Rn

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!