This nurse staffing company built its reputation on the expedited delivery of highly experienced nurses.

Nurses in the Southern US are known for being some of the most skilled and well trained in the industry. These factors are generally a result of working in environments with higher nurse-to-patient ratios, as well as cross training in multiple specialties to pick up more shifts. As a former travel nurse from the South, Paul Gunnoe, president and CEO of Travel Nurse Solutions, understands this all too well.

Paul Gunnoe, President and CEO

Although the concept behind TNS is nothing new, the company provides something most typical staffing agencies don’t: a 24- to 72-hour turnaround on nurse staffing requests. As the largest rapid response nurse-staffing agency in the country, with more than 30 years of experience, Gunnoe and Alabama-based TNS have changed their focus from surviving to thriving.

“We’re a rapid response agency, and when we go into a hospital we go in to partner,” Gunnoe said. “We may not always be their first call, but when hospitals do call TNS, they can expect us to provide highly experienced candidates within a matter of days.”

Timing is everything
Looking to expand their marketshare and strengthen their customer base, Gunnoe and his team relocated their headquarters from Mississippi to Birmingham, Alabama in 2003 in an effort to strengthen their Southern nurse database and establish a stronger client base. At the time, the hospitals in the Southern region were not using travelers. However, once they started, Gunnoe and his team were prepared with a stronghold of nurses ready to work and a priceless understanding of the culture.

“Working conditions in the South have improved since hospitals began using travelers because it’s decreased their workloads,” Gunnoe said. “We based ourselves here because we knew when the hospitals began using travelers, they would want to work with one of their own.”

TNS charges more for its services than the industry standard, but in the long run, the clients save money. Gunnoe said most traditional staffing companies built their success on offering travel nurses jobs anywhere in the country, but their turnaround time from request to nurse placement can be weeks.

“Hospitals can lose between $5,000 and $10,000 a day per bed when they have to shut them down,” he said. “It’s worth their while to pay for expedited delivery of a seasoned nurse to keep beds open and generating revenue.”

Matter of respect
Gunnoe said more hospitals are signing on with TNS as the nursing shortage intensifies. The company’s rapid-response delivery model and wide-reaching staffing abilities make it much more competitive, but the real key to the company’s success is the respect with which it treats its nurses.

Like Gunnoe, many of the company’s upper-level managers were once travelers themselves. “We know what our nurses deal with on an everyday basis,” he said. “The managers who came from that industry play an integral part in TNS’ development and continued success.”

Internal employees go through multiple weeks of orientation and are taught the ins and outs of the entire industry, allowing them to properly screen and match nurses and clients for the ideal work experience. Because TNS matches nurses based on qualification and experience, not location, it is not unusual for a nurse to work an assignment thousands of miles from home. The Birmingham headquarters acts as a support network, with TNS staff members available 24/7 to answer any calls from clients or travelers in the field.

“Our goal is to provide nurses with the most stress-free working experience possible. In doing so, we handle everything, including their travel and housing accommodations. They need only show up with their toothbrush and stethoscope,” Gunnoe quipped.

Looking forward
TNS also invested in the inhouse development of a customized ERP, which integrates all components of the company, including the company’s CRM, financial packages, payroll services, and travel and housing functions. The Travelware system, which was rolled out in May 2006, also communicates directly with the company’s Web site so nurses can log in remotely and update their profiles and resumes. Travelware also updates TNS’ job listings so nurses can look online, pick up the phone, and let their recruiter know what jobs they’re interested in at anytime.

Because the system is more than just a CRM and also handles the company’s payroll and billing, the level of accuracy and the timeliness of the billing cycles is unsurpassed. “Many of our clients have noticed by the accuracy of our bills that some of their other agencies were not billing them correctly,” Gunnoe said. “Consequently, our clients have started inquiring about purchasing the staffing piece of Travelware to regulate their own internal functions.”

Although it’s still too early to go down that road, Gunnoe believes software sales could be a future source of revenue. For now, he’s focused on expanding his current business model through organic growth and a focus on integrity. “Much of our success is due to a work environment based on honesty and mutual respect for our internal employees, our clients, and our nurses on the road. We can boast at being the biggest right now, but our goal is to be the best,” he concluded.