Hospitals are filled with stress, worry, and sometimes negativity. Fear of unfamiliar things is one of the most common fears that patients and their families face. But one of the nurses’ numerous responsibilities is mitigating that very fear. Nurses are the healthcare professionals who get to spend the majority of their time with patients and their families during hospital stays. Not only do they provide the patients with everything they need when it comes to medical support, but they also provide you with emotional support as well. Basically, they are the ones who are spending their time with the patients from day one to the very last, all day and night.
As the hospitals usually intend on finding ways to provide you with the best quality care, they are also intending on finding the most experienced, most qualified medical professionals that will make sure that the patients are satisfied. However, even medical systems are dealing with staff shortages, and one of the ways to fill vacant positions is by hiring travel nurses. So, we have prepared a couple of methods that the travel nurses use, so they may promote the patient’s overall wellness and health, as well as the benefits of having traveling nurses as part of your organization.
Higher Patient Satisfaction
Nurses can be overworked and stressed out indeed, and it inevitably shows the burden of this job. Even in situations where they are giving their best, they can still feel the effects of burnout. Hence, travel nursing turns out to be the last straw, as it eases the burden on hospital staff members, who can be overexposed to the stress of their job and even stretched thin. Using the benefits of travel nurses will eventually result in more positive experiences for the patients spending time in the hospital. In addition, this may also lead to a reduced number of mistakes that can occur in nursing jobs, which will result in better patient reviews.
Flexibility in the Hospitals
One of the most important aspects of travel nurses is flexibility. It is typically a win-win solution for the contractor and the hospital team as well. Normally, travel nurses earn more money and have a better work/life balance. They are also provided with choices, as they can choose if they want to work in the state hospitals or spend time in the clinics, travel to the places they choose, and spend their time in the various working environments. At the same time, travel nursing provides nurses with a better, more rounded experience, which later proves to be one of their biggest advantages.
Staffing Shortages
Not only do hospital management, medical teams, and the entire profession suffer from the shortages, but at some points, even patients get to feel the effects of that. According to the statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, there will be about 194,500 job openings at the position of registered nurses by 2030, given the fact that the majority of current healthcare workers will retire or change their occupations. High burnout makes nurses give up on this profession, causing significant shortages. Luckily, travel nurses are the ones who can fill in these positions in no time while hospital management and healthcare organizations are dealing with recruiting new staff. They can also fill-in in situations when the staff needs to leave for maternity leave, vacation, or some other reason.
Significant Cuts in Personnel Costs
Technically speaking, travel nurses are often signed on as independent contractors. Unlike some paid workers, their contracts typically include benefit packages and expenditures related to people, in contrast to the contracts of certain salaried employees. In addition, because hospitals are able to be a part of the travel nursing agency, they will be able to spend less time and money on the processes of recruitment, onboarding, and interviewing, which will free up more time for HR staff to focus on their own work. This will allow hospitals to better serve their patients.
Quality of Care
According to some research, it is notable that there is a strong link between inadequate nursing and negative patient experiences, and that these are one of the most common causes of the ruined reputation of certain healthcare organizations. Inadequate nursing staffing levels can be the ones causing failure of the hospital administration and eventually patient mortality, mostly as the outcome of surgical complications. This is the reason why travel nurses are the ones benefiting the patients. When healthcare organizations are using travel nurses as fill-ins for staffing management, the patients get a much better quality of care.
Dealing With the Nurse Burnout
Nurses who are happy in their jobs and are satisfied with the arrangements in their business are the ones who create much better patient outcomes. One of the many benefits of travel nurses is flexibility and freedom. Working as a travel nurse will provide you with more time to spend with your family and friends, extended vacation periods, and some other benefits regarding your personal time planning. The autonomy and control you get to have over your time and career will result in greater job satisfaction, more positive patient experiences, and much-reduced nurse burnout. It appears that being a traveling nurse can be an effective solution to the majority of problems that hospitals are facing nowadays.
The positive impacts of travel nursing are one of the main reasons why healthcare organizations are cooperating with the agencies. One of the main concerns of hospitals is to keep a good eye on the patients and provide them with the highest possible care. It is not the solution for medical workers to ignore the needs of the patients and leave them half-done just because they need more help. Patients can get hurt and even suffer complications in their states, besides feeling lonely. Luckily, traveling nurses are the ones that can provide the patients with the necessary care and significantly help the other medical workers. Travel nurses possess huge amounts of knowledge in this field and are trained to work with a wide variety of patients.
