Travel Nurse Unpaid Orientation Shock

And you thought thought that Travel Nursing sounded SO rosy and glamorous, HA!

The hospital where Ted has accepted a contract with is way over the top with testing and orientation.  None of this was disclosed before we signed the contract!  

Since this is his first assignment, we aren't sure what to make of it.  Is every hospital this ridiculous or is this experience strange just because this is his first time out as a travel nurse and they are trying to make sure he is actually qualified? We won't get a clearer picture of that until our next assignment, I guess.

Here is a snapshot of what tests he was required to take online as part of the hospital orientation, none of which he gets paid for (about 8.5+ hours).  The photo is all of the successful completion certificates.  17 certificates of completion and counting.

The required quizzes and timed tests include: 

• Basic administration knowledge (60 questions timed)
• Identification test for 12 arrhythmias
• ICU Nursing test (60 questions)
• Patient safety and quality test (50 questions)
• 20 separate quizzes on this hospital Policy after watching 20 videos

The hospital called yesterday and informed him that in his first three days of orientation there would be three more tests to pass as a requirement.  Who does that? Have someone move more than 1000 miles, take endless tests and THEN test again only to send them home unpaid if the tests aren't passed?  

Recap of what we learned so far when talking to recruiters:  Get email specifics in writing to every detail you discuss as a recap with your recruiter and get EVERYTHING in writing.  Everything.  

In the original batch of conversations with the recruiter, my husband was clear about being guaranteed pay for 36 hours per week.  Miraculously, the contract arrived and nowhere was the clause about guaranteed minimum hours. Even worse, now there was a clause that he was subject to up to 24 low census hours.  Again, who does that??? Drag a family across the country only to have them miss one a full week of pay?  As if that wasn't bad enough, my husband was informed by the hospital that his first three days of work will be only 11.5 hours per day and not 12.  Again, his pay is dropping like a rock and the recruiter will not live up to his original agreement because it was not in writing.

(As an update, we now feel that it is probably a policy of this very large Agency to have it's recruiters conduct business this way as it has happened with a second recruiter.  The large Agencies are more willing to take new nurses as they are less aware of the pitfalls and will accept lower pay packages.  I feel that they knowingly exploit new travel nurses knowing that more fresh recruits will fill the void once the experienced nurses catch on to the unethical methods and move on.  We have since left this large Agency and moved to a smaller firm with a much better reputation.)

We still hold out hope that this travel experience will turn out just fine and that we will enjoy living in a new region.  We certainly have learned a pile of things already that will be quite useful for the next go-around in negotiating for assignments.

Are any of you having the same experiences with your hospitals and recruiters? Or are we the only suckers falling for the smoke and mirrors?