How did you decide that nursing was what you wanted to do for a career?
It was really just the opportunity to be able to change and do many different things. You can specialize in whatever part of nursing that you want to specialize in, but you always have the opportunity to change. You’re not married to it forever.
How did you transition your career from being an active nurse in the field to recruiting and staffing?
I started as a clinical nurse in the ICU at the University of Kentucky. Then I went back to school and got my doctorate in nursing practice as an advanced practice provider, also in the ICU. And then someone just happened by chance to see leadership skills in me that they could develop and offered me an opportunity to lead a trauma program.
From there I transitioned into emergency department leadership. Again, not really my background, but I think when you’re talking about leadership in general, you really can transition into areas that maybe aren’t your clinical expertise, and I led an emergency department through the pandemic and then moved to Florida, took over another leadership role, where I learned a lot about magnet programs and nursing education and compliance and hiring.
And then from that role, I really just thought there might be an opportunity to have more clinician-led agencies, staffing agencies in the market.
How did you and Luminous Travel Staffing Co-Founder Shane Slone decide to start the company?
I participated in the AONL director fellowship and in that fellowship program, I met a lot of great people who’d taken a lot of leaps, and they had challenged a lot of processes and really it gave me that thought that, ‘OK, I can do this. I can be an entrepreneur, and I can be a nurse, and I can lead in this space, and this is what innovation may look like for me.’
What did the two of you think you could provide that other healthcare staffing companies aren’t able to at this time?
When you look at the market as a whole, there are 25,000+ staffing agencies that support the U.S. in healthcare, and there’s only about 1% of those that are clinician led agencies.
So there’s really not a large number that are clinician-led agencies. And I think that’s the No. 1 reason why I felt like I wanted to be a part of this journey, is just because I do think we need more clinicians that are opening businesses that support clinicians and that decrease that transactional relationship that often occurs when it comes to staffing and labor.
What are the biggest takeaways you’ve gained since joining the travel staffing industry?
The biggest takeaway is that the markets are what the markets are. They’re going to rollercoaster. Every market at every aspect of the world is affected by highs and lows.
I think it’s just in how effective you are in building the business, in building relationships, in partnering with people and knowing and remembering that you are taking care of people at the end of the day. Regardless of whether I sit in the hospital or in my office at the staffing company, I am taking care of people and I am helping to fill that role and that need in an organization.
Where do you see the travel staffing industry in the next couple years or so?
I do think that as far as the various different industries, nursing is going to be pretty steady. I don’t know that we’re going to see a huge spike in growth.
I do think the allied health industry is going to be increasing in needs. And I think that really has a lot do to with the fact that there’s not a great place to go to know how many allied health employees there are, or licensed staff there are who are available to support the patient care needs of the United States in general.
I think we’re going to see that allied health area rise a little bit. And I think those rates are going to continue to climb, especially because they’re reimbursement-based roles by and large. So they really have a clear effect on revenue and generating revenue for health systems.
Where do you see Luminous Travel Staffing in that environment?
We support nursing and we support allied health, and I think that will continue to be our focus as we move forward. And we will continue to learn and grow as the roles diversify and really being a good partner with staff as they’re looking to transition, no matter where they’re looking to go.
For anyone either just learning about Luminous Travel Staffing or just getting into travel healthcare field, how can they connect with you? What’s the best way to start that relationship with Luminous?
No. 1, you can apply for a job. One of our recruiters will absolutely be in contact. We’re very good about reaching out. Generally within 24 hours of application you’ll hear from someone. It could even be earlier than that. You can also schedule directly on our website to talk to someone.
