PPR Travel Left Me Jobless & Homeless Far From Home
I sold every stick of furniture I had, quit a perm job paying $47/hr and only paying $500/mon rent, all for the sake of a travel gig that PPR hooked my up with, for which upon arrival I was not qualified. The facility required more than lethal rhythm recognition and treatment (of which I have significant experience)and required new travelers to pass an advanced cardiology exam without notice or preparation. The facility figured they were paying "big bucks" for the traveler and of course, expected us to "hit the ground running." I had no time/availability of a class to take quickly. My employment was made contingent upon successfully passing this test---AFTER I GOT TO THE JOB SITE! This info did not come out during the typical telephone interview, as I had no reason to expect anything outside the norm of my previous experiences (which PPR obviously knew my experience level), and for the client company this was standard operating procedure. PPR did not do their homework; they did not know such testing would take place. It's their job to know! I am not an inexperienced Traveler (5 yrs and counting). Never has such testing been more than ACLS protocols, and I would have not known to inquire, as a result. I worked previously for PPR on two different assignments. The first was one which I found independently and stayed for 13 months! All they had to do was put the deal together. Now I had been passed on to another recruiter, as my superb one had moved on to other ventures. Although Bill was a super nice guy, I didn't feel he was in my corner at all in the end. Your recruiter is your lifeline! I've always bragged how PPR was "nurse focused," and that's part of their company slogan. Man, was I wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! To those nurses I've referred to PPR---my profound apologies!
So, this gig didn't work out. PPR did look for another gig, but there were no availabilities. I offered to pay $500 for the one bedroom rental until the end of the month (June 15-30th), and they wanted $1300, charging me from the 9th-30th. Come on guys! This was your fault for not knowing the requirements of your client company before you send a nurse out there blindly! You have a moral obligation not to make a person jobless and homeless all at once! (By the way, they did this 3 days before my vacation for which I was flying home to see my kids & new granddaughter, who had a special birthday celebration planned for me. I had to cancel it because I needed to find a place for me and my s.o. to live over the weekend.)
Additionally, they initially sent me to housing which was 50 plus year old, ex-military base housing. The place had water damage in numerous places and the house was falling apart. It smelled moldy from having sat empty for months. If this isn't the epitome of travel nightmares I don't know what is!
Ironically, I decided to interview for two permanent ER Nurse Manager positions. I will take one of them for sure. They use alot of travelers on both. Do you now see the opportunity for PPR to generate a little goodwill now for the sake of good business shortly ahead? Yeah, well, they were not that smart. As you experienced travelers know, ER's are a small community even in a large city; we know alot of people at various facilities don't we?! Hmmmm. Perhaps PPR should have thought this through a little better.
Sheesh....sure sounds like a nightmare to me! I am fairly new to nursing and had been thinking about trying to travel for a few months after I have 1 year of experience. However, after reading some of the horror stories from experienced nurses (and travel nurses) I'm definitely rethinking my desire to travel. Perhaps it's not all it's cracked up to be?
So sorry for your bad experience! Any advice to a new nurse considering traveling would be greatly appreciated!
-Telenurse4986
That is what scares me so badly about travel nursing, and I've been in it for going on almost 5 years. Your story is not the first of it's kind that I have heard of, unfortunately. I am so very sorry this has happened to you! It's bad enough not getting the job, but then you are left stranded! To me that just goes to show that you had better know what questions to ask, and you had better have a knowledgeable recruiter. How can an agency survive if they place nurses in such positions? Sometimes I wonder if recruiters get paid on a quota system.
I'm glad things are working out for you though. Don't agencies realize that travel nurses talk? I'm glad that so far my experiences have been fairly positive, but looking back I can say that if it wasn't for my or my so's initiative, things could have been bleak. Good luck!
Well I am glad to see I am not alone. I too have had similar incidents happen to me. Twice to be exact by the company INA INTEGRADED NURSING ALLIANCE. I too had my contract terminated after I ended up where the new job was, worked one night and they came up with some termination BS. I worked with the manager of the department and a 3 supervisors. Never once did they mention I was doing a bad job, took me aside told me I needed to do things different, told me I wasn't cut out for the ICU position or a step down position or even to work on the floor. I could see if I had made mistakes, but I didn't. All I did was ask a few questiolns about the computer (only had a 4 hr training class the week before, but I was supposed to KNOW how to work the computer PROFICIENTLY my first nite, Not being familiar with the physicians with one having 4 MD's, had to ask which one I needed to call which the supervisor could not even tell me, so I was written up for not knowing how the page a MD. What a joke this hospital is and has always has been. My recruiter called me the next day at 4pm (remember I was with these people ALL NIGHT for 12 hrs) and told me that the manager whom I had worked decided to terminate my contract. He read me bits and pieces of the email which I was never sent. Aren't you supposed to get verbals before u are terminated. These nurses sure did not mind me taking care of their patients while they all went on numberous smoke breaks together (go figure). So I had to move out of the nasty little motel room they put me in and I too was left without a job or place to live. If you are ever in LA stay away from WK and DEFINITELY stay away from INTEGRATED NURSING ALLIANCE! They are all Aureus rejects!! And they will not be on your side when something happens. Oh, and I worked 40 hrs and they refused to pay me!!!:firedup:
I'll have to forward this to a friend of mine. PPR did her the same way in AZ . She and her s.o. packed up their stuff in TN headed to AZ and within a few weeks this facility did her in with petty b/s. PPR was going to make them leave the hsg within the 48 hrs and no where to go, no money. She called an atty, then called them back and threatened to sue them for breach of contract. They coughed up some excuses and money. Paid her for half the contract and let them stay in housing until she took a perm job in the area.
They are now saving money to go back to TN. That was the only travel exp she needed to get a sour taste in her mouth.
Traveling is for the tough. You can't let these Co.'s run over you. THEY are working for US! Without us , they have no job. They need to remember that!
To respond to an above statement. Yes, recruiters get big bonuses for keeping so many travelers out there working, they have a quota they have to meet. If not, then they are hx. They get all kinds of perks for rapid responses, to keeping more money in their pockets, and less to us! That is why so many Co's will have the same contracts but each one has a different pay rate, benefits, hsg options etc......EVERY hospital has the same bill rate, it's up to each travel co. to decide where they will divy out the money to the travelers. Whatever your hourly rate is, multiply that times 3, that is close to what the bill rate is!! And not many od us are seeing the money these travel companies are pocketing it and getting rich off us! I've seen my bill rate. OOPS, It came over the fax to work. LOL
My neice is a recruiter and I know this to be a fact.
I don't usually do this, but I feel somebody should defend PPR. I traveled with them for a year and absolutely loved them! My recruiter was wonderful, always quick to return my calls and emails and took care of any problem I was having as soon as possible. The only con I encountered was limited availabilities for day shift. My housing was always great, and included a full housewares package with all kitchenware, linens, and cleaning supplies (vaccuum, broom, mop, etc.). They sent me a food welcome package at each assignment and were always sending me little gifts in the mail. I could go on for a long time, but you get the idea.
I know a lot of times on these forums different people have very different experiences with the same company, I'm not sure why that is. I've only traveled for a little over a year, so I don't claim to be a seasoned traveler. But maybe the different experiences sometimes have more to do with the recruiters than the companies themselves.
Everyone... if we want to stop all of the negative and reinforce the positive, we have to be informed. Take a few minutes and post reviews (on the hospitals and on the agencies). It might be too late to save you the heartache, but not another traveler. In the end maybe they will see their business dry up (or increase if they are good to us)
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