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The lifecycle of a travel nursing job: prospect to placement

At RNnetwork, we’re proud of our ability to match nurses with the locations and travel nursing job specialties they want most. A big reason why we’re able to find those great jobs and match them to first rate nurses like you is that we have strong relationships with healthcare facilities across the country.

Travel nurses love the simple and reliable placement process we provide, and a lot of credit goes to our industry-leading consulting and business development teams who manage the hospital contracting process behind the scenes. Each of these contracts takes months – or sometimes years – of careful nurturing to set up.

If you’ve ever wondered where a great travel nursing job comes from, here’s a look at the lifecycle of a travel assignment. From prospect to placement, here’s how one of our skilled travel nurses gets to a facility where they can thrive professionally and personally.

A travel nursing job begins with a skilled account executive

The account executive team, comprised of representatives in five regions in the U.S., maintains a database of healthcare facilities nationwide. They ensure the database is current, identifying new hospitals and clinics as they open, categorizing facilities based on whether or not they utilize travel nurses.

An important part of this process is to follow up with facilities that haven’t employed travel nurses in the past to see if they have updated their staffing policies. Our account executives continuously market conditions to know when the best travel nursing job opportunities open up.

travel nursing job - image of rnnetwork senior account executive jenna barrett
Senior Account Executive Jenna Barrett – RNnetwork

The next step is building a relationship with the right decision maker

The team then identifies high priority prospect facilities in each state and sets out to clear the first important hurdle – identifying the proper point of contact.

“One of the biggest challenges when securing a new hospital contract is getting to the right individual,” said Jenna Barrett, Senior National Account Executive with RNnetwork. “The decision makers are often a hospital’s Director of Nursing or Chief Nursing Officer. These individuals have very demanding roles and a myriad of responsibilities, so typically, there are gatekeepers to communicating with them.”

Healthcare staffing is a highly competitive business. RNnetwork competes with many agencies, from small mom-and-pop shops to large national staffing companies, who are all vying for the chance to work with any given facility. The business development team works hard to convey the right message to the right individual, to help clients understand what sets RNnetwork apart from the competition.

“We’re fortunate that RNnetwork has many strengths and differentiators – including our affiliation with a large, strong parent company and our Joint Commission certification,” Jenna said. “We have so much great information to share, and it’s truly an art form to ensure we’re communicating the right information to decision makers in a way that helps RNnetwork stand out.”

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Customizing the offering to the needs of each client facility

Once interest in a prospective contract is identified, the team then organizes a preliminary call to better understand the facility’s needs and further build on RNnetwork’s offering and capabilities. Many partner facilities are drawn to RNnetwork’s ability to tailor their offering to a facility’s unique needs, while still benefiting from the stability and support of a large, established parent company.

“We think of ourselves as a boutique experience, as opposed to a massive department store,” Jenna said. “Because we are privately held, we have the flexibility to customize the contract to the client’s needs and wants. We don’t have a cookie cutter process, and we consistently receive client feedback that this personalized approach helps create meaningful value for their institutions.”

Working out contract specifics that balance the needs of clients and nurses

Once a lead is identified and developed through the negotiation process, there are a few more steps before a contract is considered final. A contract must receive the requisite approvals at the facility, including review by the hospital’s legal counsel.

“A hospital’s legal team is responsible for reviewing any contract dealing with the facility – from the helicopter pads and medical devices to machines and staffing,” Jenna said. “A relatively small nurse staffing contract isn’t necessarily priority, so we monitor the review closely to help usher it through. With time, persistence and responsiveness, we help ensure contracts are finalized in the timeliest manner possible to make these opportunities available to the nurses with whom we work.”

Contract details typically include things like rate ranges, and reimbursement limits for housing and travel. Contracts vary from facility to facility, so it’s important to stay close to your recruiter. They can help you navigate the fine print so that you can optimize the compensation you get for each assignment.

None of this is possible without exceptional travel nurses like you

Once a contract is final, our consulting and account executive teams continue to nurture the client relationship to ensure ongoing placement opportunities for our travel nurses. A big contributing factor to the quality of these client relationships is the excellent reputation RNnetwork travel nurses have earned through the exceptional patient care they deliver at each and every assignment.

Interested in learning more about travel nursing? Call us for more information at 800.866.0407 or view today’s job openings.

About the author

Allison Riley

Allison Riley is a public relations professional with more than 10 years experience in healthcare and corporate communications. She lives in New York City with her better half and two wonderful daughters. She and her girls are currently contending for world's slowest recorded stair climb to a fifth-floor apartment, and she enjoys writing so she can just finish her sentence already.

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