Did your grandmother just pass away for the third time this year? Or have you come down with the flu… again. Maybe it’s time to reconsider your career choice, because canceling or backing out of your contract is not something to take lightly. Of course, this is not meant to downplay family tragedies or nurses’ health and well-being. Agencies and recruiters want to support their nurses’ needs while being flexible, but going back on a contract can often lead to a chain of unfortunate consequences.
Think about it this way, as a travel nurse, your talents are already desperately crucial to the hospital or facility you are working in. After all, you’re “scrubbing in” for staff shortages or for a permanent employee that is temporarily on leave. If you breach your contract before you fulfill your obligated agreement without a valid reason or the right procedures, you’re putting your career’s butt on the line. Here’s two major reasons why you don’t want to end up canceling a travel nurse contract early:
It Can Ruin Trust.
Recruiters and travel nurses usually get to know each other really well for the sake of matching the nurse with a compatible assignment. Recruiters put a lot of time and effort into hooking their nurses up with the right hospital, so when the nurse backs out, especially last minute, all their time and effort was pointless. When there’s no trust between the recruiter and a particular nurse, that nurse might end up being the last to know about a good job. Worse case scenario, the nurse gets blacklisted and stops receiving assignments altogether.
It Can Be Costly.
Agencies can be penalized by the hospital when a nursing assignment is cancelled without proper notice prior to when it was originally meant to begin. This is partly because hospitals depend on a certain number of staff, leaving them short-staffed when a nurse doesn’t fulfill his or her assignment, which ultimately effects patient care. Most hospitals charge about a weeks worth of billing, and the agency is usually left to deal with the housing assignment as well. In some cases the recruiters themselves are financially penalized by the agency, but this is much more rare. Not to mention nurses’ pay can be lessened due to the fact that agencies know they have a chance of facing those hospital fees.
When it comes to canceling a contract last minute, try to make sure it is worst case scenario. Sadly, worst case scenario does occur from time to time, so if it does, communication is key. No one expects a nurse to show up while they’re in the middle of dealing with a family emergency, but nurses should make sure they’re always keeping their recruiters up to date.
For more information on the repercussions of canceling a travel nurse assignment early, ask one of these talented recruiters.
February 2, 2018
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