As nurses and health professionals are seeking more freedom, flexibility, and a work-life balance in their careers, more are switching from full-time jobs to picking up per diem shifts and assignments. With so many nurses and health professionals exploring per diem-style work, facilities who utilize per diem healthcare professionals in their area are finding it easier to fill gaps and create a strong extended workforce that keeps budgets in line and reduces strain on full-time staff.
Medely was founded to bridge the gap between per diem nurses and health professionals with facilities who are looking for a more modern solution for achieving staffing goals. Now, we’re excited to add Las Vegas, Nevada as one of our 40+ per diem markets across the country and are ready to bring facilities a better solution for utilizing contingent labor.
Las Vegas Healthcare Staffing Shortages
Las Vegas was home to over 660,000 people in 2023, and with 40 million visitors that same year, the need for quality nurses and health professionals is critical. Keeping up with the regular population demand is taxing enough, but adding on top of it the mass number of visitors can mean increases in patient demand and fluctuating staffing ratios, leading to understaffed facilities, high nurse-to-patient ratios, and more fragmented patient care.
In 2022, Nevada was ranked 45th in terms of registered nurses per capita, showing that the state continues to lack sufficient nurse support. According to a 2022 study by the Nevada Health Workforce, “Despite steady growth in the number of new nursing graduates from Nevada nursing programs and registered nurses moving to Nevada from other states over the past decade, the Center estimates that Nevada currently needs over four thousand additional registered nurses simply to meet the national population-to-RN average.”
With such a staggering number of nurses needed to not just exceed the national population-to-RN average, but simply meet it, a solution to solve this critical shortage is needed as soon as possible. While Nevada has passed legislation that works to increase the number of nurses, there needs to be a way to utilize current nurses and health professionals already in the workforce in the meantime.
The Power of Per Diem Staffing
While there are current staffing options to fill gaps like utilizing agencies or leaning on full-time staff, there are major downsides to both of these. Full-time staff are becoming more and more burnt out, and solely relying on them during a high-stress time can lead to turnover. Going the agency route can seem like the next best option, but agencies are expensive, time-consuming, and don’t offer the flexibility that most facilities are looking for when creating an extended workforce strategy. In a bustling tourist city like Las Vegas, leveraging local per diem nurses and health professionals is the most effective way to maintain flexible and reliable staffing amid fluctuating demands.
With an increasing number of nurses searching for better work-life balance, the number of per diem nurses and health professionals in the country is growing. In Medely’s Nurse Sentiment Survey from May 2024, 96% of nurses shared that “working per diem shifts helps them achieve a work-life balance.” With such a large number of nurses who are leaving the field full time and looking for a more flexible work schedule, facilities can use this to their advantage to create a solid workforce strategy that supports both their full-time staff and reduces labor spend.
Medely’s Talent Marketplace
Medely offers a better solution for finding local per diem nurses and health professionals. Talent Marketplace has over 300,000+ nurses and health professionals across the country. In Las Vegas, for our top five most requested specialties, PACU RNs, Pre-Op RNs, Circulating RNs, Surgical Techs, and MAs, we have over 2,200 active pros who are ready to pick up shifts as soon as they’re posted, allowing facilities to fill shifts in just minutes.
After posting a shift or assignment to the Talent Marketplace, it will be sent to qualified Medely nurses and health professionals in the area based on the specialty and skillset required. All nurses and health professionals using Medely have been vetted and credentialed, which includes a rigorous interview and skills assessment to ensure they have the necessary requirements to pick up shifts.
Medely makes it easy to find nurses and healthcare professionals who fit your facility’s culture. With our innovative Favorites Feature, you can quickly save and rebook top-performing professionals who have excelled in past shifts. By having a consistent, go-to team of per diem nurses and health professionals, facilities are able to establish relationships with these favorites, provide continuity of care with no gaps in coverage, ensure a good fit for their patients and staff, and spend less time onboarding per diem staff.
Talent Fusion
For facilities looking to build a more diverse extended workforce strategy, Medely’s Talent Fusion offering provides a centralized view of all available options. Our latest tool allows facilities to manage their internal resource pool, agencies, and Talent Marketplace in one integrated system. With Talent Fusion, we fill any shifts posted with the most cost-effective solution first. Typically, this is a facility’s internal resource pool. If none of the nurses and health professionals in the internal pool can take the shift, it will be sent to Medely’s network of nurses and health professionals within Talent Marketplace. If nobody in the Talent Marketplace picks the shift up, it will then go to the facility’s agencies through our Vendor Management System. Having an all-in-one solution allows facilities to access staffing data, like fill rate, busy times, average hourly rate, nurse or health professional availability, and more. With all staffing data in one place, it makes it easier to stick to a pre-approved budget and create reports on staffing ROI to better inform future decisions.
Create a Flexible Extended Workforce with Medely
Per diem nurses and health professionals are part of a strong extended workforce strategy that allows facilities to customize their coverage based on patient demand, unexpected callouts, or planned staffing shortages. Looking for per diem nurses and health professionals in Las Vegas? Get started today!