communication

Good Communication Is Essential for Travelers

During our new employee orientation, we stress the importance of good communication. In our organization – as with every company like ours – good communication is essential.

When You Call Our Company

When you call our company, your first point of contact is our Recruiter.  This individual is the most important contact you will make because everything else comes after you establish your working relationship with our Recruiter.

You will find that we don’t hire every nurse who applies. We are searching for those that not only have good nursing skills, but also have a passion for nursing and want only the best for the patients they serve.

When We Present You for an Assignment

Once we have interviewed, reference checked, conducted the necessary searches, and have obtained all the required information and documentation, we can then present you for an assignment.

In “Highway Hypodermics” by Kay Slane, RN, BS-Ed, CGM, she talks about communication with an agency and used this example:

“You are happy! You passed the interview with the nurse manager of the Emergency Room and your recruiter, Tom, sends you a contact to sign. You read all seven pages, and now you have questions about the floating policy.

The manager did not tell you about having to float between their hospitals and the sister hospital 20 miles away. You send an email to Tom to tell him that you were not aware of that stipulation and that you would like to know how often you will be expected to float. The next day, you get a reply, but it also has a Veronica on there, and a Sandy and a Fred.

Wow! That email went a long way in 24 hours.  OMG! How many people has this been sent to? Who are all of these people?

It is then that you learn about the account manager, payroll, benefits, credentialing, and you might even have a MSP/VMS in there (managed service provider/vendor management system). Communication with the hospital goes through your recruiter to the client account manager at the agency, then to the account manager at the MSP, then to the hospital staffing office and finally to the unit manager. A reply has to be passed from the unit manager, to the hospital staffing office, to the account manager, to the MSP, and then to your recruiter.”

This will NOT happen with us.  Before we present you for an assignment, we will tell you everything possible, so you can be successful in your assignment:

  • if you will float between hospitals in their system
  • if you float between hospital floors
  • provide details on the floor assignment
  • share what you need to know about the hospital
  • communicate everything possible about the assignment
  • do we work directly with the hospital or it is through a VMS

We do all of this for you, so you feel at peace when you say, “Submit me.”

How We Get You Hired

We usually do not work directly with the manager of the floor in the hospital to which you will be assigned. We work with the Human Resources Department, who works with the floor manager.

When we work with a Vendor Management Company (VMC), that communication has yet another layer. They work with the hospital; we are not allowed to communicate directly with the hospital. Kay’s example, which we shared above, describes the communication perfectly.

We know it sounds a little bit like ring around the rosy.  But, with the proper communication, we now have everything set for you to start your assignment.

When You Have a Question

Good communication does not stop when you walk through the hospital door. You are communicating with their staff nurses and your patients. If you have a problem or question that you are not getting an answer/solution to, you need to contact your Recruiter. We are there to make sure that your assignment is seamless.

Communication Is Tougher for Travelers

All communication is not alike. Not surprisingly, research shows we communicate most effectively in real-life, real-time conversation.

New neurological evidence shows that effective communication physically resounds in the brain of the receiver, echoing the thoughts and sentiments of the communicator by inducing and shaping neurological responses.

A remarkable study led by Princeton University’s Greg Stephens determined through fMRI brain scans that in both the communicator and listener, similar regions of the brain fired when engaged in unrehearsed, real-life story telling, leading the team to conclude that our brain cells actually synchronize during successful communication.

This type of communication can happen with your hospital team and patients you serve. Unfortunately, we don’t have that privilege.

Did you know that, when we work together over the phone, we give up over 66% of normal communication? That’s because we can’t see each other, read body language, facial expressions and so much more. We are restricted to tone of voice and speed of conversation.

Now, eliminate the phone call. Text or e-mail involve minimal interaction. Occasionally, texts or e-mails can be misread or read with the wrong “tone.”

As it happens, online communication may have given rise to completely different standards of trustworthiness.

Judy Olson, a professor of information and computer sciences, has researched the essentials of building trust in digital communication and she found that in the absence of traditional trust indicators like voice intonation, emotional expression, and body language in online, text-based messages, research participants default to speed of response as a key marker of trustworthiness.

Once You Are Assigned

After you have your assignment, there is so much more that goes into effectively communicating with our office team. You need to provide your schedule, turn in time tickets on time that are properly documented, and keep your personnel file up-to-date with any documentation (i.e. physical, CPR) that may be expiring.

To make text-based communication easy:

  1. Just state it. Simple facts or questions.
  2. Make sure you complete the loop. Example: You have a hospital interview. Let us know how it goes.
  3. Respond quickly.
  4. If you cannot communicate everything in a text or e-mail, please call. If we ask you to call us, please do so. And, do it quickly.

Good communication is essential to good business, healthy relationships and successful assignments. It is obvious we all need to be “on it” with every communication in order to build the trust we need to be a tight team.