staff nurse vs traveling nurse

fergus51 · Mar 15, 2006

I couldn't care less.

rpbear · Mar 15, 2006

As long as she can do her job, and I don't have to work short staffed in an unsafe environment I don't care. It takes a special person to do travel nursing. You have to be able to function in all situtaions. You don't know the people, or where things are, or who to call for what, I know I couldn't do it!

suzanne4, RN · Mar 16, 2006

It takes years of experience to feel comfortable just jumping into a job without any real type of orientation, you need to be able to function independently and immediately. You get at the most three days of orientation, and that is the computer, if the facility uses one, how their paperwork is handled, and that is about it.

Some positions require at least one year of experience, some at least two years, and most labor and delivery and NICU positions require five years of experience.

I have just four questions when I start on a unit: Where is the crash cart, if not right out in front of me; the employee bathrooms; and the lounge, or cafeteria; and the med room.

Amd if you are the staff nurse on the unit that is short of help, you want a nurse that is competent and that can just jump in. And you do not really care what they are being paid. It is never discussed at work, etc.

fergus51 · Mar 16, 2006

I haven't found that to be true about NICU here. Places around here all want two years.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2006

What doesn't get said is the problems that travelers must face for the additional pay.

- Little if any paid time off.

- Being away from home - having to readjust to your surroundings.

- Knowing no one nearby and no one on the floor where you are, at least initially

- Usually being first float.

- Having people be snide because they assume that you get paid "all this money", when if you break it down, it is not that terribly lucrative.

- Getting crappy patient assignments because you get "all this money" yadda yadda.

For the first 2-4 weeks of most assignments, you are being tested emotional/physically/skillswise and the staff doesn't know what to make of you. After you have proven yourself, things get easier. And when they start to rely on you for your strengthes, then they never want you to leave.

And as an experienced nurse that does not work strikes, the pay is not that great.

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On a personal note:

Right now, I am in the first few weeks of an assignment. It is definitely the most challenging assignment as far as skill is concerned. Unfortunately, I amy have to quit this one ....something that I have never done.

You see, I had trouble getting my mammo down when I was last to my MD in Georgia. I had my test done at the end of my assignment in Florida. Then had them send the results to the wrong MD, about three weeks late.

It shows a nodule, one positioned in a way that will make it difficult to biopsy, probably requiring a CT guided biopsy - a highly unpleasant procedure requiring sedation. In the mean time, I have to have further rad/us exams.

I am 900miles from my family and 650miles from my dearest friends. And while I have already bonded with a traveler or two, I have no one in regular staff that I can even discuss this with. My mother and 3 of her sisters have lost one or both breasts to cancer (one other sister died in her 40s of heart disease). I have had a lump removed due to AH - a major risk factor.

That I work Oncology does not help. I may be looking at my near future. And yet I have to paste a smile on my face and just go on...and I do not have anyone nearby to confide in.

I am trying to get this done in Maryland, get the proper films sent to Maryland, find rads in Maryland, that are covered by my insurance and THAT I CAN FIND - given that I know nothing about the area. It has taken HOURS of phone calls to get reports and films. And if the biopsy is not good, cancell my contract and have surgery. And then be out of work with no sick time for 6 weeks.

My life has been a nightmare for the last 5 weeks...I suggest that anyone that is envious of what travelers get paid and think that it is so easy, try this situation on for size and see how they would like it.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2006

I worked at a hospital that used traveling nurses. I talked with a couple of the travelers and found that they were not getting paid the high amounts you hear about. In fact, they had to negotiate their rates of pay with their agencies and it was like pulling teeth to get the high hourly rates they advertise. Their housing that was supposed to be paid at 100% was often also another negotiated deal with the agency where the traveler ended up paying a certain percentage of the monthly rent or having to share a room with another traveler. I was told they made their money by working extra shifts, but they had to be approved by their travel agencies first. These travel nurse agencies are nothing more than temporary employment agencies that specialize in acting as agents in securing short term labor contracts for nurses thus guaranteeing the nurse a 40 hour work week. The majority of nurses who do agency work do not stay at doing it full time because they cannot get full time work at it--only rarely. The agencies charge the hospitals far more than what they eventually end up pay the nurse. My mother owned and operated a nursing agency for a number of years and I am very well acquainted with how this particular industry works. They attract many who are dazzled by the $$$ they quote them. However, the reality is quite different. I believe that most of the first traveling nurse companies that were so very popular are no longer in business. Wonder why?

I loved working with the travelers. New blood and new faces are always a welcome change of pace and I love exchanging points of view and ways of doing things with them. There are some nurses that treat the travelers like second class citizens--those nurses are jerks and don't deserve the help of the travelers as far as I'm concerned.

smk1, LPN · Mar 16, 2006

What doesn't get said is the problems that travelers must face for the additional pay.
- Little if any paid time off.
- Being away from home - having to readjust to your surroundings.
- Knowing no one nearby and no one on the floor where you are, at least initially
- Usually being first float.
- Having people be snide because they assume that you get paid "all this money", when if you break it down, it is not that terribly lucrative.
- Getting crappy patient assignments because you get "all this money" yadda yadda.
For the first 2-4 weeks of most assignments, you are being tested emotional/physically/skillswise and the staff doesn't know what to make of you. After you have proven yourself, things get easier. And when they start to rely on you for your strengthes, then they never want you to leave.
And as an experienced nurse that does not work strikes, the pay is not that great.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a personal note:
Right now, I am in the first few weeks of an assignment. It is definitely the most challenging assignment as far as skill is concerned. Unfortunately, I amy have to quit this one ....something that I have never done.
You see, I had trouble getting my mammo down when I was last to my MD in Georgia. I had my test done at the end of my assignment in Florida. Then had them send the results to the wrong MD, about three weeks late.
It shows a nodule, one positioned in a way that will make it difficult to biopsy, probably requiring a CT guided biopsy - a highly unpleasant procedure requiring sedation. In the mean time, I have to have further rad/us exams.
I am 900miles from my family and 650miles from my dearest friends. And while I have already bonded with a traveler or two, I have no one in regular staff that I can even discuss this with. My mother and 3 of her sisters have lost one or both breasts to cancer (one other sister died in her 40s of heart disease). I have had a lump removed due to AH - a major risk factor.
That I work Oncology does not help. I may be looking at my near future. And yet I have to paste a smile on my face and just go on...and I do not have anyone nearby to confide in.
I am trying to get this done in Maryland, get the proper films sent to Maryland, find rads in Maryland, that are covered by my insurance and THAT I CAN FIND - given that I know nothing about the area. It has taken HOURS of phone calls to get reports and films. And if the biopsy is not good, cancell my contract and have surgery. And then be out of work with no sick time for 6 weeks.
My life has been a nightmare for the last 5 weeks...I suggest that anyone that is envious of what travelers get paid and think that it is so easy, try this situation on for size and see how they would like it.

(((Carollady!)))) I hope everything turns out to be fine, or at the very least, that things were caught early on!