The shortage of nurses is being felt everywhere mainly because of the low nurse to population ratio, and the impact continues to affect patients in remote settings. Remote areas are unfortunately more disadvantaged because of other major factors. Some of those include lesser income for nurses than their counterparts in urban areas, universities and colleges with health care programs are mostly offered outside remote areas, extreme workload and high stress levels encouraged by understaffing and demand that dissuade nurses to work in remote areas. This disadvantage has had a great impact on patients’ wellbeing, increased number of deaths and disabilities and further, overcrowded emergency departments in healthcare centers.
Who is a travel nurse? And how is this a solution?
A travel nurse is a qualified, professional that travels and works in different locations for temporary periods of time, especially in underserved areas. They migrate from place to place to offer services when and where needed. They typically work with healthcare staffing agencies. How can this be a solution?
Rapid Antigen test is a mini swabbing device that is a quick and effective in detecting the protein that produces SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). It is an extra precautionary step used after other screening tools like the COVID-19 test questionnaire, to identify cases that might have been missed. Used on asymptomatic persons, people who have the virus but show no symptoms of it, the Rapid Antigen test is very important tool that helps to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus thereby assisting Ontario businesses to ease their way back to normalcy. The test can be administered anywhere, including work premises, by trained individuals under the supervision of a medical health professional such as a nurse from a medical staffing agency.
Saving cost: One of the reasons for nurse shortages is income disadvantage for nurses in rural areas, this implies that the budget for nurses is lesser. The solution of travel nurses allows for saving cost, as healthcare facilities do not cover insurance and other healthcare benefits for travel nurses. As a healthcare staffing agency, HealthOPM extends insurance, WSIB and other benefits to all our employees, including our travel nurses.
Quality and experience: Travel nurses have vast experiences travelling to different places and have gained the knowledge required to support health care facilities in remote communities. Healthcare staffing agencies take on the role of sourcing out qualified and experienced nurses that understand how to work efficiently. Their support relieves permanent staff from their overload of work and helps with the nurse-to-patient ratio, thereby minimizing consequences.
HealthOPM:
At HealthOPM we source, recruit and place nurses that understand their role as travel nurses. We continuously fill our pipeline to offer immediate support to healthcare facilities all across Ontario. Our pool of staff are experienced registered nurses, registered practical nurses and personal support workers capable of providing long or short-term contingency support. Have questions or need staffing support? Contact HealthOPM.
Sources
https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/the-nursing-shortage-and-how-it-will-impact-patient-care/