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7 must have traits for travel nurses at your hospital

By Jeff on Aug 12, 2011 in Hospital Staffing, Travel Nurses

iStock 000000931912XSmall 7 must have traits for travel nurses at your hospital

When using temporary nursing agencies as part of your hospital’s staffing strategy it is important to know what you are looking for in a travel nurse. This may seem obvious, but the traits you are going to look for in a travel nurse are not necessarily going to be the same ones you look for when hiring a full-time, permanent nurse. Of course many things will overlap but some other areas you need to look for excellence for in a travel nurse include:

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to be Adaptable

When hiring a travel nurse it is extremely important to only select those that have shown they have an ability to go into new situations and acclimate themselves quickly. Orientation for travel nurses is historically and with understandable reason very short so getting up to speed quickly is a skill that all travel nurses have.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to Have Organizational Skills

A travel nurse that is well organized is going to be an advantage to your hospital for two main reasons. First off travel nursing requires a lot of paperwork to get started with an agency and the better they are at taking care of this the more you can depend on the fact that there will not be any start issues. Second a nurse who is organized in their personal lives is not only going to be more focused at work, but is also much more likely to carry that organization over to their work.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to Have Communication Skills

This one is fairly obvious, nurses have to be good communicators or else a patent’s safety can be at risk. However in the case of travel nurses this is even more critical as they will be coming into a new situation with new people and will need to quickly get over apprehension or awkwardness in dealing with new people, be it co-workers, doctors or managers.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to be Eager

While it is expected that travel nurses have great clinical skills, travel nursing also presents a great learning opportunity for nurses to be exposed to new medical practices and ways of doing things. That is why it is important to hire travel nurses who are eager to embrace these learning opportunities.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to Have Resiliency

Aside from the stress of simply being a nurse, there is a lot of stress that can occur when changing hospitals every 3 to 6 months so finding a nurse who lets that stress roll off her back is one of the best ways to find an awesome travel nurse.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to be Hard Workers

Again this one may seem obvious, but it is important to find nurses who are not afraid to go the extra mile. Travel nurses need to be self-motivated individuals who put in the work, simply for the intrinsic rewards of doing it and the sake of the patient, not because they expect anything extra in return.

Your Hospital’s Travel Nurses Need to be Dependable

Although when you work with a top-rated travel nursing company it shouldn’t be, hiring a travel nurse can still be a little leap of faith. Will they show up the first day? On-time? Every day they are scheduled? So it is vitally important that you get a sense for how dependable the nurse is during the interview process so you can remove any doubt.

Finding these traits in travel nurses starts with working with a thorough travel nurisng comapny and interviewing well. Here are some tips to help you do both:

Tips for interviewing travel candidates

Time to examine your healthcare staffing companies

Make your travel nurses feel welcome

By Jeff on Jul 22, 2011 in Healthcare Staffing Innovation

Recent news and research has shown that travel nursing is steadily returning to pre-recession levels, which means more and more your hospital will be able to be less choosy and in a more competitive mode to get the best travel nurses. This makes it important for you to make a good impression on them as they arrive and work for you. Word spread fasts in the traveler world about what hospitals are travel nurse friendly. So what can you do?

Well one easy thing to do is simply provide a welcome package for your travelers. This will make them feel more at home and welcomed at the same time. Here are just some ideas for things you could include in a welcome package:

A gift certificate to a nice local restaurant
A city coupon book
Some branded gifts like notepads, t-shirts, ink pens, etc.
Food from a local vendor
Put it all in a branded bag
A traveler version of your hospital orientation handbook

The key is that these do not have to be expensive items and the main goal is to look at using travel nurses as part of your overall nurse hiring strategy, not just as a reaction to unplanned need.

An easier way to keep track of your favorite travel nurses

By Jeff on Mar 18, 2011 in Hospital Staffing, Travel Nurses

Are you keeping track of the best travel nurses you have used in your hospital?

If not, it is something you should consider. Keeping an active list of the travelers your hospital has used can help you bring back travelers that were stars, instead of having to find and work with new ones that you are unfamiliar with.

You will also speed up the amount of time you spend evaluating profiles and interviewing potential new candidates.

Additionally by working with travelers that have worked at your facility in the past and that you and your permanent nurses are familiar with can reduce a lot of the challenges that nurse managers and HR managers have in working with travelers, including:

Their unfamiliarity with your hospital’s policy and procedures
The amount of time it takes to get a traveler up to speed
Not knowing what you are going to get out of the traveler

The spreadsheet does not have to be anything fancy, but should include some basic items:

Traveler’s Name
Years of Experience
Dates they Worked
A Rating of their Performance
The Travel Nursing Company they worked for and your contact there
A special notes section about their performance
A notes section for yourself to note personal things you may want to remember about them when they come back – this can help you make them feel more at home when they come back if for instance you remembered their kids’ names or what their hometown is.

Another benefit of keeping track of the travelers you work with is that over time you will be able to see any trends that develop. Not only about which travel nursing companies send you the travelers that fit into your hospital the best, but you will also be able to see what kind of travelers seem to perform best in your culture. This would be helpful if you ever need to hire a new travel nurse who will be new to your hospital you will have some extra information to provide your travel nursing vendor to help them find the right candidate for you.

To get you started we have created one for you.

Click here to download:

Travel Nurse Tracking Spreadsheet

See the world through your travel nurse's eyes

By Jeff on Feb 26, 2011 in Travel Nurses

Using travel nurses in your unit can be a good idea for a lot of reasons, such as preventing burnout among your perm nurses, helping with a census level rise, natural staff attrition during a nursing shortage or dealing with a hospital expansion or system conversion.

However, one of the biggest challenges for nurse managers remains to be the integration of travel nurses into the unit and the hospital’s culture.

One way to deal with this challenge is to put yourself in the traveler’s shoes. It may not be realistic for you to do this literally (although it wouldn’t be a bad idea if you can manage it), but there are a lot of resources you can refer to to learn more what travelers go through when they are on assignment. And when you have seen the world through their eyes you will be able to develop procedures that help you integrate them into your unit better.

Here are some resources to look at:

Healthcare Traveler Magazine – Reading this magazine will give you an in-depth look at the challenges that travel nurses face
Ultimate Nurse- Reading the questions travel nurses and prospective travel nurses ask each other in forums ss a great way to see the world through their eyes
Healthcare Travelbook – Spending some time in this social network for travelers will let you see how they relate to each other and rely on each other as resources for coping with the issues travel nurses face
PAN Travelers- Reading about the issues and concerns raised on this “Voice of Healthcare Travlers” will let you see how travelers view themselves and their status as travelers

10 ideas to get travel nurses to buy into your culture

By Jeff on Jan 28, 2011 in Healthcare Staffing, Travel Nurses

One common challenge hospitals that utilize travel nurses face is how to get them to buy into their hospital’s culture even though they are only there temporarily. Because this is a difficult thing to achieve many times, it may be easier to just dismiss the problem as just the nature of the travel nursing industry, but a nurse who buys into the hospital is going to be more engaged and more than likely going to deliver better patient care.

You are also potentially selling your hospital as a permanent job to a traveler so you want to make sure that the culture they experience is one that they would want to embrace on a full-time basis. And don’t forget how the Internet has changed what potential candidates know about your hospital with forums and sites like HealthcareTravelBook.com and NurseRatings.org that let nurses review the hospitals they work in.

Travelers are often known for traveling to avoid the hospital politics and drama so they can just focus on patient care, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to work in an environment where they feel needed, respected and motivated.

So what is the answer? How do you get a travel nurse to buy in?

Here are just 10 ideas:

Don’t assume it is impossible
Knowing it affects patient care, make it a priority
Make culture part of your screening process when hiring travelers
Show travelers immediately how they fit into your culture when they arrive
Discuss your culture with the travel nursing companies you work with and let them know it is part of how you evaluate a candidate
List your core values in the job descriptions you send the staffing companies you work with
Assign a Core Values Coordinator role to one of your best perm staff who can help travelers understand your hospital’s
Create a culture guide for travel nurses to have when they start – list any office etiquette or unwritten rules they need to know
Try to create a culture they want to embrace – don’t force it
Get their feedback – ask what they have seen or experienced at other hospitals that made them feel part of the culture during other assignments

What things do you do? What is your opinion on cultural buy in for travel nurses?

Travel nurses are a HITECH resource

By Jeff on Jan 14, 2011 in Hospital Management, Hospital Staffing, Travel Nurses

If your hospital is part of or planning to be part of one of the Recovery Act Beacon Community Program participants or any of the other HITECH Act programs then you are probably excited to be part of a program that will improve patient care for people. But on the other hand you may be worried about the stress that taking the time to learn new technology will put on your nursing staff and their ability to deliver patient care during the conversion process.

Helping with patient care

One way to deal with this is through the utilization of travel nurses who can step in and fill gaps in patient care while your perm staff goes through their training on the new systems. This works out well because of the temporary nature of travel nursing assignments as well as the flexibility most travel nursing companies can accommodate when it comes to extending assignments if the training and implementation takes longer than expected.

Helping with systems

Another benefit of having travel nurses in your facility during this process is that many have experience with multiple different records and computer systems. This experience can make them valuable resources in the process of training your permanent staff as well if they have experience in the one you are moving to. In addition, even if they have not had direct experience with your new system, their ability to and background in having to learn new systems quickly when they move to a new assignment could also be an asset to your unit during this time.

So if your hospital is planning on making this move, then be sure to contact your travel nursing company to make arrangements to ensure you will be sufficiently staffed when the time comes. And if you are unsure if your hospital is preparing for this, check with your IT department to see what they are planning.

How hospitals can make the most of travel nurses

By Jeff on Dec 10, 2010 in Hospital Staffing, Travel Nurses

One of the easiest ways to make the most of travel nurses and to have them fit your culture better is to simply make them less “travel” and more like “semi-perm”, Which means having them work at your hospital longer than the typical 13 week assignment.

The question is how do you do that. There are two areas you will need to address to accomplish this.

First, you need to work with your travel nursing company to let them know you want travelers to stay longer than 13 weeks or you want to extend a travel nurse’s assignment.

Second, you need to make sure that when a traveler is at your hospital that they actually want to come back; assuming you like them and respect their clinical abilities.

Extending travel nursing assignments

Let’s start by looking at the idea of having travelers work longer assignments. The 13 week assignment is the industry standard, but it is by no means set in stone. A good travel nursing company is going to be able to accommodate your wish for either longer assignments on the initial contract or extending a traveler to a second 13 week contract. If this is not something welcomed by the companies you are working with then you may want to consider shopping around.

By having travel nurses work longer periods of time at your hospital you are able to get the economic advantage of using travel nurses, while at the same time overcoming the common challenge of them not always fitting into your unit’s personality or knowing your protocols, procedures, systems and software.

Re-recruiting travel nurses

Now let’s look at the area of making sure that travel nurses actually want to extend at your hospital. Obviously you need to make sure that the traveler is one that you want to extend, which all comes down to the quality of the travelers you work with. Here is a past article we wrote on how to make sure you hire qualified travel nurses.

After that though, whether a traveler wants to stay at your hospital comes down to some things that are out of your control and other factors that are in your control. We don’t need to focus on the ones that are out of your control, but quickly, they are things like your hospital’s location, the indiividual travel nurse’s nomadic tendencies (a fancy way to say how long can they even stand staying in one place), the weather, if they like traveling, etc.

Now onto things you do have control over. One of the biggest reasons a traveler will stay at your hospital is simply because they feel welcome and needed. There are two easy ways you can make sure this happens. Providing a good travel nursing orientation and a travel nurse friendly culture.

We have written extensively on both of these areas in the past, so we don’t need to rehash them all here. Instead here are the links to those posts.

Travel nurses and hospital culture – Make sure they fit
Makeover your unit by integrating travel nurses
How do you orient travel nurses?
Phone interview questions to make sure travel nurses will be a cultural fit

Conclusion

Although there are things that travel nurses themselves and travel nursing companies can do to help improve the travel nursing product, there are also things that you can be proactive in to make the most of it to serve your patients right now. And having them stay longer is one of the most effective.

Travel nurses and hospital culture – Make sure they fit

By Jeff on Nov 12, 2010 in Hospital Staffing, Travel Nurses

One continual challenge of using travel nurses to meet staffing needs in your hospital is the culture fit of the nurse into your unit. This is understandable considering how short of a time they are in your hospital and how little information you have about them before they get there and vice-versa. Compare this to what you would know about a potential permanent nurse who you were able to interview in person and it is easy to see how ensuring a culture fit using a traveler RN can be a challenge.

This is an area where staffing companies should definitely always work on improving, but as a nurse manager or HR professional there are some things you can do internally as well at your hospital.

One of the simplest is to take the time to outline exactly what your culture is and communicate it to your contacts at the travel nursing companies you work with. Whether it is a page on your website or a culture manual just for travelers, the mere act of putting it together will not only help you lay out what you expect of travelers when they arrive, but will also help you see any areas that may pose a challenge for a traveler when they arrive and consequently get your brain started on simple solutions.

Finding the time to do this may not be easy, but it needs to be looked at as an investment of your time. The more effective you are at eliminating poor culture fits up front means the less time you and your travel nursing company will have to spend dealing with them as personnel issues later. Culture training needs to be part of your travel nurse orientation process.

This website has a lot of good articles, tips and tools for building a great culture so check it out.

And for a look at one of the most famous company culture icons of business check out Zappos’ culture section of their website.

How nurse managers can improve a hospital's use of travel nurses

By Jeff on Aug 28, 2010 in Travel Nurses, Working with Staffing Vendors

You are used to giving feedback to your full-time nurse staff, but how often are you giving your travel nurses or travel nursing companies feedback? If you already do, that is great, but if not, it may be something you should look at instituting at your hospital. There are benefits for all three if you do.

Benefit of feedback for the travel nurse

Even though the time a traveler is at your hospital may be as short as 8-13 weeks, that doesn’t mean feedback is not important to her. Many times a travel nurse has decided to pursue a travel career because she wants to become a better nurse and learn new skills. One of the best ways to do that is to get feedback from a variety of managers with different backgrounds who can give constructive advice. It will also help her feel more comfortable in her role and if she is living up to your expectations, which will make her a better nurse.

Even though the time a traveler is at your hospital may be as short as 8-13 weeks, that doesn’t mean feedback is not important to her.

Benefit of feedback for the hospital

It will also help you get the most out of travel nurses at your unit and the travel nursing companies you work with. Feedback given at the right times during an assignment can also be a huge boost to the travel nurses performance, particularly if there are any areas she needs to improve in. Identifying a nurse’s weaknesses and strengths early in the assignment is going to make you better able to utilize her during her time with your hospital. You can give this feedback on an informal basis or in a formal program, but the key is to make sure it happens in a shorter time-frame than it would with a perm nurse.

You may even want to consider doing 30-day peer review of a travel nurse. That way you can see what the perm nurses on your staff think of her performance as well and find out if there are any issues you were unaware of.

Keeping record of these reviews and feedback is also a great way to create a list of nurses you may want to hire full-time one day or bring back when another travel need arises.

Benefit of feedback for the travel nursing company

Finally, it is important that you share with the nurse’s travel nursing company. First, this will make sure that they know if there are any performance problems they need to address or help the traveler with. Second, it will help them learn what traits and skills you need or value most in the nurses you have on staff and can help them find other similar nurses in the future.

Here is a sample schedule you could follow

7 days in - Go over initial performance impressions and address any issues that look like they may become a problem down the road if not addressed early. This is also a good place to answer any questions she may need to ask.

30 days in – Have your perm nurses take part in a peer review of the travel nurse to get a different point of view of the nurse.

90 days in – Do a post assignment feedback session that you will be able to provide to your travel nursing company and let the nurse know what her strengths are what she needs to improve on for her next assignment.

Here are some tools for putting together your evaluations: Strategies for Nurse Managers

What types of nurse staffing do travel nursing companies provide?

By Jeff on Aug 14, 2010 in Demystifying healthcare staffing, Travel Nurses

This can be dependent on the company’s size and the number of candidates in their pool, but travel nursing companies normally should be able to provide you with nurse staff for almost all specialties and sub-specialties.

Of course they will face similar challenges to you when it comes to harder to find specialists, but the thing to keep in mind is that travel nursing companies are in the business of candidates. So good ones will always be trying to grow the number of candidates they talk to so that when your needs arise they will have the candidate to match as quickly as possible.

When you are talking to new travel nursing companies make sure you ask them for a breakdown of the different types of nurses they have in their database. This should be an important factor in how you determine which company to go with. You may find that it is a big inconvenience to settle on a company only to find that they have low numbers of nurses in specialties that your hospital needs most.

They should also be able to supply your hospital with nurses that are comfortable and qualified to work in many different settings and hospital sizes. Even the size of your city may play a role in how comfortable they are.

Although most companies will pay for a new state license for their travel nurses, it can still be a time consuming process so it is also helpful to find out how many nurses they have in their databases that are actually licensed to work in your state and/or have in interest in doing so.

Basically, remember to ask these two questions to get a feel for what kind nurse staff a travel nursing company will be able to provide:

Can you send me a breakdown of the number of nurses in your database by state license and interest?
Can you send me a breakdown of the number of nurses in your databse by specialty?

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