I have taken many contracts since 1990 and decided to go with Talemed most recently. My advice: DON'T
I have NEVER been treated so horribly. I thought AMH was bad but Talemed tops them. YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONTRACT. If that doesn't bother you, work for the fun of it, rich and don't care, then the company will gladly leach off of your hard work. My "offer of employment" lasted 3 weeks. I felt I must be in good hands, Hypodermics Highway gave them an outstanding review. Benefits I suppose are great IF you ever get them!! This company is all about money, not the nurse. There is a statement that I should have crossed out about their $500 TERMINATION FEE FOR ANY REASON!!! I am a very seasoned ICU nurse. My termination reason given was documentation. Meditech computer charting which I have used before, charted every hour per policy, made a mistake charting on the wrong patient, immediately did a "undo" with a correction. I KNOW the real reason: LOW CENSUS. One shift on my second week, I had the only patient in the unit, the other traveler sat in her chair and played on the computer all night (NO LIE) The next night, I suppose the admin. got wind of it and I was floated to MedSurg while the aforementioned traveler had the ONE ICU nurse. I contacted my recruiter about an extra shift the hospital had scheduled me to work. No one had asked me. He didn't have an answer but instead of making a deal about it, I worked it. I left the hospital the morning of my last shift, all was fine. The Charge RN knew about my undo charting mishap, I told him. I received a call from my recruiter that afternoon. I said "You don't need to call on the cell phone,call me in this motel, I moved closer to the hospital since they wre scheduling me for more shifts than I expected (more $$ to do so, my money of course) He then told me my contract had been cancelled, he didn't know why and "Kent" (?owner I was told by another Talemed traveler) was en route to the hospital from Ohio to Texas to talk about the hospital's contracts with them. These are facts. I called the following day and asked him to give me some information about why the hospital terminated my contract. NO REASON WHATSOEVER. I told me that I believed it was due to low census, he said "maybe so" This was the last time I spoke to this recruiter. I took my own money and paid for my return flight back home the following day.(Travel with rental car was part of this contract) Still no call from the company as to what was going on 4 days later and after I was home. I checked my banking account on the following day, payday for the facility. I clocked in and out, timesheet correct and turned in on time the previous Monday. My ENTIRE paycheck REVERSED!! NO PHONE CALL TO ME!! NOTHING!! I called my recruiter but instead was given to a Libby. She came on the phone, said "didn't you check your email?"!!!! NO PHONE CALL ABOUT A 48 HOUR PAYCHECK BEING REVERSED!!!!! "We scheduled an exit interview on Monday at 2PM for you" I asked her about the TERMINATION reason. She said DOCUMENTATION~~~NO WRONGDOING WHATSOEVER!! I am going to contact the Labor Board both in Ohio and Texas and also contact Southern Legal Action about these parasites. My question is how many times has this company soaked up an easy $500 for a hospital terminated contract? I told "Libby" this situation is far from being over and now I do not trust anything they say unless it is in writing. I will ask for a response from the email they sent me and if I don't get a response, I will go through the appropriate legal channels. I have worked with Cirrus and TNS and never ever had any problems such as this. I had hand surgery on an assignment with TNS, I ended the contract 4 weeks early (painful) and yes I paid them back travel money because I terminated the contract. My recruiter told me this would happen. My last paycheck had the deduction included in it and I received the rest of it on time. My fault, I pay. Hospital's fault, they should pay. BTW: My wages were reduced $5/Hr for the rental car and RT airfare. I paid for my return trip after I was left high and dry on my own 1500 miles away from home without ANY followup by this company. Are nurses just a number to this company? Most definitely. I will stick to TNS and Cirrus in the future. They are CONTRACT companies.