HWL Insights

As a flex pool or travel nurse, you're often the "new nurse" on different units. While this role brings exciting opportunities, it also presents unique challenges. Here's how to navigate them with confidence and professionalism.

As a nurse, you're always looking for ways to grow your skills and advance your career. Flex pool nursing, often seen primarily as a way to enjoy scheduling flexibility, actually offers a wealth of professional development opportunities. Let's explore how being part of a nursing flex pool can boost your career and expand your skillset. 

As a nurse who thrives in the dynamic and ever-changing environment of float pool assignments, you are part of a unique group within the healthcare community. Adaptable, resilient, and continually optimistic, you embrace the challenges and rewards that come with floating between various units within a healthcare institution.  

In the dynamic and unpredictable business of modern healthcare, the importance of an adaptable and resilient workforce cannot be overstated. After we experience the annual year end mad dash of elective procedures patients schedule strategically to beat resetting deductibles and the long winter months of seasonal illness that require us to “staff up” for volumes, late Spring & Summer can be deceptive seasons for healthcare leaders as patient volumes decrease and staffing appears to “stabilize.” Inevitably, the reprieve is always short lived, so it is imperative we spend those calmer times planning, implementing and/or optimizing our workforce strategies for the next evolution. Even healthcare systems currently experiencing low turnover rates and minimal reliance on external contingent labor should consider investing in and optimizing an internal resource pool, or Local Insourced Flex Team (LIFT). This strategic move is crucial in addressing seasonal fluctuations in patient volume, unexpected staff absences, and the prolonged time required to fill vacancies. Additionally, it provides a local solution to the ongoing nursing shortage and serves as a retention mechanism by offering flexible work options, alternatives to travel nursing & competitive compensation that benefit both the organization and its employees.

Internal resource pools (IRP), also referred to as float pools, are a fairly recent development in the healthcare space that were designed by helping organizations become more flexible and efficient in meeting their staffing needs. Different departments work at different paces and have varying needs based on fluctuating patient volume and other external factors. IRPs are a centralized database of part-time, full-time, and contracted staff who are pre-approved to work in various departments and can fill demand on short notice.

Let’s be real - travel nursing is awesome, BUT it requires a LOT of coordination to achieve the maximum benefits of top pay and flexibility. What if you could achieve most of the benefits of travel nursing with the job security of a staff nursing position? Have you considered joining an Internal Resource Pool (IRP) aka Local Insourced Flex Teams (LIFT)?