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Well, I've spent a month in York now.  Everything I heard about this hospital is true.  Its definately head and shoulders above any place I've worked before.  Would you believe they have a robot that delivers supplies to the units?  The staff are very nice.  I'm not used to the staffing here.  The nurse/pt. ratios are much lower than what I am used to.  But in return for lower ratios, the expectations are much higher.  Paperwork I used to laugh at and never do now all of a sudden is a high priority.  I do feel the care I can give my pts is of a much better quality here though.  Unfortunately, I dont think I will be renewed.  Not that I could have stayed even if they had offered.  My wife does not like the unit she is on one bit and is looking forward to this contract ending.  Funny, but our traveling careers have been marke by extremes so far.  We either love or hate the positions.  To top it off, we stayed close to home with this first assignment.  Our next assignment will more than likely be in either Calif. or Washington State.  I think I prefer Washington State.  I'm feeling under the weather right now.  Thats why I have time to update my blog entries.  I'll probably update again when I find out where our next destination is.

Travel is the perfect category for this blog entry.  I'll be using this space to keep a sort of diary of my travel nurse experiences.

 

Well, where to stary.  I am travel nursing because my wife and I want to buy a home.  We plan on traveling for approx. 2 years (about 7 assignment).  I am working in Baltimore now as a travel nurse and she stays in Pittsburgh.  I had to get my first assignment out of the way, she traveled before.  Once this assignment in Baltimore is done, our lease will be done too and we will travel together.

As for my assignment in Baltimore, it was not good.  I'll refrain from using names here since I am critical of the hospital I am at.  This hospital is just plain inept.  Thats the only word I can come up with to describe it.  No supplies, getting simple things done requires moving mountains, poor staffing and a complete lack of organization from the top to the bottom.  If I didnt like so many of my coworkers, I'd really hate it. 

I met more than one travel nurse on my unit and on other units when I got pulled.  Got alot of good advice on how to deal with the unique stresses of travel nursing.  Even learned of a few places that will be good to go to for future assignments.  I enjoyed a lot of the people I work with at Baltimore, both travel nurses and staff. 

I've already signed a contract for my next assignment.  It'll be in York, PA.  From what I understand, its a very good hospital.  Its location just makes it hard for them to find staff.  Funny story, but I met another travel nurse in Baltimore.  She was happy it was her last day there and excited about her next assignment.  Turned out she is going to the same hospital, just a bit earlier.  I might see her again when I get there. 

Packing up the house and putting things into storage has been my life away from work lately.  We didnt find a home for our cat either.  So he will be traveling with us.  We didnt want to do it that way, but we've exhausted all other options.  I hope he takes to moving frequently well.  As for us, we will start out in Pennsylvania and then hopefully move further west.  Arizona, North Carolina, New Mexico, New Jersey, Washington State (Seattle preferred) and Maine all remain options after York PA.  Actually, my wife is not so fond of living in Maine, but I want to go there.