To all agency/registry/prn, and traveling nurses in the U.S. are you ready for this?

grouchy · Jan 3, 2002

Wildtime, I'd love to hear more about pts being sent from the ER to the floors, instead of the ICU. As a floor nurse, I've often suspected, but couldn't prove, that I've been on the receiving end of this many times. I always blamed it on the MDs- never suspected it might be forced on them too. What kind of excuses have you heard in these situations?

grouchy · Jan 3, 2002

Scott,

This dayshift endo thing sounds like a good deal. What does your role encompass?

oramar · Jan 3, 2002

I just heard a radio broadcast about Nursing that Brian recommended. I wish wildtime could have been a speaker on that show.

oramar · Jan 3, 2002

Long time ago someone told me that the ER where I worked had strict instructions to call CEO or one of his flunkies when uninsured patient was being admitted. One of the things they would do with them was turf them to another hospital that was in a poorer neighborhood. How did they get away with this when it is illegal? This hospital was in a affluent neighborhood and was always near 100% capacity. So if they had 4 empty beds and 8 patients they would pick the uninsured patients to turf. They are permitted to transfer patients when they were full, this is legal. How I heard about it was that I recieved a 22 year old new onset juvenile diabetes that was very, very ill. I was taking care of 15 other patients on med surg with only an aid when he arrived. He got the best care that night that he would ever recieve in his life. I know cause I broke my back and spirit providing the care. Later on someone told me the story about the turfing policy and how they could not dump this young man cause he was to ill to move. This same person also said that CEO prevailed upon the ER MD to put the patient on med/surg instead of ICU. I was told that a remark was made that the hospital would never see a cent from this person and he was not going in an ICU bed. My back and my spirit gave way that night. I have not been the same person or nurse since. Unfortunately this was all rumor, I have no proof that anyone ever did or said anything like this.

BeeStrong · Jan 3, 2002

Back when I was a single Mom raising two kids I enrolled in a Federally supported LPN program at the local college. I had been trying to make ends meet as a nursing assistant and quickly saw the realities of life and how one year's education in nursing could make a big difference for me and my kids. I have never been on welfare but I think we should not make judgements against those who have had to go that route. Eventually I was able to complete the schooling for my RN and have been in the business for over 25 years now. This is not the first government supported educational program for nurses and it won't be the last. We cannot ***** about low staffing levels and then crab when the govt actually tries to do something to train more nurses. Yes, there were only half of my class who made it through the program and then only half again who passed the boards. But at least it did add some new nurses to the profession, many of whom had suffered quite a bit to get there. I am not threatened by any new grads coming on board, more power to them, and let them give it a shot. Yes it is a very tough profession with a lot of problems, but let's welcome all who are willing to try; we know not all will have what it takes, but we can at the very least congratulate them when they have jumped through all the hoops; wildtime, if you are seriously threatened about agency work, then by all means, come on board with the full timers, or part-timers, even prn...at least you know you will be working. My small community hospital will call their own prn pool first before contacting agency; and they never use travelers. Yes, they have to watch the bottom line ; -prn nurses are getting $30 to $40 hr with option for benefits not including differentials depending on years of experience (that's for med surg, not specialities). We need more nurses or staffing levels will get to the unsafe level and more nurses will leave the profession. What other ways do you see to improve the situation?

wildtime88 · Jan 3, 2002

I am not threatened personally by this legislation. I have many other options including leaving nursing all together.

This legislation does threaten the gains that are just now beginning to surface in nursing. In fact, it could possibly take away some.

I wonder if they will still be paying the PRN nurses as well when there is a reduction in available hours.

I wonder if they will be so quick to make changes when a lot more new nurses start coming into the profession.

I wonder if the government's idea of what is best for the country and us is the same as our own.

I wonder just how much weight the government is going to put on the hospital's recommendations when they clash with our own.

I wonder if the basic problems will get as much attention or be on a priority list.

I wonder if things will actually change all that much.

I wonder if at the end of this shortage if we will have really made that much progress or if more could have been made if this legislation had not come into existence.

I wonder if we are just supplying new nurses to be chewed up and spit up by the monster that we as nurses helped feed and nurture.

It seems if we would have focused more on solving the problems that have plagued nursing for centuries, then increased recruitment would have followed naturally. It also seems that some nurses might have returned as a result. It also seems that there was a good chance that many agency and traveling nurses might have come back to being regular staff as a result.

tfrankern · Jan 4, 2002

Well wild...You sound like you are very bitter and nasty toward agency nurses and actually are happy to see that the positions may be cut. That attitude may work for you now but be careful....I've lived long enough and been a nurse long enough to know that if hospital administrators want to cut budgets and agency goes, full time staff is not far behind. For instance, in the city I work in (TEXAS), 2 huge hospital systems began large lay-offs, not only of mid and upper-level management but of nurses, registered, ad,bs and msn nurses baby....and guess what? I still had as many shifts as I could work as an agency nurse. I was confused about this as I have been both full time staff and full time agency so I can see both perspectives (maybe you should try it, it might broaden your horizons a little and make you a little less excited about nurses, of any orientation, losing work). Anyhow, as the staff nurses were being laid off, I continued to work...when I questioned the VP of nursing about this she stated that she too thought it would be less expensive to keep staff and let go of agency, until she became an administrator and actually got to look at the real budget. They don't pay benefits to agency such as health ins, vacation, sick leave, holiday pay, and not to mention the employer taxes they must pay for each employee.

Now then, I will admit that this past few months, the work for me slowed down in my city for the kind of work (ICU,PICU, NEO ICU) that I do but the need for med-surg, OR, PACU etc. continued.

My main point is that you seem very much against the team....I hope all nurses have jobs they enjoy because when they do they give better care. You sound like you are happy that the agency nurses are going to be "PUNISHED" for going out and working just as hard but making more money than you....well you could have done it too....nobody is forcing anyone to remain as a staff nurse....most people choose to stay for the sake of benefits which agency nurses don't get. So I might make more but I have to pay out for my own benefits and I have no guarantees...I think instead of pointing fingers and laughing when one branch of your profession may be hurt, you should be concerned because there are no guarantees for full timers either. Many times as full time I have been forced to take vacation days to complete my pay week because census dropped so low that we were forced to take days off....be careful before you get so cocky....when you send bad stuff out into the universe it tends to boomerang back around and hit you square between the eyes... :eek:

Mkue · Jan 4, 2002

I have a question for anyone..

Are agency nurses the same thing as Nurse Consultants?

Thanks, Marie

Rustyhammer · Jan 4, 2002

when you send bad stuff out into the universe it tends to boomerang back around and hit you square between the eyes...

I just got home after doing 11 hours of an 8 hour shift and I just gotta say... After following this thread for the last few days the above quote pretty much wraps it up.

Now I can have a beer and check out the fridge for some good leftovers.

Thanks tfrankern :cool:

wildtime88 · Jan 4, 2002

tfrankern,

I am an agency as well as a travel nurse.

I have been away from regular staff nursing for over 3 years.

I do get the benefits as well as the punishments of the realty in my 13 week travel assignments though. In other words, I get to see what is going on behind the scenes.

Terrie · Jan 5, 2002

I am a registry nurse for a specific hospital system and I float between to community hospitals. My hours have not been decreased, there are still hours left after my schedule and I am getting a $4/hr raise at the end of Jan. So I guess I do not see it happening. However I was a staff nurse for this hospital and I keep my seniority there.

I feel that they have to do somethig about the nursing shortage and I have a thought in my mind that people are going to be pushed through nursing school and will turn out to be quiters after reality hits them or they will not have the slightest ideal what they are doing. In the end we will get a worse reputation than we already have. They will bring in foreign nurse, pay them less and any head way nurses here in the US have made will go down the drain. I am not trying to offend anyone, all nurses need to stick together and not let our profession and respect go to the dogs.

Just my opinion.

ivan57 · Jan 25, 2007

I have also heard of hospitals investing in mass numbers of foreign nurses to aid in the immenient staffing crisis. Sounds good, but not sure this measure will work. Most of the nurses contracted to come here do not know English in the first place, so not only is the hospital paying these foreign nurses to go through a 2 year nursing school and classes to pass the US NCLEX, but they also have to teach them English. Sounds like a very tough and very time consuming plan for an immediate issue. And once they arrive to the US, their pay will be substantially less than US paid nurses...sounds like potential conflict to find out that you are being paid half as an US nurse for doing the same job. I am a registry nurse and I currently am having troubles getting my hours in...and not because the 30+ hospitals in the city I reside in have significantly increased their own nursing staff, but have hired many travel nurses to fill the need. So, hospitals may not be using a ton of registry nurses in my area, but the situation is the same, they are SHORT STAFFED! The hospitals are just using 14 traveling nurses for a 12 hour ICU shift as opposed to 14 registry nurses. I will be curious as to what will happen. Hospitals just need to face the fact that they need to work on retaining the nurses they currently have and less on trying to attract new nurses. Simple. And I am sure it will be more effective in the long run than a foreign solution with a 2 year contract.