The trouble with the troubles in the nursing industry is that, while the topic is being discussed, people are dying. And the reality is that more people will die. Courses are being abandoned, and retaining trainee nurses is like holding onto a fistful of sand. There are steps and measures to be taken to soften the blow of what is to come, which will be discussed in this blog. As you read on, you'll discover the tools that will help your healthcare company not just to survive but to thrive in this unprecedented time the nursing industry is living.

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Turnover rates for nurses are at 22% and rising. Whatever the reason, be it covid fatigue, long hours for minimum pay, or the political landscape, there are ways to address the nursing shortages head-on.

If we start with the most commonly discussed topic, we can work our way down to the more nuanced conversations and statistics that go widely under the radar.

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Let's begin with that big old elephant in the room. You may know it from headlines such as "Crisis Levels of drop offs in the nursing workforce" or "Worrisome Nurse Shortages as Staff Crisis Continues," but let's take a step back from this elephant and approach the problem systematically. 

The turnover rate for travel nurses in October 2022 stands roughly at 22%, and that number continues to rise. This has shone a light on the continual, urgent need to fill nursing positions.

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Why is there a Nursing Staff Shortage?

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• Post-pandemic burnout seems to be one of the key reasons that keep popping up.

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• Some reports state that the reduction in active nurses is a natural reaction to the original spike in travel nurse numbers that were recruited to deal with Covid 19.

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• Another speculation is that the extra funding to relieve hospitals throughout the pandemic has ended (in Spring 2022) due to a milder Omicron wave than what was anticipated. That lack of financial flexibility has really taken its toll on the industry.

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• RN are leaving the industry in droves. The pool of talent to replace nurses has dried up so severely it's looking like more of a puddle.

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Thanks to burnout, something, and all the reasons listed above, a career in nursing has lost is no longer appealing to the younger generation.

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Unless you're living under Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, you're aware of the nursing staff shortage.

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Low Supply, High Demand

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The demand for travel nurses is increasing while the supply is decreasing. The number of registered nurses (RN) decreased by 100,000 between 2020 and 2021. This is likely due to burnout, with the burnout itself blamed initially on the tireless exertion of the frontline during Covid19. Now, however, the burnout is being blamed on short-staffed clinics, which in turn is making registered nurses leave the profession in droves.

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Less staff means more burnout, and more burnout means less staff. This vicious machine is now feeding itself.

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The demand without the supply means you're paying excessively for travel nurses. With the medical world bracing itself for a "twindemic" (rising Covid cases and Flu), the need for registered nurses, despite their scarcity, needn't strike fear into the financial heart of your medical practice.

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Due to the shortage, medical companies are paying an absolute fortune in nurses' wages.

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Stop paying a premium for travel nurses - book a demo with Credentially to learn how to onboard the best nurses in the fastest time
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Medical companies looking to source travel nurses have enough trouble being competitive, let alone staying competitive. What many medical directors don't know is that the software exists to get you competitive in a heartbeat, and keeping you competitive is as natural as breathing. 

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Grizzly bears hunting for salmon fight for the best spots in the river. Credentially uses the same principles, especially when it comes to the ease and speed of getting the best nursing candidates on your books and (safely) out in the field.

Credentially puts you at the top of the nursing recruitment food chain and keeps you there. Staying at the top of that food chain relies on personalized dashboards for every member of your staff bank, with a traffic light system that tells you what documents need updating and when.

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In More Detail

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• A tailored, automated pre-employment process means travel nurses can onboard within days rather than weeks. This is the first step to having high volumes of RN on your roster, quickly and within state regulations.

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• You've removed the necessity for outsourcing and therefore aren't spending the time or financial resources on vendors. You're the one who gets the best nurses in the fastest time.

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• Having the best nurses means you don't need to pay a premium for registered nurses in high-demand areas.

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• A single administration manager has the tools at their fingertips to quickly and thoroughly do the pre-employment checks, background checks, and state licensing checks of hundreds of healthcare professionals. More admin managers per candidate save money on new recruits, allowing you to reinvest precious time and dollars where needed.

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• If you're still using 1993 Excel, you're shooting yourself in the foot. If you're still using cabinets and paper folders, your team might as well be carving spoons in the woods.

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Candidates can drag and upload their identification, verification of nurse graduation, licensure, security checks, and any regulatory documentation you need as a healthcare organization to get them in the field.

Learn more about Credentially's features such as real time alerts and a central data hub.

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It only takes a matter of seconds, and you can bid a fond farewell to excel. Even professional references are automated.

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Staying competitive isn't only about having a large staff bank (although this is exactly what is on offer); it's about keeping your travel nurses compliant, both in terms of federal and state licensing requirements. Credentially has made it a habit to enable healthcare organizations to get competitive and stay competitive. 

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The traffic light system per personal dashboard for candidates and staff keeps everyone legally compliant, giving you a 24/7 view of the specifics of who can work, in what specialty, and in which location. 

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Statistics show that as of 2020, there were approximately 10,000 paid medical claims in the US as a result of medical malpractice. This doesn't even take into consideration the claims still in waiting.

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Around a third of malpractice lawsuits is the responsibility of RN. There are many horror stories you'd be able to share of unlicensed practitioners or hospitals that only check the credentials of their staff once or twice a year. And anecdotally, I'm sure you can think of instances where Credentially would have been the difference between millions of dollars in payouts, but for now, we can move forwards knowing what the best practices are for your medical company. 

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Your reputation, money, and brand would do well to never miss a beat when it comes to the total legal compliance of your medical staff or nurses, and this could be seen as problematic for vendors or nursing agencies with large staff banks, but with Credentially it really is done in the blink of an eye. You have the right to go to sleep every night in the knowledge that you're avoiding fines, and now you have the capacity to make it real.

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‍What Are the Implications of fewer travel nurses?‍

• Registered nurses tend to stay in the nursing profession throughout their careers, and the lack of interest from young people could have an impact that is felt over a generation.

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• When the nurses suffer due to burnout or whatever reason, the patients inevitably suffer. And when the patients suffer, so too does the reputation of the healthcare organization that is charged with their wellbeing. Both the humanitarian aspect and the business aspect are put at risk.

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• Linked to the above, busy hospitals that are understaffed have a lower level of healthcare. Poor reviews can spread faster than hepatitis B at Coachella, with severe impacts on the company's financials. 

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Vendor, Agency, or Hospital Reps? Does Money Really Talk Loudest?

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Vendor Credentialing sits in between hospitals and general nursing recruiters. If you're a nurse, who do you go to? The person who offers the most money? It's a no-brainer. But remember, also, that time is money. If a nursing recruiter takes up to three months to offer you a start date, once the security checks, registrations, and exams are out of the way, the time spent waiting could be time spent earning.  

Hospitals and recruiters who use Credentially have an average onboarding time of 5 days, including all pre-employment and security checks. This is clearly a huge selling point to get nurses in your staff bank. Time is money, and you're offering potential NP what others can't.

So whether you're a vendor, agency, or hospital, you can get nurses into the recruitment process before they receive another offer. If they're offered the opportunity to be working within days of being approached, competing salaries don't have time to enter the fray.

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Travel nurse contracts typically last circa 13 weeks. If you're continually sending nurses out and renewing contracts, it's beneficial to all parties involved, nurses, agencies, and employers, to get them in the field as quickly as possible. Having Credentially means your nurses and their paperwork exist on your system, with their dashboard that updates you in real-time of any lapse or expiry in essential documents that affect their work.

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Rather than a revolving door of nurses, Credentially users have an entire staff bank of travel nurses whose credentials are forever up to date. These include role-specific and state-specific licenses and certifications.

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With an instant roster of candidates for anyone that needs them, Credentially users come out on top. Now picture a world where travel nurses are in your staff bank, ready to work wherever they're needed. 

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Either way, Credentially = You Win.

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Consider the fact that you won't be short-staffed, and your travel nurses won't be burnt out. Together, we'd be ensuring the future of the industry by plugging the holes in a sinking ship and making the nursing profession infinitely more appealing to the next generation of nurses.

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‍Practical Solutions to Procedural Problems‍

Nursing jobs take up to 3 months to fill, with an average of 4 weeks from application to start date [according to the report on Relias]. Between NCLEX-RN examinations, background checks, pre-employment checks, federal licensure, and state requirements, the 4-week average seems like a frustrating amount of time, and it is due to the number of hurdles that healthcare recruiters have to clear (Credentially flattens those hurdles #justsaying), but the darker context of this statistic is that people are dying, patients are uncomfortable, and there are mental and financial repercussions on families that are forced to intervene where nurses are absent. The healthcare industry is in a pressure cooker, and patients are suffering as a result.

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Bringing the average pre-employment time down from weeks to days has a knock-on effect that benefits patients, nurses, reputation, and the financial health of your company. The only way to grow back a rainforest is to plant trees, but these trees need to be in an environment where they're going to thrive. Credentially is that environment.  

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Companies are spending a tonne of money to fill positions for travel nurses in high-demand areas. The shortage means hospitals and medical companies are paying premium rates for nurses due to the shortage. Travel nurses who work for agencies also tend to be specialists in dermatology, psychiatry, fertility, or any other specialty that is even more valuable. 

Have a bank of staff that's ready. Have them pre-ready before the employer comes asking. You'll keep them in the system, can know that they're compliant, and will know if they're working or not, which saves you from messaging individual nurses and being told that they're already working. 

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The ghost of covid past

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• Covid 19 made nursing less popular to get into, out of fear of being on the frontline. Now the pandemic is over, interest in nursing is rebounding slightly, and nursing shortages are the biggest hurdle. [use Credentially] Some have also called for better work/life balance and respectful limit-setting to be included in NP training. 

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• With Covid on the rise again, mortality rates are still in the daily hundreds in the US. Coupled with the rise in Flu, infections, and the common cold, the healthcare industry is bracing itself for tough winter months. While Covid numbers aren't what they were 2 years ago, the additional burden will still be felt in a big way.

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• Luckily, at the height of Covid, companies CCAS relied on Credentially software to help with the onboarding of thousands of healthcare practitioners, including nurses and administrators. They averaged 3000 new employees per week at the height of the pandemic. Where there's a staffing problem to be solved, there's a simple solution with healthcare software.

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The Possible (realistic) Future of the Travel Nursing Industry

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Even then, addressing staff shortages through automation for a safer and less stressful work environment is vital to the current healthcare system and the future of the industry.

Early retirement and a lack of young nurses mean more problems for the future of the industry. It's only through easing the current burdens of travel nurses that the next generation will be enticed to sign up. Credentially software tools recognize nursing exam qualifications, including NCLEX-RN and ADN (associate degree in nursing), again simplifying the process of getting nurses out of your inbox and into the field.  

 Give your ATS or HRIS systems the boost it needs

It makes a lot of sense to integrate Credentially with your applicant tracking system (ATS), not just for your team but for your patients and the wider travel nursing industry as a whole. Whichever recruitment software you use needs to go further, and Credentially is that shot of adrenaline it needs. Ridding yourself of the need for excel sheets and mindless paperwork is only the beginning. 

Integrations with human resource information systems (HRIS) have the same effect. Propel your HR teams' output beyond the hiring process, keeping your staff compliant and making sure your legal team has less work to do. Not only do Credentially users have the advantage of not falling into medical malpractice traps, but you also don't want to spend more time than is necessary vetting all your staff from state to state. 

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If you're looking to flatten the hurdles that stand in the way of building a ready-to-work staff bank of travel nurses, as well as staying on top of competitors and skating through the nursing shortages, then do get in touch with Credentially. Integrations with OIG and SAM, along with your existing ATS or HRIS software, allow us to tackle the obstacles in the nursing industry. You can sleep soundly at night knowing American citizens are sleeping safer at night on your watch.

As a healthcare facility, recruiting travel nurses can be a challenging and time-consuming process. However, by utilizing with Credentially, you can simplify the onboarding process and access a wider pool of qualified candidates. Book a demo with Credentially to witness the magic of how Credentially.