Nursing agency

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A Nursing Agency (also known as Home Health Agency or Home Care Agency) is a service provider agency which provides nurses and usually health care assistants (such as Certified Nursing Assistants) to people who need the services of home healthcare professionals. Nurses are normally engaged by the agency on temporary contracts and make themselves available for hire by hospitals, nursing homes, eldercare centers, and other providers of care for help during busy periods or to cover for staff absences. Some nurses may be seconded to private clients who choose to receive their nursing care within their own homes.

Contents

Nature of work

As with other staffing agencies, a large amount of capital is necessary to operate, since nurses must be paid by the registry as often as they work, but the hospital or other institution utilizing the services of the registry might not pay the registry until several months after the work has been done. Profit margins for this type of business go between 4% and 70%.

Nurse staffing is an on-demand business. During holidays, hospitals often pay their staff overtime pay, and thus the need for external staffing services is diminished. An opposite effect is felt during summertime vacations when staff employees at hospitals take time off and the services of the home nursing agency are in greater need.

Nurse staffing is very demanding and requires a high degree of care and responsibility. There are many liability issues that must be kept in mind. Claims of negligence and inappropriate actions by the registry's nurses may result in lawsuits over the bodily injury. Malpractice insurance must be carried by the registry.

As a result of these inherent pitfalls and the progress of web technologies, many nurse staffing agencies evolved to online job boards, which would allow them to match registered nurse candidates with employers' nursing jobs. The web has transformed the nurse staffing industry, making it a more real-time process. Also, by offering direct contact between the candidates and employers, online staffing sites eliminate much of the liability involved in traditional nurse staffing.

By country

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, there are two sources of supplementary nurses - nurse banks and nursing agencies. The former provides nurses paid on as "hours as required" basis and is often contracted to fill planned or unplanned shortfalls in staffing. [1] Agency nurses, on the other hand, are employed through third-party agencies. Recent studies show that it has become common practice in the United Kingdom to use bank and agency nurses to fill vacant shifts in hospitals that cannot be filled by permanent staff. From 2002 to 2003, it was already reported that the National Health Service has spent £628 million on agency nursing. [1] There are sources that cite how nurses employed through agencies tend to enjoy greater rewards and higher pay than those with institutional contracts. [2]

English nursing agencies are regulated by the Commission for Social Care Inspection. [3]

United States

In the United States, they are also called nurse registries. It is a staffing agency which may provide per diem or locum tenens nursing personnel to hospitals, medical offices, and individuals. They are generally small, privately owned businesses. They are also known as "nursing pools" and "nursing staffing agencies". A Nursing Registry as defined (for example) in Florida Statutes 400.462: "Nurse registry" means any person that procures, offers, promises, or attempts to secure health-care-related contracts for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, home health aides, companions, or homemakers, who are compensated by fees as independent contractors, including, but not limited to, contracts for the provision of services to patients and contracts to provide private duty or staffing services to health care facilities licensed under chapter 395, this chapter, or chapter 429 or other business entities.[ citation needed ]

The recent expansion of nursing work in America has led to the increased employment of foreign-born nurses, which account for one-third of the growth of the nursing labor market from 2001 to 2008 and 16 percent of the total U.S. nursing workforce by 2008. [4] International recruiting can be costly for hospitals and, to save money, agencies are contracted and paid flat fee for each nurse employed. [4] The bulk of recruited nurses come from the Philippines and Canada.

Singapore

In Singapore, the nursing registry is controlled by Singapore Nursing Board who categorized the nurses into Registered Nurse and Enrolled Nurse.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Registered nurse</span> Nurse who has graduated from a nursing program

A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to obtain a nursing license. An RN's scope of practice is determined by legislation, and is regulated by a professional body or council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home care in the United States</span>

Home care is supportive care provided in the home. Care may be provided by licensed healthcare professionals who provide medical treatment needs or by professional caregivers who provide daily assistance to ensure the activities of daily living (ADLs) are met. In-home medical care is often and more accurately referred to as home health care or formal care. Home health care is different non-medical care, custodial care, or private-duty care which refers to assistance and services provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors, or other licensed medical personnel. For patients recovering from surgery or illness, home care may include rehabilitative therapies. For terminally ill patients, home care may include hospice care.

A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to indicate whether the institutions are public or private, and whether they provide mostly assisted living, or nursing care and emergency medical care. Nursing homes are used by people who do not need to be in a hospital, but require care that is hard to provide in a home setting. The nursing home staff attends to the patients' medical and other needs. Most nursing homes have nursing aides and skilled nurses on hand 24 hours a day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink-collar worker</span> Someone working in the care-oriented career field

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Permatemp is a U.S. term for a temporary employee who works for an extended period for a single staffing client. The word is a portmanteau of the words permanent and temporary.

Allied health professions (AHPs) are a group of health care professions that provide a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and support services in connection with health care, and which are distinct from the fields of dentistry, optometry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

Home health is a nursing specialty in which nurses provide multidimensional home care to patients of all ages. Home health care is a cost efficient way to deliver quality care in the convenience of the client's home. Home health nurses create care plans to achieve goals based on the client's diagnosis. These plans can include preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative actions. Home health nurses also supervise certified nursing assistants. The professional nursing organization for home health nurses is the Home Healthcare Nurses Association (HHNA). Home health care is intended for clients that are well enough to be discharged home, but still require skilled nursing personnel to assess, initiate and oversee nursing interventions.

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Nursing in the United Kingdom is the largest health care profession in the country. It has evolved from assisting doctors to encompass a variety of professional roles. Over 700,000 nurses practice, working in settings such as hospitals, health centres, nursing homes, hospices, communities, military, prisons, and academia. Most are employed by the National Health Service (NHS).

Private duty nursing is the care of clients by nurses, who may be licensed as RNs or LPNs/LVNs.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nursing in the United States</span> Overview of nursing in the United States of America

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An umbrella company is a company that employs agency contractors who work on temporary contract assignments, usually through a recruitment agency in the United Kingdom. Recruitment agencies prefer to issue contracts to a limited company to reduce their own liability. It issues invoices to the recruitment agency and, when payment of the invoice is made, will typically pay the contractor through PAYE with the added benefit of offsetting some of the income through claiming expenses such as travel, meals, and accommodation.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health professional requisites</span> Regulations used by countries

Health professional requisites refer to the regulations used by countries to control the quality of health workers practicing in their jurisdictions and to control the size of the health labour market. They include licensure, certification and proof of minimum training for regulated health professions.

Unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) are paraprofessionals who assist individuals with physical disabilities, mental impairments, and other health care needs with their activities of daily living (ADLs). UAPs also provide bedside care—including basic nursing procedures—all under the supervision of a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse or other health care professional. UAPs must demonstrate their ability and competence before gaining any expanded responsibilities in a clinical setting. While providing this care, UAPs offer compassion and patience and are part of the patient's healthcare support system. Communication between UAPs and registered nurses (RNs) is key as they are working together in their patients' best interests. The scope of care UAPs are responsible for is delegated by RNs or other clinical licensed professionals.

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References

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  2. Koff, Sondra Z. (2017). Nursing in the European Union: The World of Work. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN   978-1-351-50260-3.
  3. Cassiani, Silvia Helena De Bortoli; Lecorps, Kimberly; Rojas Cañaveral, Luz Karina; da Silva, Fernando A Menezes; Fitzgerald, James (17 August 2020). "Regulation of nursing practice in the Region of the Americas". Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública. 44: e93. doi:10.26633/RPSP.2020.93. PMC   7429928 . PMID   32821257.
  4. 1 2 Jones, Cheryl; Finkler, Steven A.; Kovner, Christine T. (2012). Financial Management for Nurse Managers and Executives. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 186. ISBN   978-1-4557-3342-2.