Humans described as angels in tennis shoes. It is a common description of a nurse practitioner. However, these miraculous individuals are still quite human. They need to eat, pay rent, and take a well-deserved vacation once in a while. Payment allows these hard working people to pursue a quality of life they richly deserve.
How does one of these real life angels find a job in a hospital? Some are staff-trained or hired on long term but most are independently contracted for short leases of service. This is usually done through nursing agencies, also known as nursing registries.
Work Schedule
Nursing agencies help provide nurses work at health care facilities through per diem or locum tenens methods. This means that the nurse will work at a facility for a contractual number of days or at a specific location, temporarily filling in when staff members are absent.
A nurse has to be available for their nursing agency to contact them at any time of the day or night. Even on holidays too! While a job usually lasts for more than a few days, it creates an erratic work schedule that can be difficult to predict or plan around.
Nurses of America and Across the Ocean
Nursing registries in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission while they are generally regarded as small businesses in the United States. Officially beginning its full operating on April 1st, 2009, the Quality Care Commission’s objective is to ensure better care levels.
Nursing agencies must register with it to ensure that the qualities of safety and care meet regulation standards. This process eradicates ambiguity and makes sure the agency is providing comprehensive and effective services. The United States does not have a similar system in place but instead qualifies nurses by their degree, license, certifications, and registration.
Contacting Nursing Agencies Online
Nursing agencies can now be contacted through their websites. A quick search on the internet finds several nursing agency websites that are capable of providing skilled nurses to healthcare facilities and private clients. A few websites offers a somewhat meta capability in helping to build a website that is specifically for a nurse staffing agency.
Nurses Fill a Void
In spite of the incentive of overtime pay on major holidays, many healthcare practitioners still take the holidays off to be with their families. This creates a demand for the nurses’ services. Similarly, hospital personnel sometimes take summer vacations, which also generates a vacuum in the workplace.
If it is not filled by nurses, there is a greater chance of undesirable outcomes for patients, such as cardiac arrest, urinary tract infections, and pneumonia; this is according to a report from the US Department of Health & Human Services in 2004.
Payment
Logically, a hospital would pay the nursing agency as soon as the nurse’s services were completed. The money would then be immediately passed on to the nurse practitioner. Occasionally, there are unfortunate situations where a healthcare facility or hospital might not pay the registry for a prolonged period of time, causing the nurse’s payment to be forestalled.
Karen P Williams is an expert author in all things regarding CNA Training. Syndicated by https://www.isnare.com