I have an idea...

I've never been a financial guy but it made no financial sense to me to not offer your in-house staff special pay and bonuses first before going to agency. Will everyone sign up? Probably not but if the pay is right I think a majority would. 

4 hours ago, Emergent said:

I have an idea, let's treat our core staff like crap, let's put up with our laziest staff members, let's drive hard-working people away, then we can hire high-priced agency nurses, that should solve our staffing problem and teach those ingrates a lesson. 

Don't forget to increase the lazy staff's PTO so they can call in more...

5 hours ago, Emergent said:

I have an idea, let's treat our core staff like crap, let's put up with our laziest staff members, let's drive hard-working people away, then we can hire high-priced agency nurses, that should solve our staffing problem and teach those ingrates a lesson. 

     This has become the trend in the last 15-20 years.  Initially, I thought it was only the hospital that I was employed at until I became a travel nurse and witnessed the same short-sighted, management model everywhere.  Like OUxPhys, I'm not a numbers person either and it seems to be a very costly strategy for hospital systems.  What are we missing because everything in healthcare today is motivated by money?

5 hours ago, Emergent said:

I have an idea, let's treat our core staff like crap, let's put up with our laziest staff members, let's drive hard-working people away, then we can hire high-priced agency nurses, that should solve our staffing problem and teach those ingrates a lesson. 

I will bring a whole keg of ? for these smarty pants to cry in and wail about being gouged and will fake-solemnly serenade them with the world's tiniest ?.

13 hours ago, Emergent said:

I have an idea, let's treat our core staff like crap, let's put up with our laziest staff members, let's drive hard-working people away, then we can hire high-priced agency nurses, that should solve our staffing problem and teach those ingrates a lesson. 

You, my friend, will go far in administration.

If by chance your pay scale is currently based on qualifications, certifications, and objective metrics, stop immediately.  Adopt a system based strictly on longevity.  This will freeze the pay of those most qualified, and give the biggest raises to the weakest. 

I like this approach.  Thinking of investing in a travel nurse company.

I'm one of those high paid nurses you talk of??

On 10/7/2021 at 8:29 AM, OUxPhys said:

I've never been a financial guy but it made no financial sense to me to not offer your in-house staff special pay and bonuses first before going to agency. Will everyone sign up? Probably not but if the pay is right I think a majority would. 

The thing with travelers is the hospital uses it as a tax write off so while the agency nurses are getting paid more than the staff nurses, the hospital isn't exactly losing a bunch of money using them. But once nurses are burned out you can offer them as much bonus money to pick up and they still won't. A hospital I went to offered 1K bonuses for one shift and 3K to pick up 2 weekend shifts and staff members were too overworked and tired to fill the need. After awhile you get tired of working short staffed. 7-8 patients on medsurg with 1 tech, constantly floated to Covid, dealing with demanding patients that do not understand how busy we are and that they are not the only person in the hospital, etc. That means you have to do your own vitals and a lot of patient care. As a traveler I wasn't eligible for the bonus and to pick up an extra day didn't really cause my check to increase a lot so I never picked up extra. I've seen administrators say if staff doesn't like the work conditions that they can leave. They know if the money is right travelers will come left and right to work. Look at the Krucial contracts, 10K for 6 days. Those contracts gets filled fast.