Got grapes?

Wow, what a grape, I mean great time of year to be here in Napa. You can finally see the grapes hanging on the vines. We got this upclose picture in nearby Yountville. The grape harvesting has started by some of the vineyards. Just incredible.

Work is ok. We have a bunch of new grads in training and a couple that just got off of orientation. They also hired a new group of travelers so there is an abundance of new faces around. I am awaiting my exit. The search for a new assignment doesn't look too promising. As you can assume not many nurses want to go to Oklahoma which would make the job market great you would think... but since not many nurses want to go there the number of travel companies that have assignments there are few. And some of the ones I have called have not gotten back with me. Very frustrating. As of tomorrow I have 30 days left here in Napa. Would you be scared? Not knowing where you will live or work 30 days from now? Think about that....not too much though, cuz now I'm even scaring myself!! Just kidding. I'm fine, I'm used to it. I have faith that everything will work out just the way it's supposed to. More pictures to follow as we will be touring the redwoods soon. Take care and remember first do no harm.

Going back to work

Back to work
So even when it's back to work, it's still better here than back home. Sorry guys, I love being from Cleveland, not living there. Napa is beautiful, the hot air balloons in the sky every morning, sunshine all day, nice cool evenings. I'm even learning to like the morning fog, the longer it stays the cooler the day will be. One of my traveler friends has moved on. She started with me in May and her last week was last week. I totally missed her all week because my sister was here and I only worked my 3 days. It's a bummer, she was really fun. Whenever one of us was having a hard day we would help each other or just be there to listen. Lucky for me she only moved to San Francisco so I can see her again before I leave CA. It's an unusual feeling for me because I am usually the one leaving. Hopefully the rest of my assignment will go smoothly without my friend to commisurate with. It's only 2 short months now,I'm sure it will fly by. I still have a couple of places I'd like to visit and then there's the whole finding a new assignment thing. That usually consumes the whole last month of an assignment. Which is great, because by the end of an assignment I'm usually counting my days. If it's a good assignment I'm counting the days the last month, if it's a bad assignment I'm counting from the first week. So, I'm lucky, it's been a good assignment so far. But, I am looking forward to spending some time with my family. We are headed to Oklahoma next, most of the tornados should be gone by then. Along with the unbearable heat, I hope. We'll see how different nursing is in the plains states and how I will survive without staffing ratios. I must say, it's the best thing about nursing in California, hopefully the governor realizes it.
posted by TravelingNurse @ 11:05 AM

3 Comments:

At 8:24 AM, Third Degree Nurse said…
Love the balloon! Kind of close to those power lines, though.And although I wouldn't want to live in Cleveland either (I used to live in Akron, which was close enough),I've thought about doing an internship at the Cleveland Clinic. Ever worked there?

At 11:43 AM, TravelingNurse said…
The balloon picture was taken as this balloon was landing. I have not worked at the Cleveland Clinic just at Hillcrest Hospital which is part of the Cleveland Clinic foundation. I enjoyed working at Hillcrest. I have worked at University Hospital of Cleveland and found it to be very interesting. Lots of things you won't see anywhere else.The apartment we get from the travel company usually is a one bedroom. We have often asked for a two bedroom and generally have to pay something minimal if anything for the extra room. When we went to Phoenix we got a 2 bedroom so family and friends could visit and we actually had some company. It was so nice.

When family comes to town

This is one of the cars my brother-in-law got to drive us around to the wineries.
This is the inside of Frogs Leap winery in Napa Valley CA.


Hi All, Here are a few pictures of this week's journey.My sister and Brother-in-law came to visit us this week. They have been to the wine country several times before and knew exactly where to take us. We really had a great time with my family. It's kind of hard out on the road, as you can imagine, only getting phone calls and not seeing anyone you know for months at a time. The first time anyone came to visit us was when we were in Phoenix last year. We try to travel through the towns where our family and friends live on our trips from one assignment to another, but it's not the same as seeing them on a regular basis. We had a great time and went to a bunch of wineries as well as a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train. The wine train was cute, the food was good, and the scenery was beautiful...it's one of those toursty things to do. That's part of the traveling thing, to see all the places you want and to send a piece back to the people you know. Adding the pictures was a lot easier than I thought, so you can look forward to lots more pictures in the future.
As far as work goes, it's been slowing down. They say the summertime here brings a low census and it has slowed some. I worry about having my contract cancelled due to the low census, I haven't had it happen to me but it could. This week and last week I only worked my 3 twelve hour shifts so it was like a vacation. I have been working 4 twelves for about year now. Once you train your self, it's not hard to do. Some of the people I work with do 5 and 6 twelves a week, not every week but most weeks. That's too much for these old bones...makes me tired just thinking about it. It would make me too cranky too, I think, but the checks would be great!!! Nothing else exciting to talk about as far as work goes...we'll see what happens over the weekend. Wish me luck! Have a great weekend yourselves!!!!

Reno for a day

Hi there sorry it's been so long, maybe if I had some comments I could write more (hint,hint). We had 3 days off in a row so we took a little road trip. We drove down to the southern end of Lake Tahoe,that was beautiful. The water was so blue! We stopped in at Caesars and I won on the quarter slot machine. First time anyone ever came over and handed me money instead of the machine spitting it out at me. The we drove up the east coast of Lake Tahoe and stopped at Cal-Neva casino. Much smaller than I anticipated. The trip to Reno was beautiful the mountains still had some snow when we were by Lake Tahoe. We stayed the night at Circus Circus...and this time my husband got the quarter slot, he was so thrilled. My machine was very subtle and quiet when I won, his was really loud bells and lights and all. He loved it...I moved a little further away to let him have all the attention. Plus it was hurting my ears. We met up with a traveler we had met in Phoenix and had breakfast the next morning. We were going to play just for a little while and ended up staying till 6pm. The ride back was longer than I expected...most times the trip home is shorter. It was a very curvy ride along the mountain side. I hope it's quicker when we leave here in September to go to Oklahoma.
Yes, I renewed my contract until the end of September..the money and the job are too good to leave right now. Plus it's over a hundred degrees in Oklahoma right now...no thanks. It's been hot enough here this week, 90+ everyday. I guess the weather is like that, one week hot the next week cooler. That's what the natives tell me anyway.My husband will be thrilled when it cools down.
Work has been just as busy as ever. They tell me it slows down in the summer, and, we're still waiting for that to happen. Well, I should say they are waiting for it to happen. I love getting the extra days in. Last week I didn't get any extra time because they didn't need me. This week people are on vacation so I picked up 2 eight hour shifts on the transitional care unit. It's like a skilled floor and is much slower and quieter than my regular floor. I figure that's the best way to pick up extra hours and not burn myself out. It seems to be confusing my boss though. He saw me today and said "again?" because I had floated down there earlier this week and had picked up an extra day there last week. I told him that our floor didn't need me but I wanted to work...he just shook his head. Guess he's not used to travelers working so much overtime. Most just want to do their 3 days and then play. I want to work as much as possible then not have to work at all. I guess I'm looking at the big picture and further into the future.
We went to dinner at another travelers house last night. Also someone I met in Phoenix. She is living in the next city (St. Helena) in a cute little cottage. It was nice to have a deck to sit on and to be out in the fresh night air. It's a very pretty drive, past all the vineyards. Since it's been a little clearer in the mornings she gets to see all the hot air balloons as well on her drive in to work. It's nice to have someone we know in town.
Well, I'll try not to make it so long between posts. Thanks for reading.

Life after JCAHO

Well, that was fun. My third week on dayshift and we had our lovely JCAHO inspection. Wasn't that fun? The whole hospital got painted and scrubbed clean. The entire staff was on edge...that part was not fun and never is. Of course my heart stopped when I saw all the suits walk on the floor. But, I was brave and stood my ground researching in my patient's chart, as the walked by I was able to breathe a silent sigh of relief. Ok, I admit it we were "well staffed" that week and there wasn't much activity on the floor...I don't know how that happened but it worked. The hospital over all did well and now we are just waiting for the state to come through. I think it's easier for me to follow the rules since I just learned them and haven't had time to formulate any bad ones associated with this particular hospital. So, all in all I'm very happy with my move from San Pablo.
We've done some more sightseeing...went to the Geyser here in Calistoga and the Petrified forest...not terribly exciting but it was one of those touristy things to do. We did a little garage saling which was fun, saw some interesting things, one guy was selling birdhouses and step stools made of wineboxes. They were very pretty and well done but what would we do with them? Unfortunately they wouldn't pack well. We also went to an estate sale and we were amazed at the condition of the house. Especially here in Napa where the houses are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was very small and was not well cared for and there was a lot of stuff there...obviously a collector. Estate sales can be sad when you think about why they occur and the fact that a bunch of strangers are digging through this persons stuff but, it is part of the cycle of life.
This past week at work has been pretty peaceful. My boss is very visible on the unit and also very helpful. He got a little anxious during the JCAHO thing but all in all one of the best managers I have worked for so far. I am contemplating extending my contract at this point but, there is a patient who has been on the floor for an extended period of time and it doesn't look like they will be leaving very soon. I have been assigned to this person for almost the entire time I have been at this hospital and it has been difficult. The patient is very angry and demanding and difficult to care for. If it weren't for this patient I would probably sign on for another eight weeks right now. Also, there is the threat of a strike here in California and I am holding out for some possible strike pay. It's nice to have options.
Well, take care all and remember first do no harm.

Off of night shift!

Hello everyone..yes I made it through the night shift about 2 and a half weeks total. It wasn't as difficult to stay awake as I had thought. It was harder to sleep...and now the change back is incredibly difficult. I'm tired but I can't seem to fall asleep when I want to. I start dayshift tomorrow so hopefully tonight will be different. Our little apartment is on the main drag so it's got the white noise I love to fall asleep to. We took a drive up highway 29 to Calistoga the other day. It's a beautiful drive that I'm sure we will take many times while we are here. There's one part of the road by the Beringer Winery that is shaded over by these beautiful trees..plus all along the roadside are the vineyards. It's really like no other place I've seen. There is also an Old Faithful here in California along highway 29..we'll be going back up to see that for sure. I'm working on getting pictures put up on the blog...bear with me. So dayshift starts next week and the Joint Commission will be here the first week of June. The whole place is in an uproar as you can imagine. I think it's easier for us travelers because we don't have the bad habits that the regular staffers do. We just do things like they showed us in orientation and we'll be ok. The hardest thing to remember to do is asking the patients their name and birthday with each pill or treatment. I think slowing down will help...easier said than done I know. Well, have a good week..

Napa California

Well, we have moved up to Napa California and so far things are better. Of course we have only been here less than 3 weeks, so I'm still apprehensive. I am working at Queen of the Valley Hospital on 2 North which is a telemetry/step down unit. The orientation was well organized and very helpful ,unlike some I have endured. I had a 2 day orientation..one day on my floor and one day in ICU..why ICU I have no idea. I am not an ICU nurse nore do I aspire to be. Way too much going on there and way too many tubes. I also don't think I like the Step Down unit idea either...at this hospital the patients on step down can have multiple drips, vent or art line...not my cup of tea. The staff for the most part is very helpful. In orientation they actually said that "At the Queen of the Valley we speak English." Yeah it sounded nice but of course once you are really out there it's not so...especially on night shift. Yes, I am doing night shift for a couple of weeks just to get my foot in the door and out of the bad situation in San Pablo. It should only be one more week and it is killing me. I am tired all the time. Hats off to all you night shift people who only work nights, I'm glad you are there. The weather here in Napa has been excellent sunny and not to warm but just warm enough. The vineyards offer hot air balloon rides at sunrise so in the mornings when I leave work I can see them in the sky...really spectacular. We opted for the housing allowance and so far it has worked to our advantage. We found a nice small, older complex that is very close to the hospital. We haven't done much sightseeing yet what with being on nights and all but will keep you updated when we do. As always...first do no harm.

San Pablo or San Pa-blow

Wow, just when you think you've been to the worst assignment ever...it gets worse. And it makes me wonder about the nurses that work at these hospitals..is it just that they have never worked anywhere else so they don't know how bad it is? Or is it that they can't move and this is the closest hospital? Anyway too bad for them to have to stay here. This place is just as bad as the floor I was on at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, only this seems to be a majority of the hospital. They have had several sentinel events in the past few months and don't seem to be dealing very well.A lot of the staff nurses are very resentful and angry because of the strike they went through a year ago and are not nice to travelers at all. The nursing assistants I have met so far all have an attitude. And not a good one. I was told by one particularly unfriendly NA that the nursing assistants on that floor don't do all the baths and proceeded to tell me which one of my five patients she was going to bathe for me. They don't do vitals because apparently they didn't know enough to inform a nurse about abnormal vitals and there was a bad outcome. They also are not allowed to do I&O because of another mishap. Their role seems to be to bathe people, answer call lights, pass out the food trays and feed people...although they aren't allowed to chart how much they ate. Frustrating. I see these things as a learning experience where maybe they nursing assistants need to be educated in the importance of their job but this particular facility sees it differently. If they can't do it right then we just won't have them do it...so now they do even less for the same pay and we do more. It's a scary place. The only place that I have been to that in my first 2 weeks the state and the joint commission have already been there. No wonder these people are so uptight.
I have to commend my travel company and my recruiter. They are standing by me and trying to find me a new assignment.
The city of San Pablo is also not so great. Yeah it's on the bay but you can't get to the bay...oh, there is one park ,but you have to pay to get in. We will be trying out the BART transit system to go over to San Francisco hopefully this week. I would like to see fisherman's wharf again...it was very fun last time we were here.
I guess the only good thing is we were not in Bakersfield for the earthquake. And we are not in Cleveland right now where it is snowing...I'll try to send my friends there a little sunshine....miss you guys.

Moving forward

I try not to look at it as leaving or moving on but moving forward in my quest for financial freedom. Though I love nursing ,it is merely a vessel to get me to my ultimate destination of financial freedom.
I have enjoyed my stay here in Bakersfield(did I really say that?) I have met some wonderful people. The small hospital feel makes me remember my first hospital where you knew everyone not just the other nurses but the housekeepers and the dietary people , the transporters and the pharmacists by name. It's been nice. The staff has been very welcoming to all the travelers. I would like to thank Heather, Micky, Kat,Hazel,Hee Seon, Jaime, Pat,Tracy,Sherri,Lisa,Karen and Maggy for helping me through this assignment. I loved working with the travelers Stephanie,Tanya, Tania. And I always love working with new nurses and showing them that nursing is fun too...Susanna and Dora. I appreciate the night shift for always making it a nice place to come into in the morning. I also want to thank Sharon and Mary for being understanding and helpful with my schedule. I have also met some other great people like Maria,Jon,Mike and Freddie. I hope all of their jobs get easier.
The new place I am going is a bit bigger 250 beds in San Pablo California. We are hoping the weather will be nice for the upcoming summer. Plus it's very close to San Francisco so our friends and family can visit.
One of the harder part of this traveling thing is trying to get the timing right for the assignments. I particularly do not like to work for Christmas or New Years so I have to count the weeks and decide what length of assignment to take next. So, I either need to stay at this next assignment for a few extra weeks or take a shorter assignment next. We will have to see.

California Dreamin

Hi Everyone. Yeah I'm California Dreamin here in Bakersfield...dreamin of some sunshine and dry weather. Ok , I shouldn't complain too much cuz it's not snowing and 30 degrees like my friends in Rhode Island or Cleveland. We are only 2 hours from the coast and 4 hours from Vegas. But it's really hard to take a day off when the hospital is calling all the time. I went to Oklahoma this last week for my niece's wedding and their weather was better than here. I was off work for 6 days and the hospital called me 3 times to come in to work. It's nice to be wanted...and it's job security, right? I could stay but the grayness might just kill my good attitude so we are choosing to move on...probably to the bay area. At least the water is right there...and fog burns off.
Mercy Southwest is a cute little place..26 med-surg tele beds and 8 ICU beds. We have a secretary and a monitor tech a charge nurse and 2 nurse techs...nurse patient ratio is 5:1. It's not bad , hard on the nurse techs to have 13 patients. The patient turn over is pretty rapid...los is usually 3 days ER is always full...makes me wonder what these patients did before this ER was open, I guess they sat in someone else's waiting room. The staff nurses are very nice and helpful and grateful for our help. There are quite a few travelers here. The apartment complex I am in boasts population of 150 travelers.
The town of Bakersfield doesn't have a lot to offer that I have found but it is a growing community. There are houses and housing complexes popping up all over the southwest side. We made it over to Pismo Beach for Valentines Day. We enjoyed beautiful sunny weather and rode 4-wheelers on the sand dunes, huh? It was fun and a new adventure. We drove through Morro Bay and reminisced about our time there. We are planning a couple of days in Vegas before we head north early next month.
Still working on getting some picture on this blog so you all can enjoy the scenery with us.

Mercy

Hello, yes I'm writing in grey. Because that is what I see. I think the sun was out once since we've been here in Bakersfield. And like everywhere else we go, "this is such unusual weather", is all I hear. When we were in Rhode Island an it rained forever...Oh this is so unusual it never rains this much here. When we were in Phoenix and escaped the flood waters oh my it never rains like this here...how unusual. The same thing happened in Columbus and Orlando. I think we'll change our license plate to Rainmkr so you all know when we roll into town the crappy weather is here...at least for the next 3 months.
So, just as I suspected there is nothing in Bakersfield CA. Just work for me. My poor husband is bored to death. I have been working at the "downtown" hospital mostly because they haven't opened the tele unit at the smaller hospital yet. I heard horror stories before I came here...so did everyone else in my orientation group. I figured it couldn't be too bad since there was one person in the group who actually had been here before and was coming back. It's ugly downtown but not horrible. I lived through horrible in Columbus Ohio at Riverside hospital on 6 North...That was horrible. The kind of horrible where you hate to go to work everyday. You go in with the attitude it's going to be a great day and it just never is. When you are happy to float just to see if the rest of the hospital is just as bad. Mercy isn't that bad...But it ain't Phoenix or Orlando. Those were two of my favorite places to work...Besides home that is. I think the smaller hospital, Mercy Southwest will be much better. It's just a whole different attitude over there. They open their unit Wednesday so we'll see what happens.
Here's hoping your weather is better than mine...

Bakersfield

Hey all...We made it. Our first stop was the London Bridge in Lake Havasu Arizona. It is an actual replica with pieces of the original bridge. Nice little stop, I bet it would look better at night. Lake Havasu is a very pretty little town. We stopped in Laughlin NV on the way and stayed at the Edgewater in a room over looking the Colorado River...for under $40/night!! A cute little gambling strip (that's all we had time to see) then it was off to the Hoover Dam. A little over an hour sitting in traffic but we wanted to stop for some pictures..We had my niece with us and wanted her to see it. Then it was off to Vegas...I love that town. There's so much to see and do and it's always changing. We rode the monorail from Paris to The Sahara...It's a difficult thing to find but it was worth the walk. Our feet would have never made it that far. Bellagio was beautiful... The fountains and the conservatory which also had dancing water this year. We got to go downtown and stay a night in our favorite hotel the Golden Nugget and see the Fremont Street Experience light show. New Year's Eve was spent in front of the Aladdin hotel (where we also stayed a few nights). The sign in front of Paris counted off the seconds way too early and then didn't count them off when it was really midnight...Threw off the whole crowd. We were all wondering if they would really set off the fireworks..The wind threatened to shut them down but it was a really cool sight to see. I'm not one for crowds that big, there's always that one drunk person that keeps pushing you forward into other people. I would do it again if I could go to one of the roof top parties or maybe Downtown would be better . It was $35/person to be downtown. Maybe next year.
Our trip from Vegas to Bakersfield was quicker than I thought...Only 4 hours! You know what that means ....We'll be back. I start my job on Monday at Mercy Southwest...The per diem job didn't pan out. Access nurses didn't realize (even though I told them several times) that I needed to work like this week. Of course I got the new guy and he got confused so I didn't work this week. What a pain, I really hate it when people don't listen to me, or don't listen to the whole story. Hopefully we both learned from this experience.
World Health has delivered everything they were promising so far.. 2 bedroom apartment fully furnished including pots and pans and linens, TV with cable and the phone line. We even got pictures on the wall and a fake tree. Nice little touches. I'll let you know about the hospital next week. There are 150 travelers in this apartment complex... I'm thinking of renting out the club house and inviting them too meet each other...I'll let you know how it goes! Any suggestions for my party?Or what might make you show up to a party like that?

Holiday spirit?

Hello again...I got my assignment in Bakersfield CA...Unfortunately the hospital could not start me until a week later than I wanted. But, what a great company World Health is so far, they are going to get me into my housing on the 3rd and I don't start working for them until the 10th. We also are getting free cable and dsl. Sounds pretty nice so far. A far cry from the treatment I received from RN Network. I'll keep you informed once I get out there. But, I also signed up with an agency that does both travel and per diem called Access Nurses. I will be working for them the first week that I get to CA and then if I get called off at my travel contract I can pick up time with them. Also when this contract is done I'll have more options to choose from. And it's always good to have an option.
Now on to my Phoenix story. I was in the grocery store and walking to a line to check out. I entered the line and a woman in a motorized grocery cart rolls by and says "Nice holiday spirit, jumping in front of me." Wow, I said to myself, she has some nice holiday spirit herself. I told her I didn't know she was headed into the line and she could go ahead of me. "No," she said, "I'll find another line." as she rolled away. Wow I said to myself again...so, she just wanted to spout off at me. Very nice. Do you think she was having a bad day or what? Maybe she is lonely and saw me with my husband and my neice and felt badly because she is all alone and it's almost Christmas. So, how would you have responded? Do you have any holiday stories?Hopefully nicer than my little encounter. Anyway have a nice Christmas and a great New Year.

Off again

Hello all, we are enjoying sunny Arizona and feeling sorry for those in the frozen north and east. Hello to all my friends in Cleveland and Providence Rhode Island...two places I am glad not to be in the winter. I highly recommend Arizona for the winter for you travelers out there. The Banner hospital system has been awesome to work for. I have been on the tele unit and I haven't had to float at all except within the unit. I am on to Bakersfield California and on to a new travel company....World Health. The hospital is opening an new tele unit so it should be interesting. I did get my 12 hr days!!
As for my current travel company RN Network I have even less good to say about my current experience than before. Our apartment complex informed us that we are scheduled to move out 12/27. My contract ends 1/2...oops they did it again. RN Network even sent them a notice to vacate for us for the 27th...now they don't know what to do. We offered to leave early to make it easy on them, of course they will be compensating us. But it was another error on their part, not to mention all the incorrect checks I have had in the last weeks. All in all the hospital is great but the company RN Network has not been. I will let you all know how the next one works out.
Hopefully I will be setting up some pictures on my blog pretty soon. We will be leaving here and going through Lake Havasu to see the London Bridge then through Laughlin and on to Vegas for New Years Eve!! Hope you all have a happy and fun holiday season!!

Looking forward

Well, I'm no closer to resolving my problems with RN Network. I spoke with the person in charge of the recruiters and requested a different recruiter. Yeah, I spoke with her last week and ......I'm still waiting. I'm not wasting anymore energy on it...I'm looking forward to the next company and the next recruiter. I've had a few bites and already been bitten. Some of them are just like car salesmen....no, used car salesmen. They are trying to sell you their "hottest" spot...and not listening. Some are just pain rude. Don't they know we get enough of that at work?
Speaking of work...I will recommend Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix. I have only worked the tele floor and only on dayshift but they have been very fair. I also have been working at Phoenix St. Luke's Hospital...also not a bad place. The staff there has been really friendly. It is a downtown hospital just like Good Samaritan so the neighborhood...well, I don't hang out there after work let's just leave it at that. Phoenix itself is much warmer and nicer climate than most of the cities I've been too. And I have to admit I love the palm trees. The patients and their families have been nice for the most part. They seem to be in a hurry just like the rest of the world....wonder what they are running for...or from? I still recommend travel nursing as the way to go in nursing today so much freedom and really moving every three months is not nearly as bad as it sounds. It actually gets to be fun. I look forward to packing all my stuff and unpacking in a new town. Email any questions to Travelingnurse@gmail.com. Remember first do no harm

What to do when your company turns on you

Hi all. the weather is great but I'm not feeling too sunny. What do you do when no one in your company will talk to you? No one seems to want to try to work things out or even listen to my side of the story. Besides being delayed on my contract due to miscomunication and losing money there, as well as being charged for all the housing costs for that week, I was called off last week. I emailed my recruiter that this had happened on Monday( the next business day) and asked if my hours were guaranteed. I got an email back from her assistant on Thursday that it is in my contract that I can be called off once a pay period which is once a week...news to me it's not in my contract anywhere. In fact if you want to read it and you find it I will give you a $100 and I'll call guiness because you are a remarkable person to be able to read that far in between those lines. The email went on to say that I could try to reschedule that day later in the week...once again I'll tell you I got the email on Thursday. Lots of time for me to reschedule. I didn't ask not to go to work...they called and told me not to come in...should I have showed up anyway? When I got paid this week...I got charged for housing $50 because I missed a day. WHAT? Are you kidding me? I call today to see why and of course no one is avaliable to talk to me right now they will get back to me as soon as possible. Really? I'm still waiting for a call from last month to resolve the move in fees. I am expected to go to work everyday and make this comany money....lots of money....I am nice and kind to my patients, their families and my coworkers.I try to make people feel better, answer every question they or their family or their doctor might have...I answer to everyone. Who has to answer to me? Obviously not the people in the company I work for. I stayed with this company because I liked my recruiter, we got a long well, we understood each other. She went on maternity leave and I was assigned a new recruiter. Now I found out that she is not coming back to work- I found out from the person that answers the phone at the company...not even my new recruiter that knew I was waiting for the other one to return. Nice huh? So I'm still on the search for a new travel company. I got a nice email from a recruiter who read my blog..(Hi Mike) and I'll be talking to him soon. Again if anyone else likes their recruiter and their company please let me know.

Sunny Arizona

Hi All...Yep still here. 11 weeks to go. Am I planning on staying? NO...I'm sorry I mean no. I am planning my departure already for the last week of the year and my next vacation. I'm hoping for a few days in Vegas on my way to sunny California. I am searching for a new travel company if you have any suggestions. The weather out here is just remarkable. It's the middle of October and it's still 80-90 during the day. The sun is always shining and the sky is so blue. The mountains are a great view as well. I love working during the day I feel like I am really making a difference. I can see my patients and they aren't annoyed that I am waking them up. To prove what a small world this is ,there is a traveler here at the hospital I am working in that I worked with the last time I was in Cleveland. I just walked in one morning and there he was. He's been here for a couple of months and is planning on staying until March or April. So I guess this place isn't all that bad. It's weird, but nice ,to see a familiar face. There are a lot of travelers here and that seems to make the days go pretty well. We all help each other and get through the day. I actually will be getting a visit from my family on this assignment...I can't wait. We never get company on the road. Trying to find some fun places to go..Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks for reading...First do no harm.

When good assignments go bad

First off I'd like to thank my friends and co-workers in Rhode Island. They were very nice and I will miss you all...Thelma, Velma, Maggie, Heidi, Joy, Tarissa,Karyn, George and the evening shift group especially Tina,NT and Fred they really helped me a lot. An extra special thanks to Missy for trying to make my last night the best...she worked 16 hrs and agreed to float so I could be on my floor the last night it didn't turn out that way but at least I got to work with her. Many problems have plagued my new assignment in Phoenix. Much miss communication between me and the fill in recruiter that I was given while my recruiter is out on maternity leave. Long story short my assignment has been delayed by a week. OUCH...that's no paycheck for me. So, I went to a local agency and will begin work with them tomorrow...weekly pay with a higher rate and more choices than the travel assignment. They were very helpful and genuinely want me to work unlike my travel company. I think it's more the recruiter than the company...my advise if you find a recruiter that you get along with and you like stick with them nevermind the company we are just numbers to them. The only one you are a person to is your recruiter. Anyway, the weather is perfect as you would expect but a little warm for my husband. The average this past week has bee 98 degrees...and it actually rained yesterday. My housing is very cozy and in an actual gated community...a first for us. Well, I have work for the next 3 days and I start my assignment on Monday I'll let you all know how it's going. Email any questions to travelingnurse@gmail.com or leave a comment...remember first do no harm.

Labor Day

Hello there and Happy Labor Day...are we celebrating the fact that we work? Not really sure what Labor day is all about other than another day off for the banks and schools. So why do they send your kids to school and then give them a long weekend...is it to ease them in to going to school again? I never did understand that. I grew up in the small town of Novelty, Ohio in Geauga county. A lot of the kids I went to school with didn't start school until after Labor day because of the county fair...they had to be there with the rest of the family and their animals...I grew up in the country. No, I didn't grow up on a farm but I knew a lot of people who did and we did have a little farm across the road from where I grew up. The good old days before holiday time and double overtime. No, I am not working this holiday most hospitals don't want to pay time and a half for travelers on the holidays except the big ones. They always seem to want us to work Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Guess I can't blame them. That's why I negotiate my contract before I sign. My next contract should take me to Christmas and I'll work Thanksgiving for Christmas off. We'll see what happens. Still no word yet where we are off to. California seems short on the dayshift at the moment so we are considering Arizona as an alternative. Any feed back for me about the desert state would be appreciated. Take care and as always...first do no harm.

The quest for a new home

Hello all...still here and counting the days. Do you all do that? It depends whether I like the assignment or not how early I start the count down to leaving. Here I started week 1. I like the hospital except the Jane Brown building I am in is really really really old. And it's a haul to the other parts of the hospital. The nurses that I work with on a regular basis are nice to me but those accents...wow. As a float, which I have to do almost every time I go in, they are not very nice or helpful. The paperwork is easy only 3 pages for an admission and the patients for the most part are nice as well. We are outta here September 17th..I get out of work at 7:30 am an Joe will be waiting with all our stuff loaded in the back of the truck ready to hit the road. I am talking with 4 different recruiters looking for a spot on the west coast in the sun and on the beach. I can feel the sun now.....:)...well, as always first do no harm.