Travel Healthcare Professionals are NOT your Enemies Part 2

Healthcare professionals choose to work for reputable healthcare travel agencies for a multitude of reasons, including the freedom and flexibility offered to choose various units, locations, extended time periods off, and so much more.

An agency partners with healthcare facilities to offer them staffing solutions on a temporary basis.

The mission of Fidelity On Call is to be a seamless part of their organization. We are not there to reinvent the wheel, but rather to keep them operating as smoothly and seamlessly as possible.

MISCONCEPTIONS

⮚ A healthcare facility has no control over who the agency sends to them.

⮚ Facilities believe the cost is too high to use supplemental staffing.

⮚ Healthcare facilities are fearful that too much training and orientation is required for a short period of time.

⮚ The belief is that supplemental staffing personnel are not qualified.

FACTS

⮚ A reputable agency in professional healthcare staffing will not only provide the healthcare facility the complete professional work history, but also professional references and a thorough completed skills assessment and can arrange for phone interviews with candidates, if they would prefer.

⮚ In fact, when balanced out over time, hospital administration has learned that the cost of an employee vs. the cost of a supplemental staff member is not that far off and, in many cases, saves the facility money over time.

⮚ Accredited healthcare staffing agencies ensure that they are skills matching travelers to the position needed. Outside of the basic lay of the land travelers require very little orientation.

⮚ Again, accredited agencies are hiring professionals that are reference checked, skill checked in every possible way with national background checks, a drug screen, employment physicals etc. to ensure the person is not only qualified but highly qualified to help fill the staffing shortage.

If you have questions or would want to talk with us further, we are always available (309) 691-1500.

Travel Healthcare Professionals are NOT your Enemies Part 1

Healthcare facilities have utilized supplemental staffing professionals for over four decades. Fidelity On Call is going into its third decade of providing highly trained registered nurses along with highly skilled Allied health professionals. There are a lot of misconceptions regarding travel healthcare professionals, and we are here to set the record straight. We are not enemies of the staff employees, nor is our agency the enemy of the hospital. We are simply there to be a seamless part of your organization and solve your staffing crisis on a temporary basis or for as long as you need us and our team’s help.

MISCONCEPTIONS

⮚ Travel employees are here to replace a staff person’s job.

⮚ Travel healthcare professionals are inept and not experienced.

⮚ Travel healthcare professionals are making way more money than staff.

⮚ Travel healthcare professionals are not dependable.

FACTS

⮚ Travel employees CHOOSE to be travel and not staff for a multitude of reasons. They are only there to help for a specific period.

⮚ Travel healthcare professionals have at minimum one year of experience. Often, they have several years of experience.

⮚ Comparing staff pay to travel pay is not possible due to all the varying factors that apply.

⮚ As a facility’s back-up team, travel employees know they are held to a very high standard.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please feel free to contact us at (309) 691-1500.

What’s Fair Got to Do With It?

I am willing to bet that you think like me on at least one thing. And, that thing is “life should be fair.” I remember being a child and thinking for the first time “that’s not fair.” For some reason, the idea that everything in life should be fair was planted in me at a very, very early age. What about you?

Fast forward to where we are today and there are still things that, we believe, can be determined in the spirit of fairness.

Major ones for our company are how we treat our customers and how we treat our team members. We want to treat everybody fairly; but, over the past two years, there are aspects of our business that have not been fair.

One very major area for our customers came with the advent of “crisis rates.” Many articles have been written about crisis rates. Recently, a group of U.S. Senators and Representatives asked for an investigation into allegations of overpricing by nurse staffing agencies during the pandemic. Hospitals nationwide have spoken out about the “unfairness” of the rates charged, the inability to compete with pay packages and the loss of their staff over the past two years.

Yet another example of what has happened involves a lawsuit between a hospital chain and a staffing agency as they sued one another over staffing issues. The hospital refused to pay their $40 million bill (wow!) because the rates were illegally inflated and asked the judge to keep the agency from pulling staff from its hospitals. The agency contended it couldn’t pay its bills until the hospital paid them.

As Fidelity On Call has watched what has happened with billing rates and pay rates, we have spoken many times about the word “fair.” We have counseled several of our customers to not increase their rates. They thought if they increased their rates, they would attract more nurses to work in their hospitals. But, when rates increase in one place, the next one just follows and we are on a wheel that never stops turning. Recently, while on a call with a vendor management company and their contracted hospital, we advised the same thing. The hospital thanked us.

We have been deeply concerned with what we have seen regarding rate increases in our industry. We have also alerted our nurses that what went up will come down. Or, at least, that is what we perceive will happen. And, we want our team members prepared.

Our recruiters are the best. They have never deviated from our mission for the best of patient care; however, hospitals are reporting that nurses (not from us – but other companies) don’t care about their patients. They are there only for the money. Once again, everybody needs to be fairly compensated, but when we reach a point where it is all about the money, something has gone terribly wrong.

As we move forward we will continue to work hard to make sure the scale of fairness is even on both sides. That means we will provide the best of care and be fair to both our hospitals and our great team of nurses.

Facilities: Stay in Control

When you are working with a travel nurse agency, how do you maintain control over who is coming into your facility? Learn how the process works, whether you allow us to select the nurse for you, or you select the candidate yourself.

If you need a staffing solution, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help.
(309) 691-1500

This video is part of Fidelity On Call’s series for healthcare facilities, where we discuss all things related to filling positions with a travel nurse agency. We answer frequently asked questions and share tips on how to make sure you get the best quality medical staff for your facility.

Our series is co-hosted by: Kellie Short, Sr Recruiting Specialist and General Sales Manager; and Carla Edwards, Recruiting Specialist.

Facilities: Business Development Manager

The relationship you have with your business development manager at a travel nurse agency is critical. Learn what to expect and how we assist facilities that work with us directly.

If you need a staffing solution, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help.
(309) 691-1500

This video is part of Fidelity On Call’s series for healthcare facilities, where we discuss all things related to filling positions with a travel nurse agency. We answer frequently asked questions and share tips on how to make sure you get the best quality medical staff for your facility.

Our series is co-hosted by: Kellie Short, Sr Recruiting Specialist and General Sales Manager; and Carla Edwards, Recruiting Specialist.