Hospital leaders have managed nursing shortages for decades, deploying strategies such as float pools, flexible staffing and using travelers to help manage patient census. The more troubling shortage facing hospital administrators is for highly specialized nurses for critical care areas. Hospitals depend on the additional experience required for these positions, which could also include further training certifications. New nursing graduates are not eligible for these positions right out of school and often hospitals compete to recruit highly specialized nurses, which results in the classification for these positions as hard-to-fill specialties.High acuity units not only provide intense complex care, typically in low patient/nurse ratios, but also serve as revenue generating opportunities for hospitals, such as the Operating Room (OR) or Labor, Delivery, Recovery, Postpartum (LDRP) unit. Critical care units, such as the ICU, NICU and PICU, are important for hospital throughput to avoid delays or deferrals in the ED. Bottom line: high acuity, hard-to-fill nurses are crucial for most hospitals.

What specialties are included in hard-to-fill?

• L&D and Nursery

• Critical Care, including: ICU, PICU, NICU (II, III)

• Cardiac specialties: CVOR, CVICU, Cath Lab, CV Tech

• Case Management

• ENDO

• ER and PER

• Pediatrics

• HEMO

• IR

• OR

• Psychiatry and Adolescent Psychiatry

As the pioneer and industry leader in Rapid Response® travel nurse staffing solutions for more than 25 years, Fastaff has built an extensive database of hard-to-fill specialty nurses. Approximately two-thirds of our experienced nurses are in a hard-to-fill specialty, with 73% of completed assignments in the last three years in a hard-to-fill specialty.Our in-house recruiters work closely with highly specialized nurses across the country who are often packed and ready to depart. Unlike traditional travel agencies who often recruit med/surg nurses, Fastaff’s robust database of hard-to-fill nurses guarantees the coverage your most intense units need, securing optimal patient care and minimizing deferrals. Whether your facility is experiencing a censes increase, or recruitment efforts for a core FTE hard-to-fill position is taking longer than anticipated, contact Fastaff for guaranteed delivery for flexible-length assignments.