Working as a traveling nurse can offer healthcare workers flexibility and the opportunity to work in an array of different care environments in order to find the best fit. According to statistics from Travel Nursing Central, 38 percent of traveling nurses opt for this working style because they’re looking for a bit of adventure, and 28 percent appreciate the money they earn.
At the same time, however, only 28 percent of these nurses feel that permanent institution staff members are “very receptive” and friendly to them; another 44 percent noted that other employees will tolerate traveling nurses, but many feel like they’re outsiders.
In these situations, the healthcare staffing firm supporting traveling nurses can work certain best practices and helpful efforts into their processes to better support and care for traveling nurses and their careers. This begins with the use of a best-in-class vendor management system, which can offer advantages for both staffing agencies and their traveling nurse employees.
1) Offer details about the new location and employer
One of the first things staffing firms can do to improve job satisfaction for traveling nurses is to provide them details about their upcoming new employer and the institution in which they’ll be working. This includes, for instance, describing the layout of the location and any unique policies that the staffing firm is aware of in connection with the employer.
Overall, Travel Nursing Central found that 33 percent of traveling nurses rated their orientation experience as “poor,” so any effort that can be made to better prepare staff members ahead of time can be beneficial for the prospective nurse and lead to improvement.
Travel nursing can offer flexibility and adventure, but these employees must be properly supported by their staffing agencies.2) Smart candidate matching: Consider experience
It’s also important that staffing firms work to find the best fit for their traveling nurses and healthcare provider clients. Intelligent candidate matching that takes into account the specific needs of the institution and the strengths and experience of the nurse will help ensure that requirements on both sides are met.
In these instances, staffing firms can leverage the details they’ve gathered about individual nurses and their healthcare provider clients. In addition, a resource like a best-in-class vendor management solution can offer additional information and candidate matching capabilities according to nurses’ schedules and healthcare organizations’ needs. Best of all, automatic candidate matching enables staffing agencies to quickly fill open jobs, and find the next assignment for their traveling nurses.
3) Intelligent scheduling supports top talent and efficiency
Once traveling nurses have been onboarded and are operating within the healthcare facility, it’s imperative that support from the staffing agency doesn’t end. This, in particular, should relate to scheduling.
When scheduling is handled in an intelligent and streamlined manner, staffing agencies have the best chances of attracting top talent to fill open jobs, and of increasing job satisfaction. After all, smooth and reliable scheduling, like that supported through advanced VMS technology, can result in more efficient working practices and happier employees.
To find out more about how a VMS platform can help support your traveling nurses, connect with the experts at BlueSky Medical Staffing Software today.
