Playing the Waiting Game

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not play "the waiting game" very well. It isn't easy sitting back and waiting for others to put their ducks in a row so that you can do the same with yours! And when your ducks are your life and livelihood, it is quite frustrating to see the hours tick off the clock, the calendar pages fly by and the silence grow ever louder.



That is were I've been for the past few days: Trying to get answers from the powers that be as to whether I will be allowed to stay on here in TN or will need to move elsewhere. With less than two weeks left to my present contract (it ends February 28th) I am about ten days past nervous!



The negotiations continue. The contract extension has been offered and then rescinded, offered again and then given a particular stipulation that would be a deal maker or breaker. And then more negotiations. In this current economy, even health care jobs are becoming more difficult to secure. Hospitals, like families, are taking a good hard look at their budgets and trying to find ways to tighten their purse strings. There is still a nursing shortage but it appears as though facilities are opting to work the nurses that they have in their employ more and hire fewer into previously listed job openings.



This is just a phase, I know -- healthcare standards are, for the most part, set by the guidelines that drive Medicare reimbursements. Such guidelines are difficult to adhere to without adequate staffing to ensure quality patient outcomes. In the meantime, those of us who are working at the bedside persist in giving the best care that we can give to those who depend on us. Working short-staffed is frustrating to those of us who only know how to give 110% each and every shift. But I, for one, cannot allow it to change the way I practice my profession.



And so, with only four more twelve hour shifts left to this current contract, I enter into that gray area of not knowing... not knowing where I will be living come March 1st, where I will be working (or if I will be working) come March 1st, what my next assignment will entail. This is the down side of the travel nurse role. Each time the situation presents itself, I have to ask myself if I am really cut out for it. I know that I am cut out for the role of a flexible nurse who can jump in and do her job in almost any setting. What I don't know is if I can live with the uncertainty that the deadlines and contract end dates present.


I know that everything will work out -- eventually. It always does. There is always a Plan B and even a Plan C in the event that my first choice doesn't materialize. But, I'm forever reluctant to adopt B or C if A might still be a possibility. By this time next week, I will know what the future (at least the immediate future) holds but in the meantime, I am trying to learn to be a better player in this waiting game!