They Tricked Me!

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I just started a new job in the ER of a major university medical center. I was told by my agency how wonderful it is and how all the travelers love it and the nurse to pt ratio was 1:8 at worst and all this other stuff. All I have to say is...they flat out LIED. I have never seen an ER run like this. It is unsafe to say the least, nurse to pt ratio is more like 1:17, never mind the acuity. The area has a large spanish speaking population and I was told that there are 5 interpreters on at all times...I am lucky if there is one, so I can't communicate with most of the patients. NOTHING is convieniently located, even oxygen tubing and EKG leads are " put away" . ONE IV cart per area that is not portable so you have to individually get everything you need. The doctors dont communcicate with the nurses at ALL and usually the charts are NOWHERE to be found so you have NO idea what is going on with your patient, yet you are ultimately responsible for them. If your pt goes to the bathroom or a test, they lose their bed.Your patients are constantly being moved but no one tells you where they are moved to. I spend most of my 12 hour shift looking for the charts and the pts. Your nursing notes are usually tossed aside by residents and attendings and lost so it looks like you did nothing for the patient. No pt privacy, every pt is brought inside and stacked up on one another like sardines and a lot of them wait at least 8 hours to be seen, if they are lucky. Most of my pts are not even seen on my shift which is 12 hours. I dont even feel like a nurse anymore. I could go on and on. Anyway, I found out that no travelers ever go back and the ones I have met who are there now feel the same way I do. My agency had to have known. If they had been honest with me, I NEVER would have agreed to go there. I have 11 more weeks. I dread waking up in the morning..THATS how bad it is. IS this common for agencies to mislead their nurses this way?:angryfire

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

Wow. Read your post and my jaw dropped. A 1:17 ratio? Sounds pretty unsafe. I don't know what the penalty is for dropping a contract, but I would walk away as quickly as possible. You're putting your license in danger with every patient. I would go to the agency and say exactly what you said here - emphasize that you don't feel you can give safe care, and that you feel mislead in this situation. It isn't worth it.

Good luck today :)

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I did call them and basically what I got was, " I'm sorry to hear that, " I worry about my license every time I am there. Another thing that worries me is that the pts do not receive discharge instructions. I am used to custom made printed discharge instructions that are available in english and spanish. Here is what the pt gets: an illegible copy of the doctors handwritten chicken scratch. I can't even read it so how can a pt who does not speak or read in English read it? They have a program in english/spanish for d/c instructions in computer but only docs have access to it and when I asked one doc for them he was like, " Oh please do you really think they read them? Maybe not, but at least if we give them something legible and they sign it we have more of a leg to stand on. If I had the money I would walk out tomorrow. Frankly I cannot afford it. I dont know what to do. Also, if you inform a doctor about a pt they usually ignore you. I am used to being treated with respect by ER docs and being included. Here, I am merely their handmaiden. Yes on Monday, each nurse had 17 pts. Plus it takes them 10-20 hours to dispo even the simplest nonsense pt. You will have an ankle sprain there for 20 hours. Its a NIGHTMARE.:o

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That sounds awful. Does your agency have a DON - someone with an RN license you can talk to? Mine does and I've found her a very helpful resource in situations where I have felt overwhelmed. Recruiters, no matter how good/bad, just cannot know what the RNs are up against - they have never worked a hospital floor so you cannot expect them to.

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I spoke with someone who WAS sympathetic but then told me that another traveler recently got fired from same hospital for speaking up. This hospital is part of a system so if I leave on bad terms with this one, i cant work at others. The one I want to work for is not bad like this. So I guess I have to suck it up

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What State are you working in.

This sounds terrible, but the other side of the how wonderful travel nursing is. Nursing is a difficult field as all nurses know, but this...

God be with you!

M

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Specializes in med/surg, rural, ER.

What state/area are you in? I am looking for my next contract and don't want to end up in that ER.

A 1:17 ratio? How do codes work--does anyone even know if someone quits breathing? I would call the state or JCAHO. You can file a complaint at http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/ This is an unsafe place for patients and staff--I would do all I can to protect my license and get out of that contract!

Edited to add: from JCAHO's website, "Joint Commission policy forbids accredited organizations from taking retaliatory actions against employees for having reported quality of care concerns to the Joint Commission." and "When submitting a complaint to the Joint Commission about an accredited organization, you may either provide your name and contact information or submit your complaint anonymously."

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I want to file a complaint but am worried about reprecussions. Scary thing is that this is a union!

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you couldn't pay me enough to work in ....... well..... HE__ (rhymes with well) :angryfire:

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Is this the same agency as before that you had issues with?

Was it your contract what the staffing ratios were? Did you hear this from the ER Manager directly or your recruiter?

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No this is a new agency. The agency itself has been fine... but I am pissed about this assignment because every nurse I have met with this agency or any agency for that matter hates this ER and they ALL have complained to their recruiters.I have yet to meet any travel nurse who likes it. Anyway, the agency HAD to have known and I feel they should have been honest with me. I am so close to walking out, that's how bad it is. I fear for my license every time I walk in there. It's in a bad area but that has nothing to do with it at all. I actually feel sorry for the pts and I am embarrassed with the way this ER is run. What is the penalty for walking out of an assignment?

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I know they say you can file a complaint without reprecussions but they can always find a way to get you somehow. Can you complain anonymously? I am truly concerned for patient's safety. I am usually one to advocate for my peers/coworkers but in this case, I can't do it! The patients safety is defintely in jeopardy in my opinion!

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