Tricked and Ticked off about it

Specialties Travel

Published

I signed on with a hospital for a 13 week travel contract. I have spent all of my time since October being a house float. I spent one shift in the SICU which is the unit I interviewed for and was supposed to work in. I am sooooo sick of going into that place now and getting dumped on night after night. I don't need to tell any of you what it's like being a "guest" on one of these floors. The worst of the worst gets thrown at you. I hate those people and this hospital so bad. :angryfire

If anyone is coming to South Florida and wants to know where this place is and what it's really like working there feel free to PM me. I'll be glad to fill you in on it. Personally, I think it sucks. Oh and they're one of these customer service oriented facilities. What a joke!!!!!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Probably in the time you signed the contract they got enough staff at that unit, but decided to keep you on anyway.

Travelers here are first to float, so sometimes that means they might spend a few days in a row floating.

It does sound like you've been duped to work as a float nurse. I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck.

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.

Been there, done that too. I was recruited by an Agency this summer for a Telephonic Case Management assignment....only to discover that it was the equivalent of working in a "boiler room". That didn't last long. And, just last week, I received an e-mail from another Agency, complete with ALL the bells and whistles, begging me to go to work "right away" for a client of theirs. Turns out that the client didn't want me. The recruiter then tried to talk me into going to an interview AFTER work (I don't get off until 4:30), which was two hours away from where I live. I told her thanks, but no thanks, and to call me when she had a firm job offer. I don't think she appreciated that, but I don't care. These Agency recruiters are obviously working on commission, and don't care about our welfare in the LEAST. :angryfire

It does sound like you've been duped to work as a float nurse. I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck.

It goes beyond that they have enough staff. This was a deliberate move by the critical care section of this particular facility to go to a closed unit system (except if you're a traveler) and shuffle core unit staff around to cover their needs in the units (except if you're a traveler) with a written policy to call in their on call person if the floor needs a traveler for floating. Bottom line is they are intending to use travelers in a per-diem or house float role regardless of what they interview them for. This really starts to get into the area of dishonest and unethical. Both are things that I really despise which makes this even more difficult to deal with.

I have seen clauses in contracts that read something like: policies of the Traveler Nurse are to be the same as the regular staff's treatment. An example of this would be Holiday Work; staff generally works one of the primary holidays (i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas Eve, and New Years).

Bloviate, I am sorry you were treated so badly. Don't give up, there are plenty of good and fair facilites to get an assignment with.

Let us know how you are doing.

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