Mistakes Travelers Make

Why do some traveling healthcare professionals sail through their careers, landing one dream assignment after another, while others struggle and stumble at every turn? Much has been written about the “thriving” traveler, but we wanted to hear about the other side of the success coin, so we asked Mark Stagen, chief executive officer of Emerald Health Services of Marina del Rey, Calif., and president of the National Association of Travel Health Organizations to weigh in on career-limiting mistakes that travelers make.

HT: What’s the most common mistake that travelers make when they’re on assignment?
Stagen: Not being flexible. Nurses who travel as a career need to understand that hospitals use temporary staff because they’re in dire need of help. Someone who balks at the idea of floating to an area that may not be their first choice is demonstrating that they’re more interested in their own comfort than in serving the hospital and taking care of patients. If you’re brought in to work in an emergency room and asked to pull a couple of shifts on med/surg because of a census spike, the proper course of action is to float without complaining. This sort of behavior—as opposed to complaining—is generally rewarded over the long term.

 

Stagen: One is getting involved in hospital politics. A hospital, like any other type of organization, has issues—bureaucracy, cliques, turf wars; you name it. Travelers need to stay above the fray. As a temporary staffer, you’re there to do a job. You’re surrounded by people who have been with the organization for years, decades even, and who have all kinds of agendas they’re trying to push. Just look the other way and take care of the patients. You’re only there for a short time and you don’t have a dog in the hunt. Let stuff go.

 

HT: Are there any particularly "hot button" issues that travelers should steer clear of?
Stagen: Pay. Don't talk about your pay—ever. You may be working side-by-side with a nurse who has years of service with the organization, and you could be earning a higher hourly rate than that person. Trust me when I say that they don’t want to hear about it. What you earn as a traveler is between you and the company you’re contracted with.

 

HT: What gets a traveler fired from an assignment?
Stagen: One out of 10 times it’s for clinical reasons. The other nine times it’s related to attitude. We do a great job evaluating nurses for clinical competence before sending them on assignment. It’s much harder to screen for attitude and professionalism. Travelers have to go the extra mile to show that they’re team players, such as following the policies of the hospital they’re working in, and doing simple things like dressing professionally and showing up on time and ready to work.

 

HT: What’s the fallout if a traveler is asked to leave an assignment before the contract period is up?
Stagen: Every agency is different, but with us the “three strikes and you’re out” rule usually applies. If someone is terminated once, we tend to take the side of the nurse. The second time, we start to wonder. The third time, we figure it’s the nurse and that pretty much ends our relationship.

 

HT: What’s the strangest mistake you’ve seen a traveler make while on assignment?
Stagen: We once had a nurse who, flying in the face of a very clear hospital policy, refused to remove her long, acrylic fingernails. She went on and on talking about how they couldn’t tell her how to wear her nails. Well, actually, they could. Go figure.