For years, people have been talking about the “nursing shortage.” The Great Recession delayed this shortage for a while, but it is now approaching crisis proportions in many states, particularly in the South and West. Acute care nurses in LTC settings are especially in demand as Baby Boomers age. Facilities recognize this dilemma. Therefore, retaining current nurses is a much higher priority for management.
As a result, the best-qualified candidates are very hard to find. Some facilities feel pressure to hire second-tier candidates just to keep the population up. But that approach is only a stopgap. Sooner or later, second-tier employees create a second-tier hospital. These facilities simply cannot survive in a competitive environment.
That’s where Managment Resource Solutions, Inc.’s meticulous search process comes into play. We help LTC facilities keep their competitive edge by providing the best acute care nurse candidates, and providing them quickly. But results like these do not happen by accident
Education and Experience
There’s a very good reason that most nurses put this section at the top of their resumes. These areas are excellent thumbnail sketches of an acute care nurse’s qualifications. Some areas we focus on include:
- Professional Associations: Membership in these groups indicates both commitment to acute care nursing and excellence in the field. If the candidate held a leadership position or has been a member for a long period of time that is even better.
- Computer Experience: Whether it’s scheduling, medical coding, diagnosis, or something else, most nurses spend almost as much time with digital information as they do with patients. The exact name of the programs used is not really important. Rather, our recruiters look for individuals who have extensive experience with a number of systems. That indicates aptitude and a willingness to learn.
- Number of Beds: This item may seem like meaningless detail, but it may be one of the most important parts of the resume. A candidate may have worked in a large town, but that does not necessarily mean that the LTC facility was a large one. Even experienced acute care nurses can get overwhelmed, and we do not deliver surprise candidates to our partners.
An alarming number of placement firms and staffing professionals basically end their inquiries here. They choose nurses based almost entirely on their professional qualifications. In our experience, digging a little deeper yields better results. The process is more time-consuming, but the investment is worthwhile.
Practical Experience
Many nurses are accustomed to dealing only with a certain kind of patient. ICU nurses do not deal with high-risk hip replacement patients. This is an example of how hospital size can be misleading. Large facilities encourage specialization, but an acute care nurse, especially in an LTC facility, needs to be ready for anything. Most of our LTC partners want diversity in this area, and that’s what we try to provide.
Furthermore, many nurses work in team environments. There is little discretion in terms of treatment protocols. But an acute care nurse has near-complete autonomy with regard to patient care, treatment plan, and so forth. Some nurses can handle that type of authority and some cannot. So, MRSI recruiters look for things like prior charge nurse or management experience, even if it was outside an LTC facility.
Work With a Dedicated Staffing Agency
LTC nurses are a unique breed of professionals. Acute care nurses inside these facilities are even more unique, because there are so many unusual challenges. MRSI understands this situation better than most others. We only work with LTC facilities. To start assembling a world-class staff, go online today.