At Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, gig nurses can travel anywhere in the organization to take on six- to 13-week assignments. The program allows only nurses with at least two years of experience and has grown to 20 nurses over the last five years. The model has helped attract nurses who enjoy a variety of work, prefer short-term assignments and even attracted travel nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic who did not want to return to a traditional hospital unit.
There are a lot of advantages to this model.
“It allows us to proactively fill anticipated gaps in staffing,” Kristin Ramsey, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of quality at the system, told Becker’s. “For example, if a nurse is going on maternity leave in four weeks, we can plan ahead and have a gig nurse cover that unit for 13 weeks. This ensures continuity and reduces disruption to patient care.”
Some nurses love their assignment so much they stay on at the unit permanently.
“When that happens, it’s a win-win — for the nurse, the unit and the organization,” Ms. Ramsey said.
However, there is one major challenge to the program: not enough nurses are joining it.
This could be due to a number of reasons. Ms. Ramsey said the health system is exploring offering more flexibility in the time frames with jobs that are two, eight, 10 or 12 weeks long or offering per diem options.
But on a national scale, competition for nurses is becoming more fierce amid workforce shortages. With so many systems offering flexible options including remote work, and with more nurses nearing retirement and fewer coming into the field, even in flexible work programs there are staff shortages.
“We have to keep exploring new ways to provide flexible opportunities that keep nurses engaged, satisfied and supported,” Ms. Ramsey said.