[GHSI]

I was wondering if any nurses who started their own registries would be able to give some advice on how they got hospitals and other agencies that use nurses to use their registry. Do hospitals usually look for price first, size of company, history, etc. I am in the process of setting up and looking to open near the end of the year. Any tips would be helpful and very much appreciated.

[nursinghumor]

Personally, I favor the Guerilla Marketing approach. If you are a nurse, this is one of the best ways to market.

Select your target area, make a list of all the hospitals/nursing homes and Nursing Agencies, Registries.

Sign up with the competition's agencies, and go to their facilities. Once at the facilities, keep your head down and do your job for a few weeks. Get to know the staffing coordinators and administration, in other words, the decision makers.

Inevitably, if you're doing your job well, they'll approach you and ask you to come on staff. At which point, you casually mention that you're starting your own nursing agency and ask if they could help you get your foot in the door.

By that time, you'll have an idea of the working conditions in the hospital, you'll have listened to their staff nurses *****ing for the past few weeks and know what their concerns/needs are. You'll probably meet a few other agency nurses and find out what their agencies are paying them.

This opens up several opportunities.

1. You can network and make contacts at the facility that will later help you get your foot in the door for a contract.

2. You'll be in contact with staff nurses who may or may not be happy working where they are. Some may be interested in picking up extra shifts with an agency at another facility.

3. You'll be in contact with other agency nurses who may or may not be happy with their current agencies. You can ask if they like the agencies they are with, or if they're having problems, find out what their concerns are.

It'll help you make your agency much more user-friendly if you pay attention to their concerns and implement them into your policies.

*************************

Price and stability are the most important qualities facilities will look for. They want to know, if they book you, it's for an affordable price, and that once booked, that shift is covered.

It's always good to have a list of people willing to work a shift at the last moment. Invariably you will get call outs that you'll need to cover at the last possible minute. You then have a choice of:

1. Covering the shift yourself.
2. Scrambling to find a nurse to take it.
3. Let the shift go unfilled and make life difficult for the facility (which happens, but reflects very poorly on you).

Anymore questions, drop me a note here.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.howtostartanursingagency.com