I Can't Say It Any Better :)

This past week I sent out a mass email to all of our wonderful nurses and client contacts asking for testimonials to update our website with.  If you haven't got the chance, definitely check out our new front page of the website. http://www.amsisthebest.com/  We have changed a few things for the better.  The testimonials below will be added to our website this week.  I could go on and on about AMS and how proud I am of our agency, our office staff and our nurses but I can't say it any better than this ...

AMS has been great for me. From the start they were friendly and very easy to work with. I come to Florida every winter and for the last 3 seasons I have worked with AMS. They keep me as busy as I want to be and the hospital I go to loves them. I've been told by the scheduler at the hospital that AMS is the most dependable and has the best nurses. Scheduling is easy and Janet is always friendly and willing to help. I feel that they are the best to work with and as long as I continue going to Florida during the winter I will continue to work for them. Thank you AMS.
S.G. RN (3 yrs with AMS)


When we are most desperate at the hospital, Lance and Janet always come through. If not with an extra nurse then with kind and professional encouragement. They are truly heaven sent. I love you guys!!!!
A.U. RN (Client)

I love AMS!
M.B. RN (9 yrs with AMS)

Much more pleasant experience than the other agency that I worked with!
C.B. RN (new AMS employee)

I love working with AMS. The office staff is fabulous. They are always looking out for my best interest!
E.L. RN (3 yrs with AMS)

Your office was always so easy to work with when I was a supervisor at the hospital and I have been talking to other nurses and your agency’s name always comes up. :-) Every nurse that has told me about your agency tells me how much they like it. So based on what I already know about you it was an easy decision to work with AMS.
D.P.RN (new AMS employee/ We asked why she chose AMS.)

I was unimpressed with their efficiency at the other agency, and very impressed with yours. In approximately 1 week, I've gotten to a point in the hiring process with AMS that I had to make frequent phone calls & inquiries to get to with the other agency in a month. I appreciate your knowledge, informative process, & as I said before, efficiency.
K.G. RN (new AMS employee / We asked why she chose AMS when she was already in the hiring process with another agency.)

Awesome! I work with AMS because they treat nurses like professionals and back us up! They also pay better than anyone in the area! Not to mention that they all work together to help their RNs out! They're the best! Thanks for being there.
P.N. RN (5 yrs with AMS)

I appreciate all you do and love working for you guys!! You rock!!
S.S. RN (4 yrs with AMS)

    

Have you heard about our Recruitment & Marketing Reward Programs?

Do you know a RN who is working for another agency? Send them our way! They will earn better money & receive better service from AMS.

Do you know a facility that is using agency, but not calling AMS? Help AMS grow & earn extra cash!

Employees & Client's Representatives are welcome to participate in our Referral & Marketing Reward Programs.

Give me a call ... let's talk. Theresa Cole, Administrator & Founder

Phone: 1-800-381-1458 Fax: 1-866-655-4347

The Sandwiched Generation

All of us in the nursing industry have heard the reasoning that the nursing shortage that has been with us for a long time (well over 20 years) and probably will never end is due to the ever-increasing age of the American public. People are living longer and in many cases this is due to the advances of medicine. But to take full advantage of those advances requires nurses. And as the Baby Boomers retire, many nurses are retiring and few nurses of the same skill level are replacing them. 20 years ago your choices in a nursing career path were basically limited to hospitals, nursing centers and home health. Now, the opportunities are limitless and fewer and fewer nurses are choosing the career path of long hours and the demanding schedules of hospitals that take them away from their family and personal life.

This past week there was a trend in our agency. Over 10% of our nurses were taking personal time off to care for their aging parents. It is almost a given in most families that if there is a nurse in the family they are the designated caregiver. Weekly, we have nurses who ask for time off to care for their children but this past week was unusual. As we went name by name and noted why this or that nurse was not working, repeatedly it was "caring for his or her parent". So I guess we can add the nurses who are the caregivers of the family, the Sandwiched Generation ( of which I am one ) who take time off to care for an aging family member, to the multiple reasons we have a nursing shortage in the US.

I am by no means faulting our nurses who take time off to care for a loved one. Just the opposite, I am honored to be associated with such caring and responsible human beings. I'm thrilled that AMS is able provide our nurses with the freedom to create the schedule they need to live the life they want.

Sometimes you have to change and adapt to stay true to your original goal.

It seems that every where you look the small owner managed stores are being pushed out of business by the mega stores who can negotiate crazy low rates for products.   I think the opposite can be said for nursing agencies.  In the 80's and 90's huge nursing agencies appeared.  But it wasn't because they were cutting great deals, it was because the nursing shortage was at an all time high and they could name their bill rate.  Well, those days are long gone.  Today the hospitals name the price and the nurses set their pay and the agency that can manage its expenses and show a profit is the agency that wins.  Controlling expenses is the name of the game when it comes to being successful in the world of vendor management.  It is anticipated that in the next 5 years over 90% of all hospitals in the US will participate in a vendor management program.  When a nursing agency contracts with a vendor management group it means the agency agrees to bill the rates the vendor management group sets and agrees to abide by the contract and in most cases agrees to pay the vendor management group a fee for the use of their software and the services of their client liaison.  Most of our competitors waste precious time and management complaining about the situation instead of adjusting to the changing times.  The benefit of being a boutique agency ( that is PC for small ) is that we are able to make immediate changes and adapt to the ever changing marketplace.  We are able to this without reducing the pay or benefits of our nurses or the customer service we provide our clients.  AMS has taken full advantage of the cost saving opportunities of fully utilizing the Internet, adapting computer software and exploring new technologies.  Being compact ( another PC term for small ) allows AMS to make decisions and implement those decisions without weeks of meetings, polls, discussions and "what ifing".

I truly believe the nurses we represent did not choose nursing as a career to get rich.  They choose to be nurses to help others and earn a decent wage for themselves and their families. I choose to represent highly skilled nurses to in my own ( although much removed ) way help others and earn a decent wage for myself and my family.   No one at AMS is here to get rich and that keeps us focused and willing to adapt so that we can always help our nurses, our clients and their patients.  Because ultimately, that is why I founded AMS and we will always stay true to our original  goal.          

Sometimes you just have to sit back and count your blessings!

A month ago I received in my email a resume' from Cathy, a nurse in West Virginia, who was coming to visit St. Augustine for 2 months starting in Feb.  Her resume' was wonderful but unfortunately she is what we consider a specialty nurse.  I emailed her back, thanked her for interest in AMS and explained that we did not have an opportunity in her specialty and honestly didn't anticipate to see one.  I try to always be upfront and honest with the nurses I work with.  A few hours later I received an internal email telling me the email I had sent Cathy was not received due to a computer glitch of some sort.

A few days later I received a completed application from our website from this same nurse.  I once again emailed her back and explained the situation.   A few hours later I received the same internal email telling me of the computer error in sending my email to Cathy.  Which was strange because my emails were going through to everyone else.   

A few weeks later the same nurse called me to discuss working with AMS.  Cathy had not received any of my "bad news" emails.  I explained the situation, reviewed what other options she had available to her and told her I would stay in touch.  A few minutes after hanging up the phone with Cathy, one of our local hospital clients emailed me with a contract opportunity for Cathy's exact specialty.  The contract was for 8 weeks and started on the day Cathy would be moved to St. Augustine and available.  I emailed Cathy's resume' to the hospital, the unit supervisor called her, interviewed her and offered Cathy the contract.  As simple as that!

Tuesday, Cathy went to Solantic Walk In Clinic here in St. Augustine to complete her drug screen for AMS.  We usually have Solantic call the AMS office for a credit card number.  I was out of the office with the credit card when Solantic called but they did the screen anyway.  That has never happened before.  

Now add to this chain of events the fact that it only took Cathy half of the time it usually takes to get a Florida Nursing License.  And when you consider that her license was processed in Tallahassee during the Christmas holiday ( when just about every government office is closed ) it almost qualifies as a Christmas miracle.  And finally, I have emailed Cathy repeatedly since her phone call to the same email address that was on her resume' with not a single computer error or glitch.

Today I have a new nurse, Cathy, starting a new specialty contract at one of our local hospitals and I can't help but believe it has all taken place in spite of my best "not on purpose" efforts to mess it up. Sometimes you just have to sit back and count your blessings! 

Thunderstorms, Power Spikes & a Fried Computer Server

This has been a Tuesday that I think should be reclassified as a Monday.  Today there were roving thunderstorms throughout Georgia and Florida which I've been informed resulted in some energy spikes.  One of those mean nasty energy spikes found their way to our computer server.  The smoke has now cleared but the burnt smell of computer parts still lingers.  Tomorrow morning is when the we will learn how dependent we have become on computers and how inventive we can be as we schedule shifts and process payroll without computers.  But this is where experience comes into play ... I've been in this business for over 23 years.  AMS was founded back in the Dark Ages of http://www.bc.com/ (before computers).  I remember paper, pencils, erasers, colored markers, legible handwriting and White-Out that came in bottles.  I guess I just seriously dated myself as semi-ancient.  Tonight I'll say a little prayer for patient nurses, inventive office staff and hopefully a rejuvenated computer server.   

UPDATE:  A Huge Thank You to Jerry Ray @ Computer Doctors here in St. Augustine!  He took our sad burnt out server back to his store.  He fixed it, improved it and brought it back to AMS happy and rejuvenated. It is humming right along thanks to his expertise and dedication.          

I love an organized nurse!

Truely, I love an organized nurse.  Let me explain.  I spent most of my day today creating "profiles".  A profile is a collection of credentials, documents, tests, checklists and medical records that we here at the AMS Office present to each of our clients as a way of introducing our new nurse.  A profile can be as short as five pages or as complex as 40 pages depending on the requests of the client.  An organized nurse can make this sometimes overwhelming process of creating a profile feel doable.  I will move mountains for some one who when I say "I need ... ", replies "I've got that, let me email it right over to you."  When I see a nurse walk into our office carrying a briefcase or one of those portable filing cabinets, it takes everything in my being not to jump right up and hug them. So this short blog post is a huge THANK YOU to the organized nurses of the world.     

"A Fun Place to Work"

Recently I received a message on Facebook from a friend who was inquiring about a position for a co-worker. She said "AMS just seems like a fun place to work". She messaged me on a day that I wasn't having fun and her inquiry reminded me of the fun times we have here in the office. It made me remember some of the silly things we do to celebrate our successes.

Until recently we have had a large round desk in our office that three Staffing Coordinators worked at. When ever we would increase our hours scheduled by 100 all of us in the office would run laps around the desk. Picture it...half dozen grown adults jogging around a really big desk...10, 12, 14 times. On a busy day this could happen multiple times in a hour. Oh yes, did I mention? Our office is all windows on 3 sides so everyone in the parking lot and other offices were able to enjoy "the show". Currently here at AMS we celebrate increases in hours scheduled with very loud party horns! I'm sure the man in the office next door probably isn't very thrilled to have AMS as his neighbor. With the New Year upon us and everyone wanting to lose a few pounds, maybe quiet Jumping Jacks should be our new form of celebration?