Although many hospitals have long since discovered the benefits of locum tenens and are taking advantage of them, far too many aren’t fully educated about their options in hiring for these positions. If your NNP team is stressed and overworked, or you’re paying too much in overtime and still falling short, hiring locum tenens practitioners can be a beautiful solution to these issues.
Here are six ways hiring a locum can help your hospital.
1. Infusing new expertise into your unit
The NNP role varies in different parts of the country and in different units. A fresh face brings a valuable new skill set to your team.
2. Letting you test run a locum tenens practitioner before hiring permanently
How costly a mistake is hiring the wrong person?
Periodically the locum ends up being interested in a full-time role with our client hospital and transitions from locum to direct hire status. This is a great way to see a candidate in the role before hiring them to see how they mesh well with your team.
Clients we have worked with in the past have taken advantage of locum tenens as a part of their internal hiring process. While their neonatal nurse practitioner is in school and completing his licensing/credentialing process, a locum replacement is found to cover for the 18-24 months the nurse is independent of his hospital’s NICU and finishing school.
3. Saving money on overtime
Depending upon your internal equity structure, locums can actually save you money in comparison to the overtime you’re paying your existing NNPs. This simple yet often over-looked fact can save your facility precious dollars.
4. Protecting your outcomes
As a unit geared toward your outcomes and reputation, rounding out an overly-taxed unit will save lives, something that cannot even be measured in dollars.
5. Supporting your existing staff
In an industry where morale is king, not properly staffing tells your workforce that you don’t care about them and see them as a commodity. Studies show that in environments where morale is high and staff feel appreciated, performance is also higher.
A great example of this in action is a client of ours in the upper Midwest. They hired locums practitioners through ENSEARCH to provide their existing staff weekends off while sending several staff nurses through NNP school. This not only provided them with the coverage they needed and held the positions open for the students, it also boosted the morale of the existing team by demonstrating the hospital’s appreciation, promoting internally. They were able to give their NNP team a weekend-free schedule for almost two years.
6. Complying with FMLA protocol
Locums are a simple solution for complying with FMLA protocol for medical leaves of absence.
Talking to someone about your specific needs is the first step to filling a position, whether you’d like to learn more about your options, or if your unit needed a replacement yesterday. Our typical turnaround time in providing qualified, hit-the-ground-running locum tenens NNP resumes is typically 48 to 72 hours.
