Build an effective team: from nurse assistants to nurse practitioners

The financial and operational benefits of using travel nurses during peak demand

Travel nurses are well-experienced nurses recruited to cope with a facility’s short-term staffing needs. Unexpected emergencies such as pandemics can cause a sudden surge in staff demands, which would be difficult to fulfill by recruiting permanent staff in a short time and can also be risky. In such cases, the best solution is to hire travel nurses during such periods of peak demand. As the travel nurses are hired for a short period, there will not be any huge long-term hiring costs such as training costs, additional perks, etc. Moreover, healthcare facilities can save a lot of money spent on the overtime expenses of the permanent staff by hiring travel nurses. 

The operational benefits of using travel nurses include efficiently filling staffing shortages, reducing staff burnout, and minimizing patient care delays. Travel nurses work flexible shifts to meet the surge in patient demand, which helps reduce any patient care delays due to the staffing gap. Thus, the existing staff can focus on core duties without task overload during peak periods. Hence, hiring travel nurses benefits by reducing the burnout of the existing staff and enhancing nurse retention. 

How RNs serve as the backbone of clinical care teams

Registered nurses have a pivotal role in healthcare facilities and hiring RNs can aid in advanced patient care while supervising the nursing assistants and other support staff to provide coordinated and effective patient care. They also associate with physicians and other allied health professionals to devise customized treatment plans to downsize the severity of the patient’s condition and optimize recovery. Registered nurses serve as the backbone of clinical care teams in almost all healthcare settings, from specialized clinics to large healthcare facilities. With their leadership skillsets, problem-solving abilities, patient advocacy, and commitment towards quality assurance, hiring RNs has become an inevitable part of the healthcare ecosystem. Furthermore, hiring registered nurses helps newly graduated nursing practitioners to onboard in their nursing roles by mentoring them to make a smooth transition into the nurse career path. 

How NPs can bridge gaps between nursing and medical teams for advanced patient care

Nurse practitioners, also known as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), are primary healthcare providers in healthcare facilities who take care of patients daily. As their duties involve continuous monitoring of the patients to check for any vital signs and performing physical examination, timely reports of these signals can help the medical teams make accurate decisions for advanced patient care, hence bridging the gaps between the nursing and other allied healthcare professionals. Nurse practitioners take feedback from the physicians based on the patient’s condition, educate the patients and their families about the seriousness of the illness, and do thorough checkups to evaluate the patient’s condition with the supervision of the registered nurses. Therefore, hiring nurse practitioners helps in implementing a holistic care approach and enhances team collaboration in healthcare facilities. 

Leveraging LVNs and LPNs to support core nursing teams

Licensed Practical Nurses can be leveraged to streamline the duties of the core nursing teams by delegating routine duties such as patient symptom monitoring, ensuring patient hygiene, cleaning wounds, etc. Hiring LVNs/LPNs not only improves patient care by reducing wait times but also helps the core nursing teams to focus on other critical duties. However, appropriate training regarding patient safety and the policies of the healthcare facility needs to be delivered efficiently under the supervision of a skilled registered nurse to ensure collaborative care can be provided to improve patient outcomes. In many states, licensed practical nurses’ scope of practice includes maintaining electronic health records as well. Regular updates of this patient information in the electronic health records can aid other healthcare professionals in making considerate and precise decisions on the patient’s treatment plan.

Enhancing patient care with effective use of nurse assistants

Nurse assistants can help effectively deliver patient care plans and enhance patient satisfaction. Even though the duties of the nurse assistants vary from registered nurses to LPNs, they work under the supervision of these core nursing teams to support them with optimized patient care. Nurse assistants provide direct patient care by equipping them to perform daily activities and ensuring patient hygiene. Also, they support bedridden patients with mobility and provide emotional support to them and their caregivers. Nurse assistants ensure that safety standards and infection control processes are strictly adhered to throughout the patient care journey. 

Career progression and retention strategies across the nurse hierarchy

• Provide opportunities for skill enhancement to the existing nurses across the hierarchy by supporting them in taking certifications, cross-training, etc.

• When onboarding a newly graduated nurse, deliver mentorship opportunities for them where they work under the supervision of an experienced registered nurse to learn from them.

• Implement fair rewards and recognition policies to ensure that the nurses who exhibited dedicated services throughout their duties are rewarded fairly.
• Hire adequate nurses and prioritize the work-life balance of the nurses to reduce the turnover rates due to staff burnout.
• Foster a supportive and inclusive workspace where staff feel encouraged to work and have a sense of belonging.
• Provide fair compensation to the nurses based on the market standards.
• Lay down clear nursing career progression pathways and communicate the performance indicators for career progression clearly.

Pay transparency and compensation models for travel nurses, RNs, NPs, LPNs, and nurse assistants

While crafting transparent nursing compensation models, several factors need to be considered, including the geographic location, clinical experience of the nurse, their area of specialization, and fair pay based on market standards. Even though the nurses can be hired through permanent or contract mode through a nursing solutions provider, the non-transparency in the bill rates can cause the hired nurses to get underpaid, thus increasing the turnover rates. Therefore, a competitive and transparent compensation package is essential for the long-term retention of skilled nurses. The basic elements of the salary included for all the different kinds of nurses consist of base pay, housing, and travel allowances, shift differentials if applicable, and additional perks such as retirement benefits, health insurance, and paid time off. These perks and salary components can vary from nurse assistants to nurse practitioners.