Creating an Army of Travel Nurse Practitioners

I have been working on and off for the same geriatric outpatient clinic network since 2016. They have clinics in multiple states and continue to expand in new territories. The new PCP orientation and training has been extended from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. 

This has led to a demand for temporary coverage. If a provider goes on FMLA or quits suddenly, the process to find a new physician and from the date in which they can start seeing patients, can take 3-6 months or longer. By the time the new physician is hired, they have to complete the 4-week orientation and training, and then they have a ramp up schedule of seeing 5 patients the first week, then 6 patients the following week, then 8 weeks the following week etc. 

A patient panel of 300-400 can take 4-6 months to be transitioned into the new providers schedule. Hence, suddenly I am being flooded on a daily basis with requests to provide coverage at a different clinic. I am a quick fix because I can start seeing a full schedule of patients on day 1. Sure it’s nice to feel wanted, but there is clearly a need that I, alone, cannot fill.

The company does hire locum tenens clinicians to cover on a temporary basis. However, I am the only clinician that has worked with the company multiple of times in several different markets. So even these locum tenens providers would need to do the 1 month training and ramp up schedule. I remember when I first started working with the company, the CEO at the time had asked me if I was interested in going permanently with them and being in charge of building a team of other travel nurse practitioners. 

At the time (and currently), I did not want to transition to a permanent position. But at this point, I have a strong relationship with the company. Enough that I am willing to assist in building and training a team of other travel nurse practitioners for them. Of course, I would not do this for free, but it would be nice to have other similar providers to be available when there is a need (and there is always a need). 

I reached out to the CEO to see if they were interested in hiring a group of travel nurse practitioners. Ones that could complete their orientation and be assigned to me for further training. So that when there is a need, they would be able to start right away – seeing a full schedule of patients. Normally, the new physicians complete orientation and begin seeing patients per ramp up schedule. Working with this company is a huge learning curve for any provider, but especially for nurse practitioners. 

Personally, I learned a lot my first year with the company, and fortunately I had a geriatrician sitting next to me that I could go to for any questions. I have helped train several nurse practitioners after they completed their orientation, and they all verbalized without that extra support from me, they wouldn’t have made it. 

So if the company does decide to move forward with proactively hiring travel nurse practitioners, whether via a locum tenens agency or internally, I would like to help in the success of these travel nurse practitioners. Since I extended in Bradenton, I have 3 months I can do this. It’s challenging to train other providers when you don’t know the patients yourself (in this model). Since I know my current panel, that would make it easier.

Let me know if you are interested in getting trained for this travel nurse practitioner position so I can let the company know! They are definitely interested in this.