New to travel - advice please

[Genabrie]

I am new to traveling, but have been a nurse for more than 6 yrs. I had a contract, with a facility... and they cancelled it after a few weeks. They never gave me any bad feedback during the time I was there, but told my company they were cancelling because I "didn't have the skills" they thought I should have.

I wasn't aware that a contract could be cancelled. I am sure I can get another one, my company is working on it now. But, I want to make sure the next one goes better.

I want to ask for advice... what things do you do or say (or not) to fit in as a traveller? Has anyone else had this happen? How do you psych yourself up for a new assignment?

[stellar]

I am not a traveler yet, I am just watching these blogs to get an idea of the workings of the industry, so I will be very curious to see the responses. My understanding thus far is that some agencies have some form of QA or a person/department that will evauate these types of claims by the facility, and a written policy of how they deal with it, at least the good ones do. Unfortunately, what I am seeing is that it is hit or miss which ones actually support the nurses, and as an individual nurse, you really do not have much clout behind you to counter it. Worst case scenerio, such as one recent blogger, was that she actually got charged, and subsequently sued by the agency, for the costs of rent, etc when the facility cancelled her for no cause. There has been discussion of labor board complaints, but given the transient nature of the traveler's location, that seems impractical at best. I suspect that these are the worst case scenerios and, thus far, are the minority of situations. What I will be watching over the next few months is if there is an increase in these cancellations, and if so, my bet is that it is related to the economy. I am sitting on the fence right now about traveling, and I have no recent experience as a traveler, I am just a curious observer at the moment. I really value these posts and look forward to the actual anecdotal input of everyone who surfs this site. If you could post and tell us how this unfolds it would benifit us all. Good Luck.

[Kdog]

Ask more questions to see what level care you will be working.
I have never worked with vents and this one place said they would train me for a chronic vent pt. on a med/surg floor and I said NO THANKS..another place interviewed me for step-down and I knew it was more than I could handle.. another place wanted me to care for peds in addition to adults,, once again I said no. peds is out of my practice area.
So let them know what your skill level is and ask is there anything above what you are used to doing.
Try again.
What is your specialty

[DavidRN]

Hey Genabrie. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I am a traveler with over a decade of experience and have been cancelled by a facility twice, but that has been in over thirty contracts worked. For both contracts, I was with the same company. On both occasions, it was a personality difference between myself and one of the people in management (charge nurse and a nurse manager). As you now know, the contracts we sign are pretty horrible when it comes to covering the nurse. This is the nature of the beast. However, if you have a good travel company behind you, it can be a relatively harmless downside.

On both cancellations, I was with the same travel company. The first occurred in L.A. and my travel company had me in orientation in another hospital the following Monday. I was charged a total of $50 for housing for missing a week of work.

The second occasion was about the same, but it did cost me more in extra time and efforts to go back home and start working per diem.

A cancelled contact is not the end of the world and it should not be a frequent occurrance. If it is, you do need to evaluate the cause. If you are sensing that you do not fit in, keep your head low, do your work, and start looking for your next assignment when it comes time. You will find places you like better than others and then you can start extending your time as you like.

For the poster that is thinking of travel, yes, it can be a pain in the butt at times. However, work is work and you can either spend your days off hanging where you are familiar or exploring the area of a new city or state. I would never have been able to do or see half of what I have, had I not been a travel nurse. You really can't beat it as a profession.