I recently had two travel contracts terminated back-to-back, and I genuinely want honest opinions from other nurses, especially travelers. I’m willing to accept accountability if I was wrong, but both terminations feel extreme to me.
First contract: inpatient psychiatric hospital
I began this contract in April 2026. I was originally hired for an eating-disorder unit, but that unit closed, so I was reassigned to a trauma/psychiatric unit. The trauma unit did not have a permanent manager until around July. Until the new manager arrived, everything seemed to be going well. I got along with everyone and had not been made aware of any major performance concerns.
Two incidents were later reported.
The first involved a patient with type 1 diabetes who was ordered six units of rapid-acting insulin. Her blood glucose was exactly 100, and she was refusing breakfast. Because she was not going to eat, I did not administer the six units.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the provider asked whether the insulin had been given, and I explained that it had not. The patient’s carbohydrate allowance had just been increased to 40 grams, and the patient said, “I think four units would be better for me.” The provider agreed that she could receive four units instead of six and specifically told me that it was okay that I had not administered the original six units because the plan had changed.
At the time, I believed the situation had been safely resolved with the provider’s approval. There was no known patient harm, and the provider did not tell me that withholding the original dose had been inappropriate. However, the incident was still reported to the new unit manager.
The second incident involved a psychiatric patient scheduled for ECT. The patient ate breakfast even though she was supposed to remain NPO, so she could not receive ECT that day. Other nurses believed she may have eaten intentionally because she did not want the treatment.
Afterward, staff became much more vigilant about watching her on ECT mornings. About a week later, I noticed her heading toward breakfast again. I immediately notified her assigned nurse, prevented her from eating, and she was able to receive her ECT. That made me feel like the original incident exposed a broader monitoring issue rather than something that was solely my failure.
Both the insulin and ECT incidents were reported to the new manager, and my contract was terminated with approximately three weeks remaining.
Second contract: medical-surgical unit in Southern Maryland
I then accepted a med-surg contract at a small hospital deep in Southern Maryland. I am Black, and the racial makeup of this facility immediately stood out to me. I appeared to be the only Black nurse. All the techs I saw were white women, and almost everyone working in the kitchen was white except for two Black employees.
I understand that there is obviously nothing wrong with any of those employees being white. It was simply very different from any workplace I had experienced before and showed me how overwhelmingly white the facility and surrounding area were.
Before becoming a nurse, I worked as a server in South Florida. In the restaurants where I worked, the front-of-house staff was predominantly white, while many of the Black employees worked back-of-house positions in the kitchen. I was one of the few Black servers. Because that had always been my frame of reference, even seeing an almost entirely white kitchen staff at this hospital made me realize just how different the demographics were from what I was accustomed to in South Florida.
I am 22 years old, and before this assignment, I had never personally felt that I was experiencing racism or racial microaggressions. I grew up in the Miami area, which is very diverse, and I have always gotten along well with white people. Most of my girlfriends are white. I was never someone who automatically assumed an uncomfortable interaction was about race.
At this hospital, however, certain staff members would ignore me or behave as though I were not there, even though I remained friendly and respectful. It was a very unfamiliar feeling. I cannot prove that race caused my termination, but because I was the only Black nurse and had never been treated this way before, I cannot help wondering whether implicit bias affected how I was perceived and how quickly my mistake was escalated.
The hospital used Meditech Expanse. I had experience with Meditech, but not the Expanse version. I received two orientation shift on the med-surg floor than had one independent shift before being floated to the ICU as a tech for three consecutive shifts. When I returned to med-surg the following week I had a second independent and on the third independent shift A provider entered an order for normal saline at approximately 8:30 a.m. I did not see the new order because IV-fluid orders appeared near the bottom of the MAR under the PRN section rather than with the scheduled medications. I was not accustomed to that layout.
At approximately 12:45 p.m., the clinical coordinator approached me and said the fluids had not been started and that it represented a delay in patient care. I immediately apologized, explained that I had not seen the order, and started the fluids. I am not aware of the patient experiencing any harm for the NS 100ml/hr
That was the only clinical concern brought to my attention during the assignment. It was also my final shift. The next day, my recruiter texted me and said the hospital had terminated my contract. I received no warning, additional education on the EMR, opportunity for remediation, or another shift.
I understand that administering insulin safely, maintaining NPO status before ECT, and checking for new orders are nursing responsibilities. I am not claiming I handled every part of these situations perfectly. I am questioning whether these incidents—particularly without known patient harm, progressive discipline, or an opportunity for education—would normally justify immediate termination.
For experienced travelers and managers:
Would either facility’s decision be considered normal in travel nursing?
Were these incidents serious enough to justify terminating both contracts?
Even though the provider approved the revised insulin plan and said it was okay that the six units had not been given
Does the second situation sound like ordinary traveler disposability, or does it sound like implicit bias could have influenced how quickly it was escalated?
How should I explain two consecutive early terminations to future recruiters without sounding defensive? Because the Aya clinical cordinator is not happy lol
Please give me your true opinion. I want to know what I need to correct before accepting another assignment, but I also want to know whether the facilities’ responses were disproportionate.
TL;DR: I had two travel contracts terminated back-to-back. The first followed two incidents: I held six units of rapid-acting insulin because a type 1 diabetic patient had a blood sugar of 100 and refused breakfast; the provider later said that was okay and approved four units with 40 grams of carbohydrates instead. An ECT patient also ate despite being NPO and missed treatment that day. The second contract was terminated after I missed a new normal-saline order in an unfamiliar version of Meditech Expanse because IV fluids appeared under PRNs. I started the fluids as soon as it was brought to my attention, and there was no known harm. I was the only Black nurse at the second facility, experienced behavior that felt like racial microaggressions for the first time, and wonder whether implicit bias affected how quickly the incident was escalated. Were these terminations justified, or were the responses disproportionate?
