MedPro

Are you just about to go out on your first assignment as a travel nurse? Read below for some tips on how to “survive” your first day and weeks on assignment.

Your recruiter will give you tons of information about the medical facility to which you’re assigned, as well as your new, temporary home and your apartment complex (if you’ve decided to let your travel nurse company find you living accommodations). Don’t be shy about asking questions. If the recruiter doesn’t know the answer, he or she can call the facility before you head out.

Just as with any new job, your first day on assignment more than likely will involve getting a tour of the hospital/medical facility as well as a more in-depth overview of your assignment department. You’ll meet your on-site manager as well as your colleagues. You’ll receive a detailed description and tour of your department’s “way of doing” things (such as charting), as well as where the supplies are kept, medical equipment locations, and which people to contact should you have questions, problems or concerns.

You’ll want to be sure to take a notebook or tablet/smartphone on which to take notes. Take plenty of them. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification or to ask questions you feel haven’t yet been answered. A simple, small, pocket-sized notebook can be a lifesaver – you can jot down quick notes, phone numbers and passwords on the fly.

Talk to everyone on your floor. Introduce yourself. Your new colleagues will expect you to have lots of questions, so don’t be afraid to ask them. So long as you have a positive attitude no one should “mind” if you ask lots of questions.

Skip the “I’ve always done it this way,” or the “I think efficiency would be improved if we did it this way” conversations until at least a few weeks into your assignment. No one likes being told what do by the newbie; you’ll need to prove yourself to your new colleagues first. In fact, it’s a good idea to get a feel for your department even after you’ve been there awhile before making recommendations. You may feel you’re being helpful, but some departments aren’t amenable to an outsider (even one who’s going to be there an average of 13 weeks) telling them “what to do.”

Understand that you’re there to work. Travel nursing isn’t a vacation. Hospitals and other medical facilities have engaged your travel staffing service to find someone like you because the facility has an urgent need for your skills. You’re there to focus on your patients; make sure that patient focus is your top priority.

Are you flexible, outgoing and wishing to make a difference in your nursing career? Do you have bit of wanderlust, too? Then contact a recruiter at MedPro Healthcare Staffing. We have dozens upon dozens of healthcare and other medical facilities across the country eager to bring you onboard for a temporary assignment. Contact us today!

If you’re a nurse or a speech, physical or occupational therapist and have considered traveling to the U.S to work as a traveling nurse or therapist, read below to learn more about the benefits of doing so and what you can expect in the process.

First of all, we want you to rest assured that recruiters and staffing specialists at MedPro Healthcare Staffing are expert in all aspects of the credentialing and immigration process for foreign healthcare professionals. We’ve helped hundreds of foreign professionals come to work and live in America and we’ll take care of all the credentialing and other requirements necessary to get you working here.

Among the credentials/certificates therapy professionals will need are:

• A review of your FCCPT credentials as well as a visa screen
• Licensure in the state(s) in which you’ll work. Physical therapists will need to prepare for the NPTE
• Preparation for the TOEFL iBT
• H-1B sponsorship

Nurses will need to arrange for a work visa and/or “green card” (we can help you with that).

Once you’ve made arrangements and received your work visa, your recruiter will arrange for you to travel to our headquarters in Sunrise, Florida (about 15 miles west of Fort Lauderdale and 50 minutes north of Miami) to finish up your orientation.

Your orientation with MedPro will take place in a classroom and will help you make your way and practice in the United States’ healthcare system.

Once you have received a work visa, we’ll arrange for your travel to Florida to complete orientation here in our Ft. Lauderdale office. MedPro’s orientation program consists of classroom training that will prepare you to practice your profession within the U.S. healthcare system. While in orientation you’ll meet and spend time with your relationship manager and other team members.

You should know that you will never have to go through this alone; we’ll assign you a relationship manager who will be there to answer any and all questions and concerns you may have at any time during your travel assignment.

In addition, one of our in-house staff members is a licensed immigration attorney, so any questions of a working-status or immigration nature will be answered quickly and at no charge to you.

Are you a foreign nursing or therapy professional looking to travel to the U.S and do even more travelling within the country on traveling assignments? Then contact a recruiter at MedPro Healthcare Staffing. For more information on the how you can become a healthcare professional in the United States, visit our foreign healthcare professionals page.

As you work with older patients at you’re your travel assignment, you may have noticed that they seem to be unable to move their focus as quickly as your younger patients.

This is typical for older adults and is actually part of the aging process.

According to an article in the March/April 2012 issue of Senior Living Executive in which author Anya Martin interviews neuroscientist Dr. Adam Gazzaley about his study of older adults aged 60-80.

Dr. Gazzaley and his researchers found that, according to the article, the older adults “had a much tougher time re-engaging after a distraction than 22 younger counterparts aged 18-20, and that difficulty corresponded to changes that could be seen visually in MRI scans of their brains.”

Dr. Gazzaley and his cohorts are now studying if this decline has anything at all to do with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. He and his team at the University of San Francisco also are studying whether “brain games” and other tools might help people retain their ability to multi-task as they age.

In the meantime, knowing that your older patients might not be able to focus on a new task (say, moving to a new therapy move as a physical or occupational therapist works with a patient) as quickly as your younger patients can go a long way to helping you become a better healthcare professional.

Here are some other tips:

• Tell the patient that you are going to ask him or her to do something else while he or she is doing another activity. That is, for example, if the patient is doing front leg exercises, let the patient know he or she will be doing calf raises next. Tell the patient again when he or she finishes the front leg exercises.

• Keep distractions to a minimum. Aim to work in a quiet room and, if you’re a colleague enters the room, try not to have a conversation unrelated to your patient in the room.

• Remember that what you may think is easy to do – read an article while watching television, for example – may not be as easy for your older patient.

• It’s not that our patient doesn’t understand what you ask of him or her; it may be that he or she needs a moment or two to process your request.

• Also, your patient may not be hard of hearing. Again, it may be that he or she needs a moment to move from one of your comments/requests to another.

To read more about Dr. Gazzaley’s research, read the article.

Whether you’re a nurse, a PT, OT, or other healthcare professional, our clients need you. Contact a recruiter at MedPro Healthcare Staffing to learn more about the many traveling healthcare assignments we offer. We look forward to hearing from you!