If you are anything like us at Medical Solutions, you feel as though the world has changed more and faster than anyone could have ever imagined. During the March COVID-19 outbreak, Medical Solutions sent over 1200 ICU nurses to 250 hospitals. Since then, positions dropped to a 10-year low and came roaring back to a two-year high. What was once the norm three months ago, two weeks ago, or even one hour ago has now become obsolete.
Throughout these new challenges, we have focused on three things: learning from others, listening to others, and helping others. Recently, our team joined multiple webinars and conference calls with healthcare leaders throughout the nation, and one consistent theme that has presented itself is, “How do we remain flexible with ever changing census and deliver on what our community needs, when our staffing models do not work as they once did?”
In June, we were on a call with healthcare executives who brought attention to the KPMG study, and just recently it was mentioned again in another conference call. Because this study has been brought up on a couple occasions, we wanted to ensure that we continue to share this information that we hope adds value and awareness. Below are a few invaluable highlights we wanted to share with you.
- Attrition and hiring timelines create unaccounted costs. The average attrition of permanent nurses is 13% annually, and it takes an average of 17 days or 137 hours of training prior to joining full time. However, a traveling nurse usually takes just 2-3 weeks to hire and fill a position
- Respondents indicated that average overtime hours per week for a permanent nurse is approximately 9 hours.
- Travelers provide a more flexible and cost effective (9% less than permanent) healthcare labor strategy, while also removing the burden of payroll, benefits, PTO, insurance, recruiting, retirement, and other hidden costs like continuing education.
We understand that our worlds are different in so many ways, but the one thing that unites us both is care. We look forward to the opportunity to hear from you on how we can help, how we can learn from you, listen to you, and most importantly, how we can be an even better partner for you.