Ever wonder what exactly a Nurse Advocate (NA) is and what they do at Trusted? Read on to hear from Ashley, one of our current team members about a typical day for her.
What exactly does a Nurse Advocate do
At Trusted, your Nurse Advocate becomes your main point of contact once your profile is complete and you’re actively on the job hunt. Our primary responsibilities include facilitating offers (from the time the offer is issued to the time you sign a contract) and being a resource to you during your job search. We work closely with members of our Care Team throughout this process to ensure that your profile is complete, updated, and we have everything we need for submittal; to send and receive updates to our vendor/facility partners regarding your submittal; and to communicate with our partners regarding offers to make sure everyone is on the same page.
How Nurse Advocates are uniquely suited to help Trusted nurses
At Trusted, our entire team of Nurse Advocates and Clinical Success Partners is made up of nurses. This means that we can use our own education and experience to help fellow nurses succeed in their career, from searching for your next role to settling in to a new (to you!) city.
I personally have been a NICU nurse for nine years, and a Nurse Advocate for three. I also traveled for two and a half years, so I bring a wealth of knowledge to the table at this point! I have not only seen but have been immersed in both sides of the travel industry and I am able to help navigate a lot of different scenarios that come up because I’ve experienced them firsthand (and in many cases, from both sides of it!).
Pros and cons of the trusted model
As with anything, the Trusted model has its pros and cons. In my experience, the top item on both of those lists (depending on who you ask) is that we tend to be more hands off than the traditional recruiter. We believe that every nurse should be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their career and job search, so we let you take the lead! Some nurses love having the ability to be independent in searching and applying for positions, whereas others prefer the traditional recruiter experience where jobs are sent to them based on what the nurse and their recruiter have discussed.
Some of the things that I find to be huge pros with the Trusted model are:
- The transparency of our Match pages. I always found it so frustrating to have to wait on someone else to provide me with all of the information I needed to decide if I wanted to apply for a position.
- No blind submittals! You have total control over where and when you are submitted.
- The support of clinicians through the entire process. Whether working with your Nurse Advocate to find a position, or with your Clinical Success Partner while on assignment, another nurse will be your main point of contact during those key parts of the travel process.
- Our goal is not to find you a job, it’s to find you one that you’re excited about. We truly care about your experience and helping you find exactly what you’re looking for!
Some things that might be considered cons:
- Our focus on putting you in the driver’s seat starts from day one! That means that you’ll be responsible for inputting your work history into your profile and ensuring that it’s accurate. Don’t worry - we’re happy to help troubleshoot! It’s just different than a traditional agency, where your recruiter often enters that information for you.
- We might occasionally reach out with “hot” jobs, but most of the job search will be you reviewing Matches. If you’re looking for someone to send you jobs based on your preferences, Trusted might not be the best fit. (Though I will say, we do make it pretty simple to filter your Matches based on those preferences!)
- You have various points of contact throughout the process, rather than working with your recruiter from start to finish. We think this is a good thing, though! It allows each team to really become experts in their roles, rather than knowing a little bit about a lot of things.
👉Read more: Understanding the Trusted Care Team
Traveling with Trusted
Trusted can be good for ANY travel nurse, whether new or seasoned…it all depends on what you are looking for out of the experience!
Personally, I would have loved to have a nurse in my corner when I was traveling. While I had positive relationships with most of my recruiters, and overall good experiences at facilities, there were some situations I ran into where having a clinician on the other end of the phone would have been hugely beneficial. No one gets a nurse like a nurse, and while they may not have influenced the outcomes any differently, I think I would’ve felt much more heard and understood.
No one gets a nurse like a nurse.
I also really love our Care Team model. Much like at the bedside, we rely on our teammates who are experts in different areas to provide the best overall experience for our nurses. Our collective goal is truly to be nurse-first, and whether it’s the teammates you’re talking to or the ones working behind the scenes on our websites, partnerships, etc, we share that vision and work hard to bring it to fruition.
Learning from the NA role
The biggest surprise to me in this role was learning about the “other side” of the travel industry. I think as nurses and as travelers, we have a picture of what the process looks like, but we don’t have full insight into all the key players and what happens behind the scenes. For example, I had no idea that there were vendors as the middle man between the agency and the facilities, or what their role was.
The other huge surprise to me were all of the parallels that can be drawn between this role and the bedside. When we have big changes in internal processes, we liken it to an EMR conversion. Working with various members of the Care Team to get the best outcome for the nurse is like collaborating with interdisciplinary team members towards the best outcome for the patient. The undeniable difference is that nothing on our end is life or death, but these comparisons really helped put things into perspective, especially when I first transitioned into the role!
Nurses helping Nurses
There have been several times when I felt as though I’ve helped someone out in an impactful way. A few that come to mind immediately relate to nurses really being able to live out a dream of theirs in one way or another. One of my very first nurses (shoutout to Jess!!) accepted an assignment at UCSF where she’d been wanting to work for a while, and later took a staff position there - she’s still happy and thriving out in San Francisco.
I was also able to help Bridget find the perfect setup for herself and her new husband - they recently bought their dream home outside of Billings…made possible in part by travel nursing, and finding an amazing assignment where she will be going staff in August. It’s always sad to see these awesome nurses go, but so fulfilling to know that they’re excited about what’s going on in their lives and careers.
The other wild thing to think about is the indirect impact that we at Trusted are making on patients. While our nurses are the ones who are at the bedside helping to ensure people are getting the great care they need, it’s pretty incredible to think about how many patients are impacted by each nurse that takes an assignment with us. While my own personal impact feels pretty small, when I step back and look at the ripple effect of helping my nurses secure a contract, then the patients and families they are impacting as a result…it almost leaves me speechless. I never thought I’d step away from the bedside, but there’s something really special about being able to support my amazing peers in the nursing profession.
It’s pretty incredible to think about how many patients are impacted by each nurse that takes an assignment with us.
Sign up, or log in to Trusted today and get in touch with folks like Ashley who can help you build the life you want.
