Why are You Receiving Less Shifts?

During this time of the year, hospitals require fewer agency nurses for a number of reasons. As the end of the year approaches, hospitals are exhausting their budgets, so they can’t afford to bring in as many agency nurses. Instead, they fill needs with their own staff. Also, many hospitals don’t allow their staff nurses to take vacation during the holiday season. Therefore they call upon agency nurses less and less.

Another reason why the demand for nurses isn’t as high in November and December is that doctors schedule less surgeries. Similarly, patients don’t wish to have surgery during the holiday season. Planned surgery is usually delayed until the New Year.

This trend of hospitals requiring fewer staff toward the end of every year has especially been felt this year because of the difficult economic times. Patient volume is lagging because pricey procedures, such as knee or hip replacements, are simply out of reach for patients in this economy.

What can MSOC nurses do to increase their chances of getting a shift? By posting preferred availability and being more flexible with shifts. The odds of a nurse who can work days, nights and weekends getting a shift are much higher than a nurse who can only work weekends. It’s important to be flexible, especially from now until the end of the year.

Maintaining Preferences

The topic of the previous issue was the importance of maintaining your preferred availability, which would get you the shifts you want faster. In this issue, we discuss why you should also maintain your preferences for hospitals and specialties. Doing so can earn you our high-paying shifts even faster.

Now that MSOC has partnered with the Advocates, you have the opportunity to work at one of the 9 hospitals in a chain of respected health care providers. However, why would you drive all the way to Advocate Good Shepherd when you live closer to Advocate Christ? Or why would receive a text message for a shift at Advocate South Suburban when you live in the North side of Chicago? At MSOC, we like our nurses to be flexible but that doesn’t mean you have to work at all 15 of our hospitals. Instead, log onto MSOC‘s website and pick 3-5 hospitals where you would like to work. That way, we won’t bother you with dozens of text messages with shifts from hospitals where you have no intention working at.

The same thing goes for maintaining your preferences for specialties. We’re getting nearly 100 shifts a day from our hospitals but if you’re a Tele nurse, you should only be getting Tele shifts. Remember, to edit your preferences, after logging onto medstaffoncall.com, click on the tab furthest to the right titled ‘Edit Preferences’. If you need help with this, you can always reach Christine at 888-270-8374.