Signing your first travel contract is nerve wracking and exciting. There’s a lot to do, to plan, a lot to complete. There may be certain things as a first time traveler you may not be aware of but I’m here to give you my first hand experience on my first contract. This Jersey girl goes from east to west landing my first travel assignment in sunny California.
Photo credit: PereSoto Media, LLC
Taken in Yosemite National Park
“Have a heart that never hardens, A temper that never tires, A touch that never hurts.- Charles Dickens”
As a first time #travelingnurse there were things I wasn’t aware of such as the amount of time and work required for “onboarding”. #Onboarding for #traveling is the process in which nurses must meet certain hospital requirements to consider us compliant to work at their facility.
Onboarding and Requirements
This includes physicals, lab work, drug testing, manadatories (the ones we do EVERY year), fit testing, etc. Every new assignment, not contract, requires these mandatories to consider you compliant. I say not every contract because if you extend a contract with the same hospital or facility you should be compliant, unless something expires or a new mandatory is added within the facility. There are three people I work with on every contracted assignment and every agency is different so it may be different depending on the agency you pick. I have a recruiter, a credentialing specialist, and a travel experience specialist. The #credentialingspecialist is the point person for all your mandatories and compliance requirements. My credentialing specialist finds locations within my area of choice to complete the physicals, lab work, drug test, and whatever else the facility requires. They also coordinate with the facility for onsite compliance requirements on my behalf.
I signed my first contract within three weeks of the start date. This may seem like enough time to complete the mandatories but working nights full time, being in school, having to pack, and having limited day time to complete them all by the due date. NOT ENOUGH TIME. My first contract required a pharmacological test, NIHSS exam (which took a timed 3 hours), and a cardiac rhythm test on top of all the other requirements. I’m not going to lie, I struggled with the cardiac rhythm test but luckily they give you three chances to score an 80 or better. Needless to say, STRESS. Once I completed everything on the Jersey side and began my journey to the west coast. During my travels, I was contacted by my credentialing specialist about my “fit testing” not meeting the hospital’s criteria and I had to get fit tested somewhere on my cross country trip. STRESS. Luckily, my credentialing specialist is awesome and she found labs on my way into Nevada where I was able to fit test with the hospital’s mask.
(She had the mask delivered overnight to the lab, winning!). Once in California, I had three days to move into my hotel, organize myself, and make a test drive to my new hospital. I was given directions for my orientation date and time one business day prior to contract start date (apparently this is common, also stressful).
I’m currently working on my second contract and this time around the onboarding process is much less than the first contract, but it still requires some time and work. The agency I use keeps a record of all my requirements which I can see and access. This helps me keep all my ducks in a row and informs me if any of my requirements or credentials such as BLS, ACLS, etc are expiring and when. I can’t help but emphasize that every contract requirement is different but this time around I was only required to obtain drug testing, lab work (hep C and quantiferon), and yet ANOTHER fit testing. Now I just sit and wait for my first day instructions. 5 days and counting.
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