Use These Strategies to Help Travel Nurses Adjust to Your Organization

If your healthcare organization works with travel nurses, you know the importance of making sure they feel welcome and supported during their assignment. Whether you’re working with cross-country travel nurses or those in a specific region, easing the transition can be challenging but is achievable. By taking proactive steps to ensure that travel nurses feel welcomed and included in your organization, you create a work environment that allows them to thrive and maximize their potential. Continue reading this article to learn strategies for helping ensure smooth transitions for your new staff members.

How to Create a Pleasant Transition for Travel Nurses New to Your Healthcare Facility

The need for travel nurses across America continues to be a pressing issue for hospitals and clinics. As staffing agencies and organizations look to place their clinical professionals in open positions, they’re sure to evaluate feedback from employees about their experiences at specific locations. If fellow healthcare professionals have unkind input about how they were treated, it may cost your hospital the chance to work with a highly skilled travel nurse.

To avoid a bad reputation and missing out on top talent, it’s essential to create a welcoming and friendly environment for cross-country travel nurses. Let’s explore some strategies you can implement to make their transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible:

Implement a Travel Nurse Orientation Program

Creating a comprehensive orientation program tailored specifically for travel nurses is essential. But we’ve all been to orientations or meet and greets that felt stiff, generic, and more like a mandatory step than a chance to get to know your surroundings and coworkers. So be sure to have leadership members in attendance. This gives you and your new travel nurses a chance to get to know each other, ask questions, and build relationships.

As for the information you provide, travel nurses should receive an orientation packet that includes the following:

Your facility’s policies and procedures
Safety protocols
Shared and individual goals and objectives
Contact information for key personnel they may need to reach out to while on assignment

When in a new environment and likely know no one you’re working with, it’s easy to feel lost and alone. This readily available information helps travel nurses feel comfortable and confident in their new surroundings.

Assign a Mentor or Partner

If you’re sourcing new staff members from a travel nurse organization that focuses on nurses starting their careers, having a mentor assigned to each new one can be highly beneficial in helping them adjust quickly. Likewise, if you are onboarding experienced staff, partnering them with an in-house team member with similar experience or background allows them to form a bond quickly.

Your organization should consider having the mentor or partner introduce the traveler to other staff members, review processes and procedures, and act as their point of contact throughout the assignment. This lets travelers know who to go to to ask questions without feeling overwhelmed or out of place.

Plan Social Events and Activities

Planning social activities that facilitate relationships between permanent staff and travelers at your facility can also be extremely helpful in making sure everyone feels included. From team-building exercises to group outings as simple as happy hours at a nearby establishment, these activities promote camaraderie amongst all employees—especially cross-country travel nurses that might be unfamiliar with your area.

Though rewarding and often financially lucrative, travel nursing jobs can be stressful. Bring your existing and cross-country travel nurses together with fun activities like:

Group dinners
Scavenger hunts
Trivia or game nights
Hiking, camping, or exploring nature
Attending a sporting event
Visiting an art studio or museum
Craft night

Routinely Follow Up

Travel nursing opportunities are typically most readily available when patient care is needed most. That means your nurse staffing might be stretched thin and extremely busy. This scenario can cause organizations to lose focus on individuals in favor of daily operations.

Be sure to set aside a few minutes for management, mentors, or partners to check in on your travel nurses to make sure they’re adjusting well, keeping up with their duties, and experiencing any setbacks or frustrations. These brief encounters can significantly impact a travel nurse’s overall experience.

Offer Feedback

Much like following up with nurses about their travel assignments can help, so do positive and constructive feedback. Whether the team member came from a travel nurse organization, medical staffing company, or another source, keeping lines of communication open with the agency and travel nurse is essential.

Reputable staffing partners solicit input from the healthcare facility regarding how their traveling professionals are doing. Generally, they’ll ask nursing directors to fill out a mid-term review to get an idea of how well the traveling nurses are faring. Working collaboratively, both parties can formulate a strategy for resolving any difficulties the traveler may face.

Be Inclusive

Make sure to extend an invitation to travel nurses for any upcoming festive gatherings or out of office gatherings, or ceremonies. Establishing a warm and welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels appreciated goes a long way in fostering team spirit among healthcare workers, setting the stage for superior care and success.

Find Out Why Hospitals and Travel Nurses Across America Work With ERN Services

At ERN, we’ve helped travel nurses and hospitals fill staffing needs for over three decades. We employ hundreds of qualified and adequately vetted clinical professionals and work with healthcare organizations throughout the United States to satisfy their needs.

In our 20+ years, we learned that creating an atmosphere of inclusion is vital when it comes to successful transitions into your team. By utilizing these strategies, from orientations tailored especially for travelers to open communication, you ensure that every travel nurse feels welcome and supported during their stay at your facility.

Reach out to ERN today to discuss our healthcare staffing services and enhance your professional team with industry-leading travel or per diem nurses.

Use These Strategies to Help Travel Nurses Adjust to Your Organization

How to Create a Pleasant Transition for Travel Nurses New to Your Healthcare Facility

Implement a Travel Nurse Orientation Program

Assign a Mentor or Partner

Plan Social Events and Activities

Routinely Follow Up

Offer Feedback

Be Inclusive

Find Out Why Hospitals and Travel Nurses Across America Work With ERN Services

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