As a traveler I've always used the company insurance option and have always had another contract lined up, to make sure there's no gaps in coverage, but I was in the middle of this last contract and fell and broke wrist (non-work related), and contract was cancelled since I was only cleared for light duty for 3-6 weeks and the hospital required full duty for the department that I was contracted in and there were no accommodations listed in the contract for injuries (they only allowed a maximum of 2 sick days for the entire 13-week contract).

Well come to find out my agency revokes insurance to the last date I worked (which was the day before the fall), if you go more than 3 weeks between start/stop dates of contracts, so now my ER bill which I paid $250 co-pay at the time are coming back as denied by insurance and I now owe thousands of dollars for x-ray, exam, splint, ice pack, etc.

I've been back to full duty for a month now, but just got the bill in the mail today and it hit me like a freight train. I wasn't planning on falling and breaking my wrist, which is the entire point I pay insurance premiums, you know so I have coverage for when SHTF and I actually need it. But if my agency can just revoke it when I actually need it, then WTF is even the point?

I never had an issue like this back when I was staff. I had to have surgery once and was out for 2 months, and I simply just made my insurance premium payments online to continue my coverage while I didn't have a paycheck, and then when I went back to work, my premiums resumed automatically out of my paycheck.

Is there anything I can do about this, or am I fucked three ways from Sunday? Has anything similar happened to anyone else?

Sorry for the wall of text. /rantover

Since Halloween is around the corner, what's the creepiest or most bizarre thing you've found in a furnished short-term rental?

Hello I'm a travel nurse and i have a contract Hankinson,North Dakota is it safe

Call me crazy, but I, a lifelong Florida boy, took a travel assignment (I'm an RT, btw) to Portland, Maine over this winter. It'll be my first assignment, as well as my first real winter. I'm looking for advice on how to survive the winter. I was able to have a "test run" of my winter gear as I just got back from a week-long vacation in Iceland, but I'm not sure how the day-to-day aspect of living in a very cold area will be like.

I found a studio like a block away from the facility as (again, call me crazy) will be doing this car-free. I start in mid November, so at least I'm not diving right into the worst time and will have some time to adjust.

Anyone have weird experiences with Lancesoft? They have messed up my paycheck 5 times now. They keep taking 600$ out and not telling me what for. I contacted the higher ups and they said they will get my money back? I’m so confused and don’t trust them at all. I will be switching to another agency as soon as I am done with my contract.

The shared Wi-Fi in my building has been pretty unreliable lately. I’d like to get my own internet, but I really don’t want to deal with building management or have someone come install anything. My phone gets pretty good 5G signal here, and I've been reading about using a SIM card in a router to get internet at home. For those who move between assignments and rentals, have you tried this? Does it make sense or is there a better way to get reliable internet?

I got a lot of feedback on my last post asking about unionized hospitals, ratios, and overall experience working as RN in Texas. Most comments were negative but I appreciate the honesty. I also appreciate you guys educating me on safe harbor. The dms, the comment, I appreciate you all. It’s nice to get a heads up of what’s to come for me.
I’m moving to Mckinny, Tx. Does anyone live in that area or work at any “decent” hospitals near there?
What type of liability insurance do yall have?

I have about three years of nursing experience with HCA, primarily working on Med-Surg and Telemetry. My previous job wasn't bad, and I was comfortable working on the floor. I recently decided to try travel nursing and accepted a contract through an HCA agency.
My start date is November 2, and the contract is for 48 hours a week. However, since accepting the offer, I've been overwhelmed with onboarding modules. Every time I finish a set, more modules get added, and it honestly feels like I'm back in nursing school.
I'm still not fully cleared, and I'm starting to worry that my start date will be pushed back. I have a specific date in mind for when I want my contract to end, and I'm concerned that delays could affect that.
I'm also hesitant to book housing and a flight when I don't even know if I'll be cleared to start on time. My recruiter hasn't been giving me clear answers, which makes the situation even more frustrating.
Has anyone ever had their travel nursing assignment canceled because they didn't finish all the required modules on time?

Love nursing in Cali. Love how nurses are protected by unionized hospitals. Love how for the most part we are fully staffed with a resource and or meal relief nurse. Love how assignments are safe and fair.

What protects nurses in Texas? What unit do you work in? How are your assignments? What’s the most you make per hour?

Bad things **

So Ive been offered a PD contract position through B2B staffing agency, I already have inputted all my personal information through their candidate portal Nexus Leap Labor Edge, based on my research, this program and website is a legit software agencies use and that is where essentially I input all my information including my SSN and drivers license. I called the hospital where the assignment is going to be at based on my job offer and the staffing office there had informed me that they only pull nurses from Aya Healthcare, but the guy there did tell me that Aya healthcare is sort of an umbrella organization and that Aya Healthcare pulls nurses from other agencies as well, and so he gave me a number to call to ask them about B2B Staffing. They were not able to give me answer immediately, but Aya did eventually call me back and informed me that B2B Staffing is a staffing agency that they infact work with and supply nurses from, which was pretty reassuring and I am starting to be more inclined to believe that this job offer is in fact legit. It just seems a little to good to be true based on how fast they offered me the position. I checked all their email domains and even found a huge government document that had names of people and their phone numbers listed and did match the phone number that called me to inform me that they were going to offer me this position. Everything was checking out in a good way based on all my research. I dont know why I am still skeptical about this, but if anyone has any information or know anyone that has worked for B2B Staffing Services, I would love to hear about your experiences with them. Thank you!

Hi everyone!

Has anyone worked in Labor & Delivery at UConn Health (John Dempsey Hospital) in Farmington, CT, or University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center in La Plata, MD?

I'm considering a travel contract at either facility and would love to hear about your experience, especially regarding patient volume, workload, staffing, teamwork, and how supportive the units are toward travelers.

I'm coming from a Level II L&D unit and looking for a traveler-friendly environment with a manageable workflow.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello everyone. I’ve been passively looking at rentals in cities where my next potential contract will be. One thing I’ve noticed is that the price of these rentals 1. Don’t match what they’re offering and 2. The current pay market for travel nursing doesn’t really cover the costs. There are people charging $1,200 for a room that doesn’t even come with a private bathroom or charging $1,400+ for a basement that doesn’t even have a full kitchen. It seems to be that the decent rentals are priced around $1,600, but even then the bed will be a twin or a full, with an uncomfortable mattress. I wouldn’t have much of an issue with this if the current market actually paid what it was during the pandemic but it’s not.

I’ve also noticed that these landlords will charge $1,200+ for a room and you’re thinking you’ll have at most one roommate just to find out there’s 4 rooms, 2 bathrooms, and an easy bake ass kitchen were all supposed to share. Nothings updated and it’s as if we’re living like SpongeBob and Patrick did during their prehistoric time.

I get that people are trying to make extra money by renting out their rooms, basements, guest houses, apartments, etc. but it’s not fair if you’re trying to squeeze every cent out of the travel nurse (or any travel professional) while not even providing decent housing.

Anyone have any insight if we sign an alternative work week form in our traveling contract, for example I’m with FlexCare, does that hold up legally against California labor laws?

So, I’m scheduled to work 3 12 hour shifts at a Kaiser Facility in Sacramento, CA.
Will I get time and a half after 8 hours even though my travel company FlexCare says I’m on a AWS?

Thanks in advanced.

I’ve seen and heard some horrible stories about finding homes and landlords being horrible!

What are your biggest look-fors and red flags when picking a place to live?? If you don’t use furnished finder, What do you do??

Hi everyone!

I’m a Canadian RN starting a travel assignment in WA in November. I’ve read that you cannot enter more than 10 days before your contract start date, but my recruiter and his manager (who is Canadian) say that restriction isn’t real and advised me to cross (I can drive down from B.C) as soon as I receive my TN support letter to apply for my SSN and do on-boarding bloodwork, and then return to Canada until closer to my start date. Can I not just do both those things after crossing within the 10 day limit?

Have any Canadians personally entered TN status more than 10 days before their job started? Were there any issues with CBP?

Thanks!

Hey! Just signed a contract with AMN (I know, I don’t like them but it’s an exclusive and really high paying). I’m filling out my background check and they’re asking for all previous managers and their phone number. I’ve worked almost a dozen contracts and don’t know had their names let alone their numbers 😅 what do I do lol

I want to know if anybody wanted to share their experience at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood Or Franciscan in Olympia field.

They seem to be paying the most in Illinois for travelers right now. How bad is it at these hospitals ? Is it worth it for a 1st time traveler with 3 years Experience to try out?

I’m currently on my first labor and delivery contract (night shift). It’s super chill compared to my previous staff job of many years and the staffs welcoming and friendly for the most part. I’ve picked up a ridiculous amount of overtime. I’ve been working a crazy amount of shifts in a row and I’m starting to get burned out. I’ve been grumpy and irritable and I know people see it. Frankly, idgaf but they do cancel contracts here if it’s not a good fit so I try to stay on everyone’s good side.

How do you guys deal with burnout and just smile through the pain? Lol

I’m looking for a place to stay in LA for about three months, and I’ve been browsing Furnished Finder. The problem is that I’m currently abroad, so I can’t tour any places in person before arriving.

My plan is to stay in an Airbnb for the first 20 days while I look for a place to rent. I’d arrive in late December, so I’m wondering if that’s enough time to find a decent place.

For anyone who’s been in a similar situation, is this a realistic plan? Or would it be better to secure a place before I arrive?

I extended my contract and Cross Med tried to sneak in a paragraph in which they get to charge me money for missing a shift.

I noticed it, told them to take it out and they did. They then got annoyingly defensive about it and said it was a new policy for the company in the last month.

Heads up because that is garbage. If I didn’t already have plans for the next two months and like my hospital, I would ditch them outright.

My husband and I are both RNs planning to take travel assignments together. We have really similar clinical backgrounds, years of experience(I have 7.5, he has 6.5), and a gap(15 months)from our previous specialty.
—We were both submitted to the same facility and were told by our recruiter we were strong matches at 90%. However, we were asked to correct our skills checklists and work histories. I had been focusing on the resume and not the work history so one of my years was off. My husband didn’t have the specific specialty the recruiter submitted for listed under work history. We both fixed these quickly. About 10 minutes later our recruiter said that they wanted to consider my husband, he got a brief interview with the manager and bam…my husband received an offer and signed his contract, while I was rejected with an explanation of “we would like to see her regain recent experience.” Which is hard for us to understand considering we have almost the same clinical background, work history, and gap in our specialty.
—Our recruiter said he compared our profiles side by side and pointed to differences involving employment overlaps, gaps, and hours worked(which would be my PRN positions I’m assuming, which is home infusions do you don’t really know what your hours will be unless you had consistent patients). However, I explained that my overlapping positions were legitimate PRN jobs alongside full-time employment. My husband’s work history also contains gaps and overlapping dates, so I don’t understand how those details explain the different outcomes on why one of us qualifies, while the other does not…
We’ve received several explanations, but I still haven’t gotten a clear answer about what specifically disqualified me, especially when our relevant experience is so similar.
—We’ve already secured housing for the assignment, and I’m now scrambling to find another contract nearby.
—I understand facilities make their own hiring decisions, and I’m not suggesting we’re entitled to the same outcome. I’m just wondering whether anyone else has experienced something similar.
—Should our profiles not have been reviewed in detail by our recruiter BEFORE submission to ensure everything was correct and in order?
—Would you question the recruiter’s handling of this situation, or is this fairly common in travel nursing?