I have an idea...

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Specializes in Corrections, Surgical.
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.

Jesijams, RN

17 Posts

Specializes in Hospice, RN, ED.
On 10/7/2021 at 9:28 AM, morelostthanfound said:

 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?

I know this sounds rediculous, but as a DON/CNO for over 2 decades (and an ED now), I always told my staff that the higher agency costs came from a different "bucket" of money than the salaries.  As stupid as this sounds, corporate personnel always feel the higher agency salaries are "temporary" and they will not commit to "permenant" increases for dedicated staff.  It is so ignorant and, in my opinion, a major cause of lost, dedicated, good-quality, hard-working staff members!

SmilingBluEyes

20,964 Posts

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I will throw in the PIZZA and cheap gifts. But only for DAY shift!

Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.

I worked agency for several years between divorce and remarriage because I had to accommodate single parenting two very little littles and weird visitation schedules. Long story. But one thing the regular gang of agency nurses noted was that at the beginning of the year we got a lot less work— one year I worked six days in three months. We figured that staff would do extras to pay off the holiday bills, then get burned out and we would step in, and worked a lot over roughly Spring break through New Year’s. Oooh, loved those double pay double weekend shifts when the kids were c their dad.
Staff used to *** about our hourly rate, which was close to double theirs. One day I explained to one group that I had no paid vacation, no paid inservice ED, no retirement contributions, had to pay for parking, and no guaranteed number of shifts, so when I added it all up at the end of the year I was earning about the same as they were. The big difference was that I could always choose my days off and had more extra time for life in general.  

Specializes in Emergency.
On 10/7/2021 at 5:55 AM, 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 have a future in consulting where if you can’t be part of the solution, there’s big money to be made in prolonging the problem. 

Specializes in Geriatrics.

Don’t forget to add a mega ton of red tape and useless time consuming policies to go along with it!! Only if the policies are hypocritical, nonsensical, and created by people who aren’t nurses who love to govern nurses.

Specializes in Emergency Department.
On 10/13/2021 at 10:21 PM, vintagegal said:

Don’t forget to add a mega ton of red tape and useless time consuming policies to go along with it!! Only if the policies are hypocritical, nonsensical, and created by people who aren’t nurses who love to govern nurses.

And make sure you increase the mandatory number of "flowsheets" or questions that have to be asked to a patient on arrival or admission - increase them at least monthly. Bonus points if it angers the patient to where they're yelling at the nurse about why the nurse is asking dumb questions and not getting their Dilaudid and turkey sandwich.

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