Over the last couple of years, the medical industry has seen an explosion in the need for travel nurses and other medical staff that can arrive and work in a facility on short notice. Due to the intense and far-reaching effects of the global Covid pandemic, travel nurses were in extraordinarily high demand, sometimes earning as much as $5,000 a week at the peak. The greater salaries and flexibility that can be obtained through a travel nurse agency make it a lucrative and desirable career, leading many to wonder what qualifications the job requires.
Travel Nurse Qualification Basics
In order to become a travel nurse, there are a few different routes you can take:
Obtain a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) Degree
One of the most popular ways to get into a nursing career is to earn a BSN degree, which usually takes around four years. This will qualify you for almost any nursing position, and you can immediately start earning a very strong salary after graduation. However, it contains a lot of requirements like math, science, and chemistry, and is a large time commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Pass the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Exam for RNs)
Whether you have achieved your BSN degree or went through an RN-specific college program, you will still have to pass a specific test, called an NCLEX-RN exam, to become a true Registered Nurse. This test can be quite difficult, requires study, and can take up to about 6 hours to complete. Once you have done so, you will be in good standing and eligible for hire in almost any state.
Obtain an LVN/LPN degree
If the time requirements to become an RN are too much and you wish to begin working more quickly, you can become an LPN/LVN, and then consider working your way up to an RN while working. These courses usually take between one and two years and are easier to get than an RN or BSN qualification. However, your job opportunities will be far more limited than an RN, you will make less money, perform more basic care tasks, and usually be required to report to an RN.
Further Travel Nursing Qualifications
In addition to these basic requirements, most travel nursing jobs require you to have several further qualifications that can earn you a higher salary, extend your job opportunities, and make you a more desirable employee. Three of the most common ones are:
Basic Life Support (BLS)
A BLS certification is usually a requirement for nursing jobs, is commonly obtained through the AHA (American Heart Association), and usually only takes one day to complete. BLS certifications cover basic life support skills like CPR, how to use an AED, usage of barrier devices during CPR, two-person CPR, and the AHA chain of survival.
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)
An ACLS certification is usually required to work in an ICU or ER department. These courses usually consist of 15 hours of material, spread out over two days. You will learn about how to manage respiratory and cardiac arrests, airway management (such as intubation), basic pharmacology, and how to recognize and treat strokes.
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
This is the last specialty certification that is usually required for nursing jobs, which focuses on how to care for children and infants. It usually takes about 8 hours to complete and covers material like child and infant CPR, how to use an AED on a child, how to recognize a cardiopulmonary arrest, the difference between respiratory distress and failure, how to recognize patients in shock, and early interventions or treatments for these events.
Typically, these certifications require you to pass a written test and are valid for two years. After two years, you will usually have to retake the classes. However, once you have obtained these, you will be eligible for many different nursing jobs and can begin earning a good salary at a job that truly helps others.
Live the Life You Always Dreamed Of
While travel nursing salaries are lower than they were at the peak of the Covid pandemic, they can still easily earn $3,000 per week. While that is an extremely generous salary, it’s not the only reason so many people are interested in travel nursing.
Often, many travel nursing jobs offer subsidized or fully-covered housing, which allows you to save more money than a traditional job. Also, you have more flexibility around where you live than in almost any other career. Say you want to live in Hawaii, California, or New York – travel nursing is an excellent way to make your beachfront dreams of living in paradise come true.
Even better, travel nursing is a way to truly help those in need. Few careers are more vital, rewarding, and meaningful than nursing, so for those with a compassionate heart, it’s an excellent career choice.
It has been a dream of yours to be a teacher or even work in the field of education in some capacity. Once you get your degree, you might attempt to get placed by your school of higher education, especially if they have an agreement with the local education force. Something like the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. But what happens if you fall through that particular safety net?
You can consider searching for jobs at a school staffing agency. The main goal of doing this is to get a good position at a good school. Given the state of education in the country, that might be a bit easier said than done.
Do not be discouraged, though. There are things that you can do to tilt the odds a bit more in your favor.
Don’t Just Pick Agencies That Promise Fast Results
Wouldn’t it be great if you could submit your resume to an agency and get sent to a job the next day? That would be a dream, wouldn’t it? Usually, it is … and you wake up still in your bed.
Do some research on those agencies. See what other people are saying about it. Are they saying that the agency tends to overpromise and then underdeliver?
Trust your gut when it comes to reading those reviews. You can usually tell when people are making up things or if they have an ax to grind if they are not able to live up to their end of things. While no place is going to be perfect, if you see that the ratio of good reviews to bad reviews is pretty one-sided, then you can trust your gut when it comes to moving forward with the application process.
Don’t Join An Agency That Sends You To Places With Low Pay
This one might be a bit more reliant on which state you are in. There are some that have a higher pay wage even for those starting out – like those in the New York City public school system – and then there are those who pay a very low wage and even teachers or administrators who have a lot of years in the system can make a lower yearly salary than other places.
Look at the different staffing agencies and see what they are saying about pay. Do some research about the starting pay at these places and then adjust your expectations so that you will get the most amount of money possible.
Don’t Just Work With The Big Staffing Agencies
Yes, it might seem that the big agencies have a lot more clout due to their brand recognition. You may think that their giving you a seal of approval might open doors for you. That could very well be the case if you do wind up fitting all of their criteria in order to recommend you for a job.
Don’t forget that these well-known agencies might also get a lot more applicants for these jobs … which means that they have a lot more resumes to sift through. Thus, you could wind up finding yourself falling through the cracks since a lot of candidates who have similar qualifications might wind up edging you out for these jobs.
It might be a good idea to find smaller educational staffing agencies. That way, you will be in a smaller pool of candidates and you will become familiar to the people running the agency, which creates a more personalized touch. To them, you will be a person, not just a resume, and that might make them work much harder to get you a good school and education job.
When it comes to finding a school or education job, a staffing agency can go a long way to helping you. It should not be the only arrow in your quiver as far as what you use to search for work in this field. In other words, don’t just send your resume to these places and then kick up your heels and expect them to do all the work.
No, you need to do more yourself. See if you can do things like go to job fairs, networking events, or you can even talk to your teacher friends or family to see if they have any openings in their schools. You can even go to job portals and see if there are any listings for educational work or if any connections on sites like LinkedIn would be willing to vouch for you.
The main thing that you need to do is keep active when it comes to attempting to secure work in this field. All it takes is one good connection and then you can be off and running. It can happen, whether it is with an agency or not… and you will be glad you put the above into practice.
Like most other sectors of the economy in recent times, schools are having a hard time recruiting, hiring, and maintaining a full staff. Finding the right candidates who are educated, qualified, and possess the right set of skills to relate to and understand youth is a challenge, so districts and administrators should always follow the best practices they can when implementing K-12 staffing. In order to do so, some specific steps can be taken when evaluating and adjusting hiring and recruitment practices.
Basic Steps of Recruiting
Some of the basic steps that schools, districts, or other educational facilities should take when beginning a hiring and recruitment process are:
Examine your needs
It’s important to have a full and complete assessment of how much staff you need, the qualifications of the staff you have, what ideal staffing levels are, and who will be staying or leaving. The first step towards a comprehensive staffing strategy is to lay out and ascertain your needs and goals for the hiring process.
Create a timeline
Schools that have the best staffing strategies understand that recruitment for schools is a year-round process that can’t be simply rushed in August immediately before school starts. You should be identifying candidates up to a year before hiring, having them sign contracts before summer starts, and then having the hiring process completed by June before the summer break before their first year starts.
Work on your recruitment strategies
The first concrete step you will take is to evaluate and update your recruitment strategies, such as:
- Recruitment websites
- Social media
- Staffing agencies
- Job postings
- Brochures or flyers
- Specific messages sent to candidates
- Job fairs
- Offering a recruitment bonus to current staff
- Open houses or other school events
- Build relationships with colleges or universities nearby to recruit graduates
- Sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, housing stipends, or other financial incentives
- Word of mouth
These messages should contain information about the available jobs and why the candidate would want to work there. A good way to reach out and make connections is to have a school philosophy or message that is inspiring and relatable.
Create a hiring team
One of the best practices that can be followed by schools or districts that need to find staff is to create a selected, designated team that will be in charge of the recruitment and hiring process. Having multiple people working on it leads to a more effective strategy and a more diverse and robust set of outcomes. Using a team to hire also protects the school legally, as it shields from allegations of discrimination or arbitrary hiring practices that can stem from just one person making decisions.
Develop a recruitment plan
At this stage, it’s important to lay out more specifics. For example, what will the budget be for hiring and advertising positions? Who will be in charge of what goals, and how will the school know when those goals are met?
The critical components of a comprehensive recruitment plan are as follows:
- Set goals
- Determine what steps are needed to meet those goals
- Set a timeline for the goals
- Assign responsibilities
- Set a budget and allocate resources
- Determine what outcomes are desired
- Decide how the school will know when the goals are met
- Set any accountability measures
- Meet regularly to discuss progress toward the goals
Critically analyze your recruitment practices and adjust as needed
When you start getting applicants, you can ask some questions to determine where changes can be made to increase the effectiveness of the process. Some of these questions are:
- Where did they hear about the job or the school?
- How much did it cost in terms of money, resources, or time to recruit the applicant?
- Which types of recruitment provided candidates that are best suited for the school?
- Which applicants received offers, and which ones did not?
- Which strategy provided the most applicants?
Other Solutions
America is facing a “catastrophic” teacher shortage, so it’s important to be proactive about following these steps and making sure your hiring process works well and is efficient. If you aren’t currently having staffing issues, implementing these strategies can help it stay that way, and make sure that you don’t end up desperate to fill positions a month or two before school starts. For districts that proactively follow the above strategies and provide incentives like a competitive salary rate and benefits, staffing is an issue that should resolve itself over time, but this is not always the case.
When that happens, there is only one option that can provide you with the staff you need, right away, with the experience and credentials you require: staffing agencies. These are a defensive measure against critically low staffing, and can provide workers to step in where they are needed the most. With a combination of the above strategies and staffing agencies, your school will continue to run smoothly and fulfill its ultimately critical role in society of giving our youth the inspiring and well-rounded education they deserve.
Due to a confluence of various issues, America is facing an unprecedented shortage of qualified teachers. Between 2020 and 2022, around 300,000 public school educators and staff left their job, and many more are considering leaving or retiring early. Public and private schools around the country are struggling with K-12 staffing, with an estimated 30-50,000 empty public school teaching jobs alone that need to be filled.
If you’re an administrator or looking to hire teachers, it’s a tough time finding workers who are not only qualified, but passionate about the students and able to make the connections that make education so invaluable to society. Many districts have waived or lowered requirements for teachers, and are still having trouble finding candidates.
Potential Solutions
In education, it’s all about finding the solution to a problem. Let’s look at some of the ways that administrative hiring staff can find workers to fill open positions quickly and effectively.
Educational Staffing Agencies
This is a tried and true method that many other fields have used successfully for decades. With the rise in teacher shortages, it’s something that many districts and administrators have opened up to.
Staffing agencies provide many benefits for those who are looking to hire workers. Some of these include:
- More candidates to choose from
- Higher quality candidates
- Reduced overhead costs
- Ability to fill short-term positions
- Easier to find specialized staff (SLPs, school nurses, etc.)
- Less training time and fewer risks
- The agency handles onboarding and payroll issues
- The employer can get a feel for the worker before hiring full time
It’s easy to see why many fields, from nursing to education and more, are utilizing the services of staffing agencies. It’s the quickest and easiest way to fill positions quickly, and it saves time, money, and effort for those in charge of hiring workers. In addition, it provides a much wider pool of candidates to choose from, giving you more options and specialized workers who have the qualifications you need.
When you go through a staffing agency, they take on a lot of the responsibility that is usually delegated to the school, such as working out contracts, ensuring certifications are up to date, recruiting and interviewing, and dealing with any issues the employee may have. If you need staff now, there are really no better options available short of traditional advertising and recruitment, which doesn’t guarantee workers in the same way an agency can.
School-to-Teacher Pipeline
Many districts have realized that they have a pool of candidates already available to them in the form of students, and they can grow and develop teachers from within the very walls of their classrooms. Many districts have utilized this program successfully, but it has some downsides as well.
The main detraction from this strategy is that it is a long-term plan. It can take years or even longer to turn a student candidate into a qualified and licensed teacher. Also, the candidate might just use the program as a stepping stone, and leave when they can or if they get a better offer.
However, this is a viable strategy that produces teachers that are familiar with the environment and culture, as well as being a strong investment into your community. The first step is to identify students who have an interest in being teachers and work to make the process of transitioning from a student to an employee easier.
Other Staffing Strategies
Beyond these two methods, there are not very many options available. It’s smart to advertise on social media, as many younger candidates rely on these networks to find jobs. Utilize every means of advertising you can, whether it’s websites or social media to cast your net wider and find more candidates.
Another way you can find workers is by offering higher pay, although this has obvious downsides for the district. Additionally, to recruit younger staff, always make sure your application and hiring process is paperless, streamlined, and efficient, as this will help you onboard people more effectively.
It’s a tough time to be in charge of hiring in education. Staffing has gotten so bad that some districts are even resorting to bringing in the National Guard to teach students and work in classrooms.
Don’t let it get to this point, as no one really wants to be taught by someone wearing a military uniform, and students and staff commonly report that this causes apprehension and a negative effect on their classroom experience. With the proper tools and effort, it’s possible to find workers that will successfully integrate into your classrooms and stay there.
Treat your staff well, show them real appreciation, and pay a competitive wage, and you will be able to keep workers with you longer, leading to a more positive school culture and more reliable staff. However, when you’re in need a staffing agency is the most effective, economical, and practical solution to staffing issues in education.
The world of healthcare is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of workers, due to a confluence of issues largely related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, all industries are experiencing issues with staffing, as the “Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting” continue unabated. In a field like healthcare, where lives are on the line, staffing is especially critical, and that’s where a healthcare staffing agency steps in to plug the holes.
Long-term care and skilled nursing facilities have always suffered from issues with staffing and patient-to-caregiver ratios, but the problem has gotten even worse. Many healthcare workers have left the field due to stress from the pandemic, vaccination requirements, burnout or fatigue at work, and an increased rate of overall illness due to exposure to pathogens. Healthcare staffing agencies offer a way to fix these problems, keep facilities running, and ensure that patients receive the care they need.
What Does a Healthcare Staffing Agency Do?
When worker-to-patient ratios are poor, the quality of care suffers. When the quality of care suffers, innocent people can be forced to go through humiliating issues, medical procedures they wouldn’t have otherwise, or painful issues like bed sores. Along with being a job, healthcare is an obligation to protect the neediest and most vulnerable among us.
That’s why the responsibilities of a healthcare staffing agency are so great, as it can make the difference between life or death, or suffering and comfort. Let’s take a look at some of these responsibilities.
Understand the requirements of a given facility
One of the most important jobs staffing agencies do is to evaluate the needs of a facility, what special requirements they have, and the number of staff they will need. Some skilled nursing facilities may be short on CNAs, while a certain hospital may be desperately in need of respiratory therapists. That’s where the agency comes in and does the research to provide an accurate and effective workforce for the company.
Recruiting and interviewing
Often, nursing homes and other facilities will advertise and recruit on their own, but they still often fall short and there’s very little else that can be done other than contact a recruiting agency.
In addition, the interviewing and screening process will be done by the staffing agency, which takes a load off of the facility. They can be sure that the person they are getting is qualified and able to do the job as stated. An important part of this process is background checks and previous employment history, and staffing agencies are experts at making sure these are done correctly.
Drafting contracts and dealing with legal issues
Contracts are a huge part of the staffing agency’s responsibilities. They have to be accurate and carefully checked over, and agreed upon by all parties. Without the right contract, the worker will not know how long to stay or may have issues understanding their job duties.
Another benefit to the facilities is these staffing agencies are in charge of looking at and dealing with legal issues that may arise during the employment, or any issues with payment or salary. This allows the facility to focus on other matters and frees up time for the administrative staff.
Making sure the employee is trained
The key factor for healthcare staffing agencies is that their employees must be certified, licensed, or otherwise legally allowed to work, and that they have been trained on the specifics of the job. This allows the agency worker to hit the ground running, and begin filling holes as needed on day one. The ability to utilize trained and qualified workers to deal with problems on demand is a major benefit and responsibility of the staffing agency.
Follow up on the employee’s performance.
One area that is often overlooked is the responsibility of the agency to follow up with the facilities and make sure their workers are performing well. A part of this is terminating or firing employees, which must be done carefully to prevent legal issues. A staffing agency that follows up can trim off bad workers or dead weight, and make sure that their workers are always up to par.
Healthcare Heroes
The healthcare field is changing in many ways, but at its heart, it will remain about one thing – patient care. Healthcare workers are healers and caretakers, but they are also often the only friends many of their patients have. People in hospitals or skilled nursing facilities can often be at one of the worst, most painful, and most stressful periods of their lives, and they need workers who are compassionate with them.
Healthcare staffing agencies fulfill this moral obligation and legal requirement to provide care, as when staff-to-patient ratios are poor, everyone suffers and the quality of care drops. It’s a great responsibility, and the best way to meet it is to contact a healthcare staffing agency today.
Within the professional world of healthcare, staffing issues and finding the right staff for a facility are some of the most common and difficult problems to solve. From the Covid pandemic to overall societal issues causing a “Great Resignation”, businesses around the country are struggling to find workers that can fill critical positions and perform job duties that must be done. Rather than let patients suffer or lose out on revenue, many healthcare facilities have turned to temporary or travel nurses, who provide many important benefits to those utilizing their services.
If you’re involved in the healthcare field and have been struggling to fill open positions, you may be wondering where to find workers like this that can come in, do a job with minimal training, and complete critical tasks that would otherwise be left undone. In this article, we’ll cover some of the best ways to find travel nurses and other medical staff that can fill in some crucial holes your organization might be looking to fill.
Staffing Agencies
By far the most common, popular, and efficient way to find travel nurses is through staffing agencies. In fact, using the services of these staffing agencies is so ubiquitous that many travel employees refer to themselves as “agency workers” or “agency employees”. This is the simplest and most efficient way to fill spots that need to be filled as quickly as possible.
There are many benefits to utilizing the services of a staffing agency, such as:
They provide workers as needed, quickly, and on demand.
Sometimes, especially in healthcare, you need to fill a role with no delay. While a typical hiring process can take a long time, have many delays, and sometimes leave positions unfilled for weeks or months, staffing agencies specialize in providing workers ASAP, right when they are needed. In a field like healthcare, this can literally make the difference between life or death for patients, and can save a facility from expensive or difficult legal issues that can arise from improper staffing ratios.
Hiring traveling nurses reduces stress on other staff.
To reduce the need for traveling nurses, you’ll want to take steps to ensure that your full-time or regular staff don’t suffer from burnout. Hiring traveling nurses can take a critical load off of your other staff, leading to overall higher retention rates. Greater employee satisfaction and job enjoyment translate into a better workplace for everyone, whether that’s administration, kitchen staff, or housekeeping.
Travel nurses save money on benefits, PTO, and overtime.
While the salaries of travel nurses can be higher than other employees, in the end, they are a cost-effective way to fill holes in the schedule. They are overall a less-complicated employee to have on payroll, as the staffing agency will usually deal with their salary and other requirements.
Other Options
If you or your facility don’t wish to utilize the services of a staffing agency, your options for finding and recruiting travel nurses are much more limited. These agencies are the primary way that travel nurses find work and land contracts, and without them, you will be limited to advertising on job sites like Indeed or Craigslist. Advertising for jobs this way can lead to many of the same problems as trying to hire regular employees: listings that sit unanswered for weeks, leaving positions unfilled, and workers with unusual or specific demands to come work that makes recruiting more difficult.
Another way is to network within the healthcare field, by contacting professionals you are friendly with, sister organizations, or other facilities within your same company. However, this isn’t a sure bet, and many other facilities will be struggling with the same staffing issues you are. Healthcare is suffering from a massive wave of resignations largely spurred on by stress due to the Covid pandemic, with about 3% of the healthcare workforce quitting each month.
This problem isn’t likely to resolve itself anytime soon, leaving healthcare recruiters and staffers with few options. To help with recruiting travel nurses, always make sure to provide a job listing that is as detailed as possible, listing all requirements and certifications that are needed along with accurate and informative job duties. If you find someone that’s interested, don’t waste time – reach out quickly and schedule a phone interview, as traveling nurses have a lot of options and will move forward quickly with other contracts.
Buying Time
Although hiring travel nurses might not be preferable to hiring and retaining quality full-time employees, it is often the best option for organizations that find themselves in a pinch. While working on building a strong internal recruiting infrastructure, using the services of a staffing agency is the best way to buy yourself time to find qualified professionals to fill open positions. Reach out to a staffing agency today and make sure that your organization, and patients that rely on your care providers, won’t suffer.
The modern world is full of opportunities and challenges for human resources and hiring managers, which can be utilized to achieve an overall more productive and satisfying workplace. While global issues have caused a labor shortage in recent years, there are also technological solutions to this problem that can give companies willing to try them out a leg up over the competition. One of these solutions is using the services of staffing and recruitment agencies, but it’s important to understand the differences between the two.
Both recruitment and a staffing agency serve critical and indispensable functions for businesses, especially in fields like healthcare with high turnover rates and employee retention issues. For businesses looking to retain and keep the highest quality employees for a long period of time, using these services is an excellent way to bypass traditional methods, and recruit from a larger pool of potential employees with more room for long-term growth and company stability.
What Does a Staffing Agency Do?
A staffing agency is primarily concerned with temporary workers, who can fill in gaps in schedules as needed. In healthcare, this is usually realized as travel nurses or CNAs, who can work or cover while the company finds permanent workers to fill these spots.
For example, if a healthcare company has a desperate need for workers that can quickly come perform the job, a staffing agency provides them the means to quickly and easily fill these spots, without expending the capital and resources necessary to hire full-time workers. In some locations, the staffing agency may be the most economical and practical solution to filling out schedules temporarily.
There are many benefits to utilizing a staffing agency, such as:
- The agency will take care of vetting and interviewing the candidates for you.
- You can select applicants from a much larger pool than traditional methods of finding workers like posting ads on Craigslist.
- Staffing agencies can advertise with a much larger reach than most companies.
- Staffing agencies can provide highly specialized workers that are difficult to find
- Working with staffing agencies gives you a way to see the employees in action, on the job, before committing to hiring them full-time.
- Staffing agencies work quickly, saving valuable time when employees are needed desperately.
It’s easy to see why many healthcare companies, along with those in other fields, rely on staffing agencies to keep things running. It’s an excellent way to save time, money, and effort, along with getting a valuable chance to see potential long-term employees in action.
What Does a Recruitment Agency Do?
On the other hand, a recruitment agency is more like the traditional “head-hunter” type of job. Recruitment agencies typically look for those who are willing and looking to commit to long-term jobs. This will usually take the form of management or administration staffing, although this isn’t a rule.
Usually, those who are hired through recruitment agencies are looking for somewhere to look for a substantial period of time, or indefinitely. This is because, for these jobs, turnover is something that can have catastrophic effects over time for a business. A skilled nursing facility can survive a high CNA turnover rate for a period of time, but if management or administration is constantly changing, it is hard to keep things running smoothly.
Recruitment agencies typically provide what is called Retained Recruitment, in which the agency will charge a percentage or portion of the workers’ salary as a retainment fee. This helps ensure that the agreement will be upheld by both parties, and that stability and commitments are the primary focus of the worker.
While the agency is in charge of vetting, interviewing, and hiring potential workers, the company will be responsible for all benefits and salaries once the process is complete. This leads to higher retention rates and overall job satisfaction for both the worker and the company that is involved.
Recruitment or Staffing?
If you’re a hiring manager or HR professional, you may be wondering which of the two options is the superior choice. The answer is neither one, they both perform important and indispensable services to businesses. Which one you should use just depends on what type of worker you are looking for.
If you need to simply fill in the gaps in your schedule to keep the business running until you can hire a full-time staff, a staffing agency is an excellent choice to buy yourself some time to hire. However, if you’re looking for upper-level management or people to fill positions that need consistency or long-term workers, a recruitment agency is the way to go.
Either way, the important thing is that the agency will provide professional and reliable workers that show up on time and can alleviate stress for you. Contact the right one today and watch your business grow and succeed, now that the agency can help with the stressful work of vetting, interviewing, and hiring workers.
Nursing is one of the oldest, most dignified, and most helpful professions in the history of humanity, and one that we all depend on to keep us safe or to help us when we experience injury. However, as a career, nursing is known for the same pitfalls as education: wages that are too low for the work that is being done, poor administration, overworking, and understaffing. One way that many nurses overcome these issues is by working with various agencies to become travel nurses which affords more control, flexibility, and higher wages.
Due especially to the Covid pandemic, nursing jobs are in extremely high demand across the country. For those with the right qualifications and experience, travel nursing represents an excellent career choice.
Nursing Careers
As anyone who has worked in the medical field knows, nurses perform a lot of functions and have a wide variety of job types. Nurses can be found anywhere from pediatric oncology wards, to schools, to ICUs, to emergency departments, to long-term skilled nursing facilities. All of these nurses will perform different job functions and duties, although the basics remain the same.
The basic skills of travel nursing that any nurse needs to know are:
Bedside Manner
Comforting and caring for patients is more than just a routine job like performing maintenance on a vehicle. Patients are human beings, and must be treated with dignity and respect. The ability to bring calm and peace to those who are suffering, along with interactions with their family, is a valuable skill that should never be overlooked.
Med-pass
The core routine of any nursing job is to go around their patients administering medications, injections, eyedrops, or any other form of treatment. It’s absolutely essential to be on the top of your game here, as dosages and medications can never be altered. Part of completing a successful med-pass is counting through the pills and medications you are left from the last shift and ensuring that there is an accurate count when you leave.
Charting
Computers play a huge role in modern medicine, as most jobs have transitioned from paper to electronic medical records. Charting serves several key functions, such as making sure that patients got the meds they need, documenting your work in case you need to prove you did something in the future, shielding you from liability, and creating a record that other medical staff like therapists, doctors, and CNAs can use to understand the type of care required.
Skin/wound care
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and presents numerous unique challenges and risks in a healthcare setting. Those in long-term care settings are vulnerable to pressure ulcers from laying in the same position too long, and these need to be carefully treated. More importantly, pressure ulcers can be prevented by a nurse making sure that their CNAs are on top of rotating and moving the patient or using pillows to alleviate pressure.
On top of this, nurses are also responsible for treating any other wound, burn, or abrasion that patients may have. This can often involve unpleasant smells and sights and can be uncomfortable or painful for the patient. Wound and skincare is an essential part of a nursing career, especially in nursing facilities or retirement homes.
Benefits of Travel Nursing
Many traditional staff nurses experienced burnout or fatigue during the pandemic, and either quit their job or became travel nurses. This has created an environment where the worker holds more power over the employee and can negotiate for better salaries or benefits. In this world, nurses are needed more than ever by facilities and hospitals, so there’s no reason not to take your career to the next level and make the most of it.
Many news sites reported during the pandemic that travel nurses were making $5,000+ a week. Because of this incredible opportunity for travel nurses, many are quitting their jobs and choosing to work with agencies. This leads to even more staffing shortages, meaning wages for travel nurses go even higher. Each state pays differently for travel nurses so it is best to research beforehand.
Besides the salary, there are other benefits too. Becoming a travel nurse allows you to have a degree of flexibility and control over your life that most can only dream of. Let’s say you want to move to a beach, or always wanted to live in one particular city – as a travel nurse, you can do that.
That’s not to say there are zero drawbacks. Some find that the lack of stability causes anxiety, and often, you’ll be thrown into a fast-paced and chaotic environment with little training and expected to catch on quickly as a self-motivated learner. However, many may find this challenge exciting and interesting, and find that the other benefits of travel nursing far outweigh the drawbacks.
Nursing is always an excellent career choice and staffing agencies can help you. With the aging population, there is sure to be no shortage of nursing careers that will allow you to live a fulfilling and enjoyable life while simultaneously helping those who need it the most.
With an increasing demand for healthcare staff, partly attributed to the COVID 19 pandemic, getting the right employees can be challenging. The demand is increasing with new waves coming up, and medical organizations find it hard to get the right skill for the job. It is no wonder there is a switch in the recruitment process with organizations tasking staffing agencies to do the job.
A healthcare employer switching to a staffing agency in 2022 will reap several benefits, including a faster hiring process. These agencies also reduce the administrative effort that hiring takes on an organization. The result is a lower overall work pressure on your current team as you can get fully licensed and qualified medics when you need them.
Read on to find out why you need a healthcare staffing agency in 2022.
Broader Reach to Qualified Candidates
The demand for medics in a world battling pandemics makes clinicians and nurses want to access the available opportunities in the easiest and safest way possible. While your internal hiring process can work, you may not reach individuals all over the county.
Hence, consider medical staffing agencies, as they will reach many potential employees given the industry networks, enabling you to get a perfect fit for the position you want to fill.
Healthcare staffing agencies guarantee you the best talent as most professionals that use established agencies are on top of the line. Hence, for maximum benefits, consider a staffing agency with a good reputation in terms of pay and opportunities.
See Past the Resume
When working with a staffing agency, you will get more information on the candidates beyond their resumes. These agencies can access an applicant’s work history, enabling you to learn how reliable the applicant can be. This way, you will be smarter in your hiring decision.
Reduces the Workload
As stated earlier, switching to a healthcare staffing agency in 2022 will reduce the administrative burden. The agency does this by taking up this burden and finding someone that fits the qualifications you need. This way, you will get the best qualified and licensed talent, enabling you to focus less on training.
In addition, some healthcare staffing agencies will select and onboard candidates. This will take the hiring pressure off your chest as you need not arrange interviews and peruse dozens of applications. Also, through healthcare staffing agencies, you can explore the service upgrade option through automated contracts, reports, and invoice services.
As you save your time the time you would otherwise use in recruitment, you can focus this effort on other important business tasks for more profits.
Reliability
Given the competitiveness in the healthcare industry, it is safe to have a reliable system that you can rely on when you need it. A staffing agency will come in handy during a seasonal surge or pandemic, enabling you to have relevant staff filling the positions. You can accomplish all this without interrupting any of your routines.
Fit Into New Healthcare Models
The pandemic brought many changes, and healthcare providers are switching toward employers with new models such as value-based care. This shift poses a challenge in the recruiting process for productivity-based organizations, as the healthcare providers enjoy focusing more on patient care.
This shift in the industry means that productivity-based organizations will have to be more creative during recruiting and focus more on what makes their organization unique. This includes the culture, mission, and environment. Therefore, a staffing agency will come in handy, communicating these effectively to prospects for successful recruitment.
A Partner that Cares
A staffing agency will not only give you a candidate but will stick with you to understand your needs. Thus, the next time you reach out, they will be readily available to provide on-the-spot support.
Flexibility in the Short Run
The COVID 19 pandemic is a perfect example where access to healthcare professionals proved challenging. This season required qualified staff in large numbers to meet the high demands in hospitals. As such, hospitals and healthcare institutions were facing recruitment problems, especially for permanent positions.
Adopting a staffing agency for medical staff needs in such a season could provide short-term employees to meet the demands within the pandemic period.
Reduced Risks
Being an employer comprises legal responsibilities, including taxes, insurance, and compliance with labor laws. Hiring also comes with a financial risk, especially for unexpected leaves and firing. Fortunately, using a staffing firm will save you most of these risks as the firm will take up most of the liabilities.
Avoid Administrative Hassles
Finally, using a healthcare staffing agency is beneficial in saving costs and cutting down operational costs. You will also access highly qualified and licensed professionals, ensuring quality service delivery. Hence, for maximum effectiveness and to relieve your administrative employees of heavy hiring tasks in 2022, consider a staffing agency near you.
Many individuals often ask what the highest paying cities are for travel nurses. We get why that is; everyone wants to make the most money. Travel nursing openings allocate different salary ranges for the same job, so researching is important to get the best deal. This article shares information about states that pay the highest for travel nursing in the United States.
Understand that being a travel nurse comes with many benefits, including high pay. Being a travel nurse affords you the resources to buy Bitcoin Cash and invest in other ventures that interest you. However, an essential thing you need to decide is the location that suits you the most in your profession. Below is information about travel nursing, what they do, what affects their pay, and other important things to know.
What Do Travel Nurses Do?
A travel nurse is a professional registered nurse (RN) who works in a short-term role at a clinic, hospital, or other healthcare facility. Travel nurses fill gaps in healthcare facilities where there are nursing shortages, so travel nurse salary is often high. With everything going on, more nurses are thinking about becoming travel nurses to help areas that need their expertise. Travel nurses are not employed by a single hospital but by independent travel nurse agencies.
Since nurse staffing agencies employ travel nurses, they can travel as far as different countries. A travel nurse can also work in a local hospital where the service is urgently needed. Many of those who go into travel nursing do so for the many perks that go with the profession. Some of those perks include exploring new places, making new friends, competitive pay, and experiencing diverse practice environments.
Travel nursing isn’t influenced by education or experience level; a travel nurse with two years of experience can earn the same as one with fifteen years. This makes travel nursing a great fit for new nurses looking to make more money and pay off student loans.
However, travel nurses need to fulfill a few requirements to be considered for travel nurse jobs, including being a registered nurse. A registered travel nurse with a license and two years of experience is valuable to healthcare facilities.
What Factors Can Affect a Travel Nurse’s Salary?
Although travel nurses typically earn high pay, your location, among other things, ultimately determines how high. Apart from the crisis the world is facing right now, other factors that can influence your pay as a travel nurse include:
Your Location
Location is one of the major factors that affect the pay of a travel nurse. The pay rates often reflect regional trends and the cost of living in that area. Thus, location is an important factor you should consider when deciding where to render your services as a travel nurse.
Agency
Several agencies specializing in healthcare staffing services are available in the US. They are responsible for paying travel nurses’ salaries, and their pay differs from one agency to another. Therefore, your wage will depend on the staffing agency that employed you.
The best travel nurse companies offer perks like company-paid housing and transportation, among other things.
Shift Assignments
As a nurse, you must know that night shifts are more prevalent in travel nursing. An upside to that is that many hospitals offer higher pay rates for their night shift assignments.
You can work night shifts if you want to earn more as a travel nurse, but only if it is your thing. Otherwise, you might want to stick to day shifts; your body and patients will thank you for it.
Your Specialty
Experience doesn’t always influence your pay as a travel nurse, but specialty determines how much a travel nurse makes. Specialized nurses often get paid more than non-specialty nurses because their skills are highly sought after.
Non-specialty nurses like psychiatric, medical, or surgical travel nurses are paid a lower rate than specialty nurses. Specialty nurses have the credentials that open them to endless opportunities and more lucrative pay.
What States Have the Highest Travel Nurse Pay Rates?
The first step toward becoming a travel nurse is learning how to become a travel nurse. That includes understanding the profession’s requirements, the criteria for becoming one, the pay rates, and the best locations to practice.
If you’ve taken all the steps and are a registered travel nurse, the next thing is choosing where to offer your services. Here are some US states with the highest travel nurse pay rates.
New York
New York has an annual wage for nurses rated at $85,610 at $41.16 per hour. The city is replete with large hospitals and smaller facilities which are often short-staffed, creating a demand for healthcare travelers. However, New York isn’t a member of the nurse licensure compact. Nevertheless, nurses who have fulfilled similar requirements in other states may quickly obtain proper licensure.
New York is an exciting destination for travel nursing, with many things to do and places to go. If you get a travel nursing job in NYC, you’ll have other things to do when you’re not working. That includes visiting museums and attraction centers and sports, outdoor, and nightlife activities. Plus, other places around New York like Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo may be worth visiting.
Arizona
As a Nurse Compact State, Arizona gives travel nurses from other compact states jobs without applying for licensure. However, the candidate will need to apply for the licensure if they plan to make Arizona their primary licensing state. Arizona’s mean annual wage for nurses is capped at around $77,000, at $37.02 per hour.
Arizona is a fun and interesting place to visit whether you’re there to work or on vacation. The state has several top medical centers, from Phoenix to Sedona, that could use the help of travel nurses. When you’ve taken a break from work, you can visit famous sites like the Grand Canyon, Desert Botanical Gardens, and Petrified Forest.
California
California is often a choice destination for travel nurses and one of the highest paying states. California pays its nurses an annual wage of $106,905 at a mean hourly wage of $51.41; Northern California tends to pay more. However, understand that California also has one of the highest living costs in the US. Being a travel nurse in California requires that you’re a registered nurse or licensed professional nurse and possess a California nursing license.
Licensing in California can take time; the fastest way is by visiting the state’s capital Sacramento in person. You’ll go with the required documentation, submit it directly to the Board of Registered Nursing, and complete the biometrics process. Most travel nurses get their licenses when they follow this procedure; California has the highest pay rate on this list. The state has three major hospitals and smaller healthcare facilities looking to hire travel nurses.
Hawaii
Hawaii is another high-paying state in the US, with a mean annual wage for travel nurses at $98,080 at $47.16 per hour. However, like California, the cost of living in Hawaii is also high; the best thing is to take a housing stipend.
You’ll enjoy Hawaii more as a travel nurse if you live in less tourist-heavy destinations like Oahu over Kauai or Big Island over Maul. Hawaii is a beautiful place with beautiful sightsee-worthy islands, exquisite waters, and outstanding natural beauty.
To work as a travel nurse in Hawaii, you must be a registered nurse. Meanwhile, if you are a licensed nurse in another state, you may be able to receive a Hawaii nursing license by endorsement. You may also obtain a temporary permit while waiting to complete the licensing process. Hawaii is the place to go for desired and competitive cushy travel nurse assignments, which means it’s hard to land.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts may not be the first destination that comes to mind regarding the most appealing places for travel nurses. However, the state ranks high on this list of the best travel nurse states, and it also pays nurses well. Massachusetts offers a competitive mean nursing wage of $92,140 per annum at $44.30 per hour. To land a travel nursing job in Massachusetts, you must be a registered nurse or a licensed professional nurse.
Massachusetts is not included in the nurse licensure compact that allows nurses to practice in states outside their licensing region. Thus, licensed travel nurses who wish to work there must obtain a Massachusetts nursing license; LNPs may get a Massachusetts license by endorsement.
Meanwhile, they must have graduated from an RN or LPN program approved in the US territory. Otherwise, they must have withdrawn from an RN program in good standing and passed the required licensing exam.
Now that you know the states that pay high to travel nurses, you can pick your destination and start applying. However, note that the highest paying travel nursing states often change, if not daily. Don’t rush when choosing your destination; consider other secondary factors like weather, culture, outbreaks, and living costs. Since you’re taking a big career-impactful decision, you want to take your time to make the most beneficial one.
