Fluctuating patient volumes. Reduced workforce availability. Increased demand. During the summer and holiday seasons, hospitals and critical care centers face all of those challenges. A flexible, on-demand, local workforce is an often overlooked yet powerful solution that enables acute care facilities to support internal teams while delivering high-quality patient care. Here’s why.
On-demand professionals are more economical than travel nurses
When a hospital contracts with a travel nurse, they pay for more than care. When hospitals rely on travel nurses, they often face additional expenses tied to the nature of these contracts. These agreements are typically fixed and can contribute to higher overall costs. Many hospitals have identified opportunities to reduce expenses by minimizing their use of travel nurses.
Paying on-demand professionals is straightforward. Most on-demand professionals already reside in the area they serve, so hospitals do not need to pay for housing. If not from the area, these professionals have likely traveled to it of their own accord and aren’t expecting the hospital to cover their housing or meals. (It’s relatively common for on-demand professionals to pick up a few shifts while traveling.)
On-demand professionals help hospitals handle variable patient volumes with more agility
Travel nurse contracts aren’t known for their flexibility. They’re known for providing additional, temporary coverage within a set time frame. A common contract length is 13 weeks (over three months), but contracts can vary from 2 weeks to 24 weeks (six months).
With on-demand professionals, hospitals gain the agility to increase coverage as admissions increase — no matter how quickly that happens. And, since on-demand professionals tend to be local, hospitals can call on the same professionals as needed, eliminating the administrative burden of onboarding new travel nurses.
On-demand professionals help cover seasonal nursing shortages
Seasonal variances in coverage can be a real problem for hospitals. Nurses take time off, but usually not enough time to warrant 13-week travel nurse contracts. Existing float pools may also be less available during the holidays as well. On-demand professionals can be called upon as needed to cover PTO. They can also be a great help to hospitals experiencing turnover, delivering care while the team takes as much time as needed to find the right replacement.
On-demand professionals help hospitals retain their best workers
Burnout is a main factor in nurse turnover, stemming from a lack of flexibility and autonomy and other co-factors, like increasing violence against nurses. When hospitals support work-life balance, nurses are more likely to stick around. By leveraging the talents and expertise of qualified, on-demand, local professionals, hospitals are more easily able to implement shorter shifts and flexible scheduling. Hospitals can also continue delivering quality care while giving their nurses the PTO and flexibility they want and need, which can go a long way in their retention efforts.
How to find qualified, local, on-demand healthcare professionals
Seasoned nurses choose to work on their own terms for a number of reasons. Tessa, an independent RN who comes from a family of nurses, uses ShiftKey to be able to spend more time with her family. “My life is mine now,” she says. “I get to spend the bigger portion of my life with my family and the smaller portion in my career.”
Tessa’s not the only RN who has chosen to work for herself. A full 78% percent of healthcare professionals say that they wouldn’t be able to work without the flexibility they find with ShiftKey.
To connect with these qualified, local, on-demand professionals, you need the right workforce partner — one that will coordinate the onboarding process, verify each nurse’s credentials, and provide real-time data about past reliability to help you make an informed decision about who delivers care in your organization.
Ditch expensive and inflexible travel nurse contracts with ShiftKey
ShiftKey is different from staffing agencies or travel nursing agencies. Instead of being locked into lengthy travel contracts, hospitals use ShiftKey to connect with qualified, local independent professionals as needed. The independent professionals using our platform are experienced: 49% have been in healthcare for 10+ years. The price is set upfront, and we don’t charge minimums or have hidden fees. With ShiftKey, what you see is what you get, and what you get is the choice, control and flexibility you need to consistently deliver high-quality care.
References
“Turnover in Health Care: Why Health Care Worker Satisfaction Matters” (USC).
“The Empowered Workforce Report” (ShiftKey).
“Job and Family Demands and Burnout Among Healthcare Workers: The Moderating Role of Workplace Flexibility” (SSM - Population Health).
