Dealing with resistance in temporary agency nurses

Abstract

The paper contributes to the critical literature because the authors analysed a relationship that is rarely theoretically and empirically examined in literature, that between employment contract, collective identity-building dynamics and processes of resistance. We showed that the creation of a community of coping enabled minorities to voice their distance from and opposition to management.

Health Institutions, Temporary Work Agencies, and the Mobility Power of Nurses

“…Unpredictability regarding access to work, where and what type of institution to work for next, and short-notice assignments make agency nursing stressful (De Ruyter et al 2008). Dual control by managers in the workplace and managers in the TWA adds to this (Gottfried 1992): Agency nurses feel that they must continually make their contributions and results visible in the workplace to get their contract renewed, and fear that their TWA manager may not be informed about their achievements (Cicellin et al 2015). Other studies show that agency nurses feel themselves looked down upon by regular nurses and that they get more difficult workloads, having to take shifts and tasks unpopular among regular staff (Cicellin et al 2015;Royal College of Nursing & HCL Nursing 2016).…”

“…Dual control by managers in the workplace and managers in the TWA adds to this (Gottfried 1992): Agency nurses feel that they must continually make their contributions and results visible in the workplace to get their contract renewed, and fear that their TWA manager may not be informed about their achievements (Cicellin et al 2015). Other studies show that agency nurses feel themselves looked down upon by regular nurses and that they get more difficult workloads, having to take shifts and tasks unpopular among regular staff (Cicellin et al 2015;Royal College of Nursing & HCL Nursing 2016). Thus, nurses who want more predictable work than agency nursing and tasks closer to their original areas of expertise often find bank nursing preferable to agency nursing (Tailby 2005;Zampoukos et al 2018).…”

Social comparison and perceived envy‐motivated communication involving travel nurses: A qualitative study

“…Because temporary nurses typically connect more naturally with other temporary nurses (Cicellin et al, ), some travel nurses prefer to work with other travel nurses and to keep in touch with them for social support. Lisa told me about a special friendship with another travel nurse,

We worked together on a local contract; it’s about 70 miles from both our houses in different directions at the time.

…”

“…The global nursing shortage and proliferating employment opportunities at international destinations promote alternative work arrangements such as agency and travel nursing (Baumann, Hunsberger, & Crea‐Arsenio, ; Birmingham, Mortel, Needham, & Latimer, ; Cicellin, Pezzillo Iacono, Berni, & Esposito, ; Gan, ; Lapalme & Guerrero, ). As transient hybrid teams of permanent and temporary nurses become increasingly common, this trend constantly reshapes nurses’ workplace relationships (Gan, ).…”

“…Formal communication provides a shared platform among nurses—and other health care professionals—where they interact using common jargons to deliver nursing care. Informal communication is less structured than formal communication; informal communication serves a social support function because it typically involves relational conversations about nurses’ personal lives as well as challenging interpersonal encounters at work (Cicellin et al, ; Coiera et al, ). In sum, formal communication primarily centres on the work that nurses perform, while informal communication refers to peripheral ‘off the record’ exchanges that may tangentially relate to nursing tasks but mainly on matters not work‐related.…”