that passive aggressive behavior as illustrated by your post, and their not giving you any fair 'warning,'is not the norm and shouldn't be tolerated. i only wish that were always true! we must as nurses work as a team and not allow such behavior to be the standard.

i will in the future think twice before accepting a traveler position at shriner's boston.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm interested in travel/agency.. and 24 hrs to vacate is not feasible!! I'm so sorry this happened to you.

[Diary/Dairy, RN]

Wow = thanks for the heads up!! I cannot believe that someone would do this to you! Hope things get better for you!

[bill4745, RN]

Read before you sign.