The Truth About Being Blacklisted
The Truth About Being Blacklisted - Travel Nurse Source Blog

The Truth About Being Blacklisted

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For a travel nurse, being blacklisted is one of the worst-case scenarios. You would think that to avoid this label you just have to be an overall good nurse.  Unfortunately, that is not always the case. There is an ugly truth to why hospitals blacklist travel nurses. This ominous listing puts fear into many nurses, but even if you do become blacklisted, it’s not the end of the world. Below we’ll take a good look at the nursing blacklist and what it all entails.

The Nursing Blacklist Truth

What is a Nursing Blacklist?

In the industry, being blacklisted is labeled as Do Not Send (DNS), Do Not Use (DNU), or Do Not Call (DNC). However, if you’re labeled, it may not be the end of the world. Bans can extend to an agency, a hospital, or a whole hospital system. They can also be permanent or temporary, which can last up to one year and are often due to failed examinations, more specifically the PBDS or the EKG. These bans are usually six months to a year. After that, you can apply to work within the hospital system again. Shortly, we’ll go over a variety of reasons that you might end up of the nursing blacklist. 

Why Travel Nurses Are Blacklisted

The whole idea of travel nurse blacklisting is to protect an agency or a hospital from incompetent nurses. Makes perfect sense, right? Reasons could be as small as not following simple procedures, to major medication errors. However, sometimes a facility chooses to blacklist a nurse for the sole reason of avoiding the cancellation fee of a travel nurse contract. Sure it’s unethical, but the unfortunate truth is that it is not unheard of. Another reason a hospital might blacklist a nurse is if a travel nurse’s contract is cancelled. That’s why we recommend to healthcare facilities to use other measures to prevent cancellations. This can include creating shorter contracts, moving travel nurses who need to be closer to home, and letting travel nurses know what is expected up front. We know that illnesses and emergencies happen. That’s life, and your agency knows that. Talk to them if you must cancel, just know that you may be banned from that facility.

What To Do If You’re DNUed

If you’ve been blacklisted, first and foremost, keep calm. Sit down with your agency to evaluate the situation. Sometimes hospitals provide a report on their decision. However, these reports are rare, and travel nurses are often left in the dark. Which is unfortunate because how will they ever learn from their mistakes? Another thing you can do is to reach out to your travel nurse recruiter and have them ask the facility why you ended up on the nursing blacklist. Either way, agencies tend to have at least some information on the matter. They often evaluate the situation to decide whether or not to place a DNU themselves.

However unorthodox it may be, if you feel you’ve been unjustifiably blacklisted, you could contact the proper supervisors of the facility to appeal it. The absolute best way to protect yourself in this situation is to have a spotless work record. You should also have a solid list of references to back you up. After all, actions speak louder than words. 

nursing blacklist

Definitely, do your research and talk to your agency if and when you’re blacklisted. One travel nurse made headlines when she recently decided to speak up about her ban. For a lack of better words, it got ugly. It is unclear whether she quit because of the conditions of the hospital or she was blacklisted then decided to fight back. If the former, it’s a commendable thought. And we certainly cannot blame her for feeling so strongly about it. It’s a no brainer that a hospital needs proper staffing. Whatever the case may be, things would be a lot easier if she had hard evidence to back up her claims.

Don’t Fret!

At the end of the day, even if you wind up on the nursing blacklist, there should still be thousands of other assignments available to you. Just take a moment to relax and realize that everything will be okay. If you have a nursing blacklist experience that you’d like to share, feel free to comment it below! Also, if you’re on the hunt for your next travel nursing assignment, make sure to check out the thousands of jobs we have to offer!

Author: Travel Nurse Source

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7 Comments

  1. How do you know if you’ve been “blacklisted”?? I’ve been a traveler for 3 years. Typically, my phone is ringing off the hook by recruiters. Now, I don’t even get a call back from facilities that I’ve been submitted for… This has happened since I was hired by a facility, contracts, W-2, UDS, and everything completed, only for my recruiter to tell me the facility cancelled because my packet wasn’t completed by the due date. What wasn’t complete was my BLS that my recruiter knew I didn’t have and had told me she would set me up to take it… I still have the texts…

  2. I would like to know more about blacklists. I have been treated very poorly by many facilities and feel my nursing career has been tarnished. One example is a place I requested to get off the night shift and the nurse manager got pissed that I talked to the float pool supervisor to switch today and then she found a way to get me fired and could never work for that hospital system again, Another place I was orienting and the preceptor gave 50 mg of Lavetolo for a BP of 190/87 and the patient’s BP decreased to 80/60. Then 4 hours later the patient’s BP went to 197/90 and knowing the Labetalol caused the pressure to decrease so much I gave half the dose 25 mg and called the doctor and asked for him to put an order in for the lower dose and he thanked me. When I told the charge nurse she came up to me and said you need to fill out an incident report and I did. But mind you the other nurse(the preceptor) never reported his actions. The next day I get a phone call from the director that I was under investigation. I was waiting at home for 7 days and finally get a call from the director “you need to come into my office tomorrow morning,” When I arrived he handed my a piece of paper with the date marked ongoing and at the bottom of the page it stated I did not make it through probation. There were no other incidents and I was being oriented and had only been at this place for 30 days. I know I saved the patient ad prevented the hospital from getting a lawsuit but I was terminated. I realize I don’t have to place that hospital on my resume but I think it is really shitty to be terminated without cause. What do you think? Is there a web site for a blacklist? How does a nurse get back from these places that do these kinds of things to nurses over and over again? What should I do now?

  3. This is a great question! I have reached out to some of the agency’s we work with to get you a solid answer. It’s unfortunate that you’ve had this experience, so hopefully we can get you back on the road with a clean slate!

  4. I have seen and experienced this . The facility ultimately uses you. They expect you to work there under extreme conditions, with little or no training. The object of the facility is staffing. They aren’t concerned about training . I’ve literally had scenarios where even though they want good nurses, they don’t orient or train to their facility.When you become familiar on your own, they like you, and think you will want a permanent position with them, which you may or may not. If you decide no and continue to want perdiem many times they cancel you.They put pressure and then if you do not respond, cancel. Sad but true

  5. I am wanting to leave a contract one week early due to family emergency and the unsafe staffing. I have been told I will be DNU with Right Source and unable to get a travel position. I’m new to travel and torn between going home to help my mom recently hospitalized versus staying. What is right source and do I have any recourse?

  6. Ive been traveling nurse in CA, and shocked to find out the quality of healthcare system and treatment of travel nurses like disposable gloves by numerous facilities in the south especially. I brought up several safety concerns during work to protect patients and ensure I’m working within the applicable law as licensed practitioner. Not only my concerns weren’t addressed, I was terminated right after concerns were submitted to management. Ive never seen anything like this lets say in TX, where I’m coming from, being a permanent employee nurses are encouraged to report any safety issues to corporate for review and process improvements, to avoid sentinel events and protect workers and hospitals from law suits. We had staff meetings where safety improvements were discussed and was thanked numerous times for bringing up potential issues that could results in some harm. Here in CA, you get fired or terminated without the cause, simply for being patients advocate, wanting to protect patients and perform safely in the medical setting. How can this be? Where does CA department of public health is looking at? No facility cares about safety being 1st, its all about greed and making $. Be safe out there, questions all care and treatments and do seek alternatives when it comes to agreeing with questionable medical treatments and such.
    NO wonder CA has pools of travel nurses for each facility instead of getting permanent staff, they waste ton of money on travelers instead of simply follow the law and ensure safety measures in place. They don’t care to hire perm. staff as its simply “easy” to get rid of honest travelers who brings up concerning conditions up for discussion. It a “CANCEL” culture vs ” work together to resolve and make it better”culture. So much for proclamations in the so called liberal state of California. Bunch of corruption, its unreal. no surprise people are packing and leaving in batches to normal states where regulations are taken seriously and people follow laws! Good luck y’all! Be safe, do the right thing always! No money worth your soul or peace! Stand up for what is right. You will be better off at the end. Karma is real…

  7. Travel nurse contract in California Dec 2022. What a disaster!!! I took an assignment and within 4 weeks was terminated. I know it was an act of retaliation because I reported a staff nurse behavior. More so, the facility was doing alot of short cuts and each day was a true nightmare. I reported to the assistant manager and my recruiter. I was black balled by both. I knew that after reporting the rude staff member who I believe was discrimination towards me because of my race and my years of experience. I have always been very competent in my work. I have been a nurse for over 12 years. I have a background as a surgical tech as well. However, after I reported the behavior or mistreatment, it escalated to the other staff aswell including the doctors. This hospital is a fraudulent place to work. The hospital and staff was very lacking in patient care. And I get accused of not being able to understand medical terminology and reported that I contaminated a field after I prepped the patient. All this was said after I was terminated by my recruiter. This was an lie and I tried to call the facility and left a message.. they never called back to allow me to give my statement. The recruiter and travel nurse company failed me as well. To them it’s all about money and be careful to never trust entirely what someone say. This was am act of fraud and setup to ruin my nursi g career. It’s sad to have doctors play alone with this game when you expect them to have the highest integrity of leadership. This hospital is truly a place that needs a staff overhaul. The medical profession should not consist of people who set out to destroy a person for speaking the truth. If this is the case then what’s the point of watching films and modules about employee conduct during orientation. I know I did my work professionally and with absolute competency. I definitely would not recommend any experience nurse that look different like me to work at this facility. It is a disgrace for America in this state because there was no true diversity. This hospital network needs to be investigated by joint commission. ill on the unit were unclean prior to bring back for surgery. The nurses on the unit expect for you to do their job. I recall one patient that didn’t have an atmband on when another nurse and I arrived to the unit to transport the patient. No armband in site anywhere, no consent and no recent labs. This place could care less about a blood consent which should always be signed when there a chance for blood loss. They do what they want to do without regards of the patient. This place expects for the surgical nurse to be the transport tech, equipment coordinator and operate the anesthesia machine for equipment check. There is no orientation module or video about anesthesia equipment check and this should be a priority for the patient.. This is truly a disgrace for the profession. At the end, please make sure they don’t put these duties on you. Do not except them.. I pray someone reads this and stay away from California. Your nursing license is not worth it.

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