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On the strength of the nursing shortage, Terri Hill,
RN, has traveled from the operating room to the boardroom
of her own small but growing company, HC Travelers.
Travel nursing for the Indianapolis surgical nurse
began as a lark with a purpose. It was a chance to reconnect
with distant family and-at least by one nurse-alleviate
California's desperate need in 1990 for operating room
nurses.
With her husband and four children in tow, Hill accepted
a six-week assignment to a Los Angeles-area hospital.
It was a memorable month and a half of work and leisure
that years later would lure her back to travel nursing
and a career that she could not have imagined.
After Los Angeles, Hill, 44, resumed her perioperative
nursing career in Indianapolis, working for seven years
as a staff nurse, nurse manager and director of nursing
in a surgery center. "The day I worked 24 hours
straight was the day I knew things had to change,"
Hill said.
She returned to travel nursing, mostly accepting assignments
within 60 miles of her home. Last year, however, she
was working in Oakland, Calif., and, while sharing her
travel experiences with an RN from Canada, realized
that she was not alone in her main frustration with
traveling nurse agencies.
"I was never anxious about getting on a plane,
going to a hospital on my very first day, going to an
apartment that I didn't know," Hill said. "The
biggest anxiety that I had was, 'Where's the next place
I'm going to work?'
"I would call my recruiter when I knew my contract
was coming to an end, and she wouldn't return my phone
calls. This would happen over and over again. So you
go ahead and stay for another month," Hill said.
"I was [in] Bakersfield (Calif.) for six months
because my recruiter wouldn't return my phone calls.
And I almost think it was intentional."
That experience became the driving force behind HC
Travelers, which Hill, a graduate of Ball State University,
launched this summer. Negotiations were unsuccessful
with two staffing agencies that wanted to add travel
divisions before a deal for backing went through with
Pinpoint Resources, which had just acquired Healthcare
Professionals, an Indianapolis nursing agency.
Hill said she needed start-up capital of at least $75,000
to cover salary and expenses for two travel nurses for
two months. As an employer, HC Travelers provides health
insurance, retirement and other benefits. Travel nurses
also can expect contracts to include transportation,
housing and a rental car while on assignment, Hill said.
In the first weeks, Hill hired 10 nurses and is screening
other applicants. "My goal is not to grow so quickly
that I can't provide good customer service," she
said. In her way of thinking, her nurse-employees are
customers every bit as much as the hospitals, long-term
care facilities and surgery centers they staff.
"I've heard over and over from travel nurses that
what they want is somebody who will return their phone
calls and be there when they need them," Hill said.
Her days run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the evening and
into the wee hours of the night, she catches up on voice
mail and e-mail. Additionally, she continues to work
occasional shifts in surgery at St. Francis Hospital
& Health Centers in Indianapolis.
At one time, Hill was a perioperative consultant for
an Indianapolis nursing agency, developing a now widely
used skills checklist and tests for potential operating
room nurses and certified surgical technologists. She
also recruited nurses, building the agency's OR nurse
database to more than 50 candidates.
Having walked in their shoes, she knows what it takes
to succeed as a travel nurse.
"You have to be prepared to walk in from day one,
maybe with a five-minute orientation of the unit, and
be able to work on your own," Hill said. Consequently,
she recruits RNs with at least one year of experience
who adapt well to change.
Medical facilities seek travel nurses usually on one-month
contracts as a stopgap for positions they are unable
to fill with permanent employees because of the nursing
shortage, Hill said. Occasionally, six-week and longer
opportunities are available for travelers who cover
for nurses out on maternity, family, disability or other
leaves.
Because they are ambassadors of the company, Hill said
applicants are screened closely for everything from
technical and interpersonal skills to whether they have
been regularly tardy in previous positions. "We're
looking for the cream of the crop," she said.
"It doesn't matter how well I come across to a
company and what I do to make them happy. If I'm sending
them nurses who are not fitting their needs, they're
going to move on to someplace else," Hill said.
What she has found is that RNs not yet tied down with
family obligations are well-suited to travel. So are
older nurses whose children are grown. Perhaps they
are divorced, widowed or their husbands are retired
or have positions that allow them to work almost anywhere.
Hill also encourages nurses to consider, as she did,
an initial position where family is nearby for emotional
support.
"I liked the one-month assignment," Hill
said. "I can do anything for one month. Then if
I liked the facility, I could extend, and if I didn't,
I could move on."
Contact
Phil McPeck at getpjm@aol.com.
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