Preferred Availability: It Really Pays!

The reason for posting preferred availability isn’t obvious. To get straight to the point, when you post preferred availability, you greatly increase your chances of working. MSOC competes with several other agencies to get our quality nurses the shifts they want. MSOC’s technology allows us to auto-book you for the shifts you really want -- no other agency can compete with the efficiency of our technology and get you the shift faster.

However, in order for you to take advantage of MSOC’s technology, you must post preferred availability. Every second counts when a hospital posts a shift and dozens of agencies compete for the shift. Some hospitals post their needs early in the morning when most people are sleeping. Luckily, our technology never sleeps and, as the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm - in our case, the nurse who posts preferred availability gets the shift!

In fact, we’ve calculated that you’re 10 times more likely to get a shift when posting preferred availability than the nurse that waits to accept by text message when it is offered. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise because the nurses who post preferred availability get their shift milliseconds after hospitals post their needs. So make sure you’re the one who wins in the competition for the highest-paying shifts by posting your preferred availability with MSOC! For more information about auto booking call or email. We are always here to help.

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.

Preferred Availability- Why is it so important?

When you first log onto MSOC’s website to post your availability, you will notice that, by default, you are always available. With default availability, you receive text messages when shifts that you qualify for become available.  You may accept those shifts by text message or on the website.  You also have the option to post preferred availability and unavailability. Unavailability blocks certain times of the day when you don’t wish to work (it appears red on your calendar). This way, MSOC won’t bother you with shifts during those hours. Preferred availability (green on your calendar) allows our nurses to choose the time they prefer to work so that they can be auto-booked for shifts that match their preference.  But why is it so important for you to post your preferred availability into MSOC’s system?

The reason for posting preferred availability might not seem clear. Why not just leave your availability as open (the default option) and accept the shifts on your phone? In actuality, by posting preferred availability, you greatly increase your chances of working.  MSOC competes with several other agencies to get our quality nurses shifts. MSOC’s technology allows us to auto-book you for the shifts you really want -- no other agency can compete with the efficiency of our technology and can get you the shift faster.  However, in order for you to take advantage of MSOC’s technology, you should post preferred availability. With preferred availability, our nurses get the shifts they want faster than anyone else.

Preferred availability is one of the main reasons why MSOC is able to pay nurses such high rates. MSOC bridges the gap between hospitals and nurses, cutting out the middle man and improving the quality of staffing for everyone involved. In the end, our savings translate into higher earnings for YOU.

Hospital Update- November

We are happy to announce MSOC is partnering with Advocate Health Care.  Advocate has 9 locations in the Chicago area including:

Advocate Bethany Hospital, Chicago

Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge

Advocate South Suburban Hospital, Hazel Crest

Advocate Trinity Hospital, Chicago

Condell Medical Center, Libertyville

 

Advocate Health Care offers monthly orientations for you to work at any of their 9 hospitals. 

 

St James Hospital Chicago Heights & Olympia Fields

Orientation November 3^rd & 4^th

Provena St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elgin, IL

Orientation Wednesday November 19^th

Provena Mercy Hospital in Aurora, IL

Orientation Monday Novmber 24^th

Call 888-270-8374 or Email info@medstaffoncall.com  today to get registered to attend one of the upcoming hospital orientations.

 

Text Messaging Plans by Carrier

T-Mobile (Customer Service: 1-877-453-1304 http://tmobile.com)

• Unlimited text messages for $15 per month
  
• 1000 messages for $10 per month
  
• 400 messages for $5 per month
  
• 15¢ per message with no plan

U.S. Cellular (Customer Service: 1-800-819-8373 http://uscc.com/)

• Unlimited text messages for $14.95 per month
  
• 750 messages for $9.95 per month
  
• 250 messages for $4.95 per month
  
• 25¢ per message with no plan
  
• Unlimited incoming messages with any plan

Sprint (Customer Service: 1-888-211-4727 http://sprint.com )

• Unlimited text messages for $20 per month
  
• 1000 messages for $10 per month
  
• 300 messages for $5 per month
  
• 20¢ per message with no plan

AT&T (Customer Service: 1-800-331-0500 http://att.com)

• Unlimited text messages for $20 per month
  
• 1500 messages for $15 per month
  
• 200 messages for $5 per month
  
• 20¢ per message with no plan
  
• Unlimited text messages for families for $30 per month

Verizon (Customer Service: 1-800-922-0204 http://verizon.com)

• Unlimited text messages (text, picture and video) for $20 per month
  
• 500 messages (text, picture and video) for $10 per month
  
• 250 text messages for $5 per month
  
• 15¢ per message with no plan

MSOC Nurses Stand for Quality

At MSOC, we understand the importance of quality patient care. That’s why we invite only the most qualified nurses to become a part of our community. Qualified nurses coming together can only mean great things for all of us such as more respect, better pay, and more control.

MSOC nurses know what quality patient care means to patients and their families. The attention to detail, the moments taken to teach and comfort, and friendly disposition towards patients makes all the difference. As a nurse, I created MSOC’s on boarding process to ensure that our commitment to quality patient care shines through each step of the way. Unlike other agencies, MSOC completes a thorough, third-party background check to verify the credentials of our nurses. Our quality nurses must also pass a general nursing exam and a specialty exam with a score of 80% or better. This gives us no doubt that our nurses are knowledgeable in their area of expertise.

We are not just nurses working at hospitals here at MSOC; we are building a community of nurses that can communicate with one another about shifts, hospitals and experiences. Our latest website will allow nurses to leave comments about their latest shift so that other nurses know what to expect. This way, MSOC nurses are prepared for what they might encounter.

At MSOC, we also believe that quality nurses should be compensated well for the quality care they provide for patients. MSOC guarantees the highest pay rates because quality nurses deserve BIG EARNINGS!!

Hospital Updates

Hospital Contracts Available


Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, IL is offering two contracts:

• Med-Surg RN -- Contract 7pm-7am (3-twelve hour shifts per week)


• Labor and Delivery RN -- Contract 6am-6pm (3-twelve hour shifts per week)
  

This is a great opportunity to receive top pay with garunteed shifts. Call today 888-270-8374 or send an email to info@medstafoncall.com for more information.

Hospital Orientations

Most hopsitals require an oriention before you can work at thier facility. Orientations are offered monthly and fill up fast so if you are interested call us or send an email so we can register you.

St James Hopsital in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields

Upcoming dates:

• October 6th & 7th
  
• November 3rd & 4th
  

ER RNs are only required to attend one day of orientation.
ICU, Tele, Med Surg RNs required to attend both days of orientation.

Provena St Joseph Hospital in Elgin

Wednesday, October 15th

Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora

Monday, October 27th

Highest Rates Guaranteed

If you haven’t heard, MSOC has raised its rates radically!!! No competitor comes close to our rates, going as high as $56 for specialty and $50 for med surg. In addition, we guarantee the highest rates. So if you find another agency that pays a higher rate (for the same shift and at the same hospital) we won’t just match it, we will beat it by $1 and raise everyone else’s rates too!

We pay our nurses these incredibly high rates because we are more efficient. In exchange for these higher rates, we ask our nurses to do (a little) work. As a MSOC nurse, you post your availability on our website and receive text messages when shifts become available that you qualify for. You simply reply to the text to accept the shift. If not, just ignore it! This eliminates the pesty phone calls made by other agencies and gives you the highest rates (a win-win situation). Traditional agencies take a high margin (as high as 30%) because they have far too many employees, multiple regional offices and poor technology, all resulting in higher operational expenses. We pass all of our savings on to the end that really does the work: the MSOC members, meaning YOU.

We understand that you may need some guidance as you accept your first shifts the MSOC way. For this, we have a friendly support team and an 800 number to help you whenever you’re stuck. Make sure you check out Christine’s tech column every MSOConnect issue for tips on how to use our technology!