Nursing has always been considered a noble, worthwhile profession. But the pandemic has shown just how vital nurses can be to the health of a nation—or even the world.
Yet many healthcare entities, especially those that are smaller or in underserved communities, face a serious shortage of nurses.
From RNs to LPNs, nurses are in demand around the country. As a January 2022 piece from The New York Times explains, one smaller Mississippi hospital recently faced the problem of filling 80 nurse openings. And it’s far from alone in that regard.
So what’s the best way to come back from the nursing shortage?
A long-term solution is to entice more adults to enter the profession. However, hospital systems and patients can’t wait years for more nurses to become certified. They need help now…and SnapNurse is ready to answer the call.
How Nurses Are Getting “Snapped Up”
Since its inception in 2017 as an innovative nurse staffing agency, SnapNurse has enjoyed exponential growth.
Designed to connect nurses with temporary job opportunities quickly, SnapNurse has won the nurses’ accolades and facilities it serves. Most recently, SnapNurse led the prestigious Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter list for the healthcare field.
The premise of SnapNurse is as a fast tech-driven conduit to bring nurses and other high-quality healthcare professionals to the attention of facilities looking for skilled, trained workers.
Already, the site has more than a quarter-million nurses ready to jump at the opportunity to work anywhere in the United States. Many SnapNurse users like Reshicka Upshaw, were interviewed for an LA Times article, travel thousands of miles to offer their skills. Upshaw’s SnapNurse journey took her from Ohio to southern California.
She’s hardly alone. Plenty of her SnapNurse colleagues has done likewise to help communities face the effects of Covid. As of early 2022, SnapNurse professionals have collectively cared for more than one-million pandemic-stricken patients—and counting. That’s an impressive number by anyone’s standards and shows how ingenious thinking can tackle something as overwhelming as a nursing shortage.
SnapNurse: Transforming the Healthcare Employee-Employer Relationship
Just what has made clinician-founded SnapNurse rise above other staffing companies and enjoy a phenomenal 40,000% growth between March 2020 and March 2021?
CEO and founder Cherie Kloss believes it’s a combination of agility and speed. Kloss explains, “We [SnapNurse’s team] pride ourselves on our ability to provide dependable, experienced, and credentialed medical staff to hospitals and healthcare facilities in need as quickly as possible.”
Truly, SnapNurse’s unique format and advantages put the site and app in a class by itself.
1. Facilities don’t have to wait long for help.
It’s not unusual for facilities that need nurses to wait one or more weeks to fill openings.
SnapNurse shrinks the wait time to as little as 24 hours. Consequently, facilities can get the right people in place rapidly.
Having an immediate resource for a nurse on staff alleviates pressures on healthcare systems while offering better patient care. Currently, SnapNurse boasts a position fill rate of 100% — meaning nurses have picked up all jobs that have gone through SnapNurse’s portal.
2. Nurses can choose how fast they want to get paid.
For SnapNurse users, the pay can come as soon as right after the end of a shift.
Through their proprietary fintech platform, Paymint, they can pay their nurses daily what they are owed without fees to the nurse. Rather than waiting a week or two to get a paycheck, nurses can tap into their earnings immediately after every shift once their timecard is approved. As a result, they can pay their bills or share money with loved ones sooner.
Essentially, SnapNurse removes financial insecurities that plague nurses who have to make ends meet before payday.
3. Nurses can interface with SnapNurse on an easy-to-use app.
People are accustomed to using their mobile devices to do everything from ordering groceries to checking on this month’s water usage.
SnapNurse users benefit from being able to log into a simplified web app and scroll their way to available jobs. In addition, each posting clearly outlines its specifications, from time commitment to the location to weekly pay rates.
The app user interface itself is a strong selling point, and something people consistently have raved about on SnapNurse’s vibrant Facebook page.
4. Nurses don’t have to worry about the hassle of paperwork and applications.
Nurses interested in joining the SnapNurse system only have to download their credentials and background information once.
After receiving approval, they can instantly begin receiving and applying for jobs. In addition, cutting out unnecessary “busy work” streamlines the distance between seeking and snagging work.
5. SnapNurse gives equal opportunities to nurses from minority and underserved communities.
Breaking generational curses is a deep mission for SnapNurse.
According to the company’s statistics, about 80% of their nurses are Black and other minorities, and many come from underserved areas. SnapNurse has given them the ability to pay off loans, send their kids to college, and enjoy new levels of professional and financial freedom.
In some situations where nurses are in high demand, SnapNurse RNs can earn more than the doctors they work alongside.
6. Nurses can retain their full-time jobs if desired.
Though many SnapNurse users fall into the category of “traveling nurses,” not all fit the mold.
Some users prefer to maintain a full-time nursing position. They use SnapNurse to go when they have extra time and want to pick up shifts in nearby facilities.
In that way, SnapNurse can become a means to improve a nurse’s resume. It also offers the chance to upskill and expand networks.
7. Facilities get to hand-pick from verified SnapNurse users.
Facilities that choose to work through SnapNurse receive some of the highest quality concierge services.
When they need credentialed medical professionals, they can trust that SnapNurse has already done all the “heavy lifting.” In addition, hospitals can save money on recruiting by turning over the bulk of their emergency and anticipated hiring needs to SnapNurse.
A Nurse Staffing Solution for Now — and the Future
Will the nurse shortage start to wane over time? Perhaps as more young people take up the profession. There will always be a need for on-call nurses, though. And that means SnapNurse looks like it’s going to have a long, healthy future ahead of it.
The post SnapNurse: Changing Nurse Staffing for the Better appeared first on ReadWrite.
