An Open Letter to Baby Nurses

To you, the student, the extern, the CEPI, the CEPIA, the freshly graduated nurse who wants to join the Nomade family (and fast) !

We get it.

Because we’ve all been there! Proof? Take a look at some of the Nomade Family members back when they were graduating 😍.

We know you’re looking for new challenges.

We know you want to live your best life out in the regions.

We know you’re telling yourself this is the moment, because you don’t necessarily have ties keeping you at home (you might not even have a home yet, actually !), you’re free as a bird, it’s now or never.

We know we share a lot of our beautiful moments on social media, which surely makes you want to come join us, and faaaaaast.

We know it, and we feel it too, with the messages you send us every single day.

Some people haven’t even started their professional training yet and are already asking us when we’ll welcome them into the Nomade family.

It takes patience !

Patience.

Here’s something we repeat a lot (and it will always be true). When you head to a remote region with an agency, it’s because you’re going to replace a regular staff member who isn’t in their position (illness, pregnancy, staff shortage). You’re replacing someone on the core team, which means you’re not there to be trained.

Your main challenge will be finding your bearings in a new environment with a new team.

The basics of your profession need to be mastered.

Your knowledge of your specialty (let’s take intensive care, for example) needs to be acquired and mastered.

Fitting into a new environment is already a challenge in itself. Now imagine arriving in that new environment while still being “in training” because you don’t yet have a solid enough foundation in your profession. That starts to add up.

It starts to add up, and often, it’s just too much.

Too much all at once.

Too much for you, too much for the team, who very often already have plenty on their shoulders given how demanding the job is.

If it’s too much for the team, it’ll be too much for the manager, too much for your agency, and your stay risks being cut short with a rushed trip back home.

We should never generalize, or lump everyone into the same basket.

Having worked in the ER for several years now, I’ve seen nurses with 20 years of experience in their ultra-specialized environment struggle enormously to adapt once they’re in their new environment out in the regions.

I’ve seen nurses with less than a year of experience on a float team fit in perfectly out in the regions and show wonderful skills in a new environment.

We can never say whether a person is or isn’t qualified to come out to the regions. That said, we do know which profile has a better chance of success than others. You have to stack the odds in your favour so you can succeed out in the regions.

We’re here, in part (a very big part), for exactly that.

We know every step of a regional adventure by heart.

We know the stages of settling in, the excitement of leaving, the stress before your first shift, the pitfalls to avoid.

More often than not, we even know who your go-to references will be on site. We’ll even brief you on the special “house” practices, so you’re not caught off guard. We know you already have a lot on your shoulders at the start of an assignment. That’s what we’re here for.

We know it, because we live it ourselves, still today.

So, how much experience does it take to head out with an agency ?

I’d say it takes at least 1 year of full-time experience.

2 years if it’s a specialty.

Even more than that, if possible.

We won’t draw a firm line, I believe you all have your professional experience, but also everything behind it in terms of prior professional and personal experience.

In my opinion, the best skills to have, after (or even before?) your professional skills, are to be flexible and adaptable when you arrive in a new environment. Pair that with a huge capacity to take feedback, because it won’t be the team on site who takes the time to tell you whether things are going well or not (very rarely, at least). They’ll let you feel it, and all of a sudden your stay becomes a little less pleasant.

Catherine, a Nomade nurse who came out of retirement to live the regional experience, told me (and I couldn’t put it better myself) :

“Aymeric, if you’ve always learned to make a cake with 3 eggs and you arrive in a new place that tells you here we make cake with 2 eggs, don’t argue, make your cake with 2 eggs.”

You see the kind of flexibility we’re talking about ?

When you arrive in a new environment, people are expecting you and can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to the team.

Show up like a “bulldozer” with your own practices, your own ways, without asking anyone anything, and you’re bound to fail in a new care setting.

You have to stack the odds in your favour so that your experience is pleasant, both for you and for the team you’ll be working with.

In any case, we’re here to support you before, during and after your regional adventure.

There’s still a big part that’s up to you. Your turn to play !

What we ultimately want to tell you is this: don’t rush at all costs to head out with an agency in the regions. All of your experience will be useful out there. You’ll be able to arrive far more confident, which will lower your stress and put your new work team at ease.

A great recipe for a successful adventure (with 2 eggs !)

Got questions to check your path, to see where you’re at, whether you’re ready to head out with an agency ? Write to us :)

See you soon :)