Travel Nurses Found Cost-effective for Hospitals
Research Shows Supplemental Nurses Offer Cost-efficiency, Can Offset Overtime Costs
A new study has found that the modest use of supplemental (temporary or contract) nurses is a cost-efficient strategy to handle hospitals’ increases in patient census or short-term shortages of nurses. Researchers also found that the hourly personnel costs for supplemental nurses efficiently offset the overtime costs of permanent nurses.
This study, from the University of Rochester School of Nursing, is the first to use longitudinal hospital unit-level data to investigate the cost and cost efficiency of using supplemental nurses.
“Prior research has shown that temporary and contract nurses are just as qualified--through education and experience--as permanent nurses,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “This study shows that supplemental nurses offer the strategic flexibility that hospitals need to augment their workforces during peak times, and to address any interim labor shortages related to leave coverage, vacancies, and expansion of services.”
Published in the April–June issue of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality, the study, “Cost Outcomes of Supplemental Nurse Staffing in a Large Medical Center: A Method for Quantifying Supplemental Nurse Cost Efficiency,” analyzed hospital nursing personnel cost data collected from a large medical center in upstate New York between July 2003 and December 2006. The data included all patient stays (465, 936) in 19 varied adult patient care units.
According to the study’s findings:
• Although the hourly personnel cost may be higher for supplemental registered nurses than permanent ones, modest use of supplemental nurses during periods of temporary increases in patient volume or interim shortages in permanent nurses is cost-effective.
• Heavy reliance on supplemental nurses to meet staffing needs may not be cost-efficient.
• Use of overtime by permanent nurses might not be a cost-effective strategy compared with supplemental nurse use.
“In addition to not being cost-effective, overtime hours performed by permanent nurses may equate to poor nurse and patient satisfaction,” said researcher Linda H. Aiken, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, FRCN, with the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University Pennsylvania. “Extensive research indicates that overtime work is connected to nurse burnout, turnover, and poor patient outcomes. The use of supplemental nurses can alleviate these risks.”
Read the report.
TravelNursing.com makes it easy to keep up on travel nurse jobs in your nursing specialty. Just sign up to receive our free email alerts.
Source: American Staffing Association