Travel Nurse Patient Assignment

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

I've been a med surge nurse for almost 2 years now. It's the only part of nursing I have experience in. When you take on assignments, do you find that you receive the most difficult patient loads? Or does it tend to be fair?

[NedRN]

Swings either way depending. Some hospitals or charge nurses are very even handed and some are not. There is really no way to find out unless your agency has inside info from prior placements and is also honest with you. With only two years of experience though, you are more likely to get more difficult assignments.

[perfexion, ASN, RN]

I agree. It depends. I'm on my second assignment. At first assignment (ever) they gave me not so complicated cases because I didn't know the ins and outs of the unit itself. Like, if a patient suddenly needed oxygen and there was no set up in the room, they didn't want me running around looking for things in an emergency. But since I showed a little more confidence in my second assignment they immediately saddled me with difficult cases and a heavy patient load. But it also depends on whether the staff nurses are jerks who hate travelers. I hear horror stories about that but so far I've never encountered that (knock on wood).

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

Thanks for the responses so far. I had to ask because when we have nurses float to our unit sometimes they are quick to snap and assume they are getting a difficult patient load. I was told by another nurse that people use to refuse assignments on our unit at some point because they use to be dumped on. I think that's so inconsiderate that anyone would dump on anyone like that. But I guess this is the reality of nursing. I've been charge nurse for some months now and I don't care how much experience a person has, I'm not going to dump on them! Hopefully it won't be like that when I decide to travel. The stories have made me cautious.

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

Swings either way depending. Some hospitals or charge nurses are very even handed and some are not. There is really no way to find out unless your agency has inside info from prior placements and is also honest with you. With only two years of experience though, you are more likely to get more difficult assignments.

Ned I forgot to ask you, why would I be more likely to get more difficult assignments?

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

duplicate

[NedRN]

Swings either way depending. Some hospitals or charge nurses are very even handed and some are not. There is really no way to find out unless your agency has inside info from prior placements and is also honest with you. With only two years of experience though, you are more likely to get more difficult assignments.

Ned I forgot to ask you, why would I be more likely to get more difficult assignments?

Travelers with more total experience, and successful travel assignments under their belts, have better choices of assignments. They also know to avoid hellholes. Who gets the the other assignments? Those with less experience.

This is a "more likely" description: there are few absolutes. But some hospitals don't take first time travelers at all, and some require as much as two years of travel. Obviously, you don't have a shot at those at all.

Your experience may be very different and with ballooning needs out there, you may land great assignments from the get go. Just saying that the more experience you have, the more competitive your profile will be and you will have better choices. Experience will also help you get through the inevitable difficult assignments.