Travel Job Offers

Just got an email offer from one of our old recruiter friends. Actually one of two that I am willing to recommend to anyone. They treated us more than friendly and it was an indication that we both knew what the relationship was all about.

He sent us an offer for a position in a hospital that we had already done an assignment at. We told him in an email that we had already been there and found the place a little distasteful. I think once you go to some of these places and put in some time you get to know why some places need to rely on travelers. We tried to get them to use our favorite recruiter so that we could be loyal to him and we knew that we would get better served and a few more dollars. (It is a business after all) They were absolutely against that, because our agency was not on their list of travel nurse suppliers. They would not budge and due to the nature of our personal lives we took the job because it was close to home. (125 miles) We were going home every weekend and so that was one of the deciding factors.

So it seemed as though they had a high standard for agencies but didn't put a lot of stock into what kind of management they were putting in place. So our recruiter friend said to us today that because the hospital is always recruiting for OR jobs it means that they are having a tough time staffing. There can only be a couple of answers to that question.

The surgeons at all of the hospitals we worked at had a pretty heavy say in what went on in the operating room. Up to a point I agree with that but when it comes to them complaining about not getting OR time and then being late for their cases I guess you know that they lose some of their bargaining power. On the other hand, at the place in question one of the Ortho guys had a bunch of "knee scopes" to do one day. There was a surplus of staff and another room available and he asked if he could have to crews. He was great to work with because he came to work and you get keep him happy if you could keep him going. He loved going from room to room and was in hog heaven when he could get that. The day he asked though the supervisor did not want to grant his request. We all knew that the main reason was that she didn't think of it herself and so it wasn't going to happen. Cutting off her nose to spite her face. She was insecure and so felt intimidated by anyone telling how she could and should run her Operating Room. She went off to an all day meeting and we did what the surgeon asked. He knocked out 10 hours of scheduled cases in six and was just loving every minute of it. He even bought us lunch.

We all got in trouble. There was not much she could do and nothing she could say. The first reason she gave when yelling at us was that he could not be trusted to stay in the OR. He did stay in the OR and was more than happy to do it.

It is not too hard to understand why there is a big demand and a little supply for nurses in this country. Good managers want equivalent pay and the health care industry does not give in to that point. Consequently, good management types go into other areas of the work force. I have always said to exemplify this point, "Nursing eats its Young"!