Local healthcare staffing solutions

FAQs about medical staffing platforms, apps, and other services

Navigating the world of healthcare staffing can be complex. Explore our FAQ section to find clear answers and expert guidance on solutions to medical and nurse staffing problems and the benefits of using Nursa.

About using the Nursa platform

1. Is Nursa a staffing agency?

No. Nursa is the newer, better way of finding healthcare staff. It’s a PRN staffing platform that connects nursing clinicians who are looking to pick up shifts with facilities that need them. 

No middlemen. No contracts. No hidden fees. 

The Nursa platform leaves facility administrators and schedulers in full control of scheduling and candidate selection.

For more details: Is Nursa a staffing agency?

2. How does Nursa compare to healthcare staffing agencies near me?

The traditional healthcare staffing agency business model prioritizes long contracts for bigger net gains. Furthermore, they take time to recruit and vet acceptable candidates, which often means even the best staffing agencies are unable to fill short-term and emergency staffing needs.

Alternatively, Nursa’s platform leverages real-time notifications to its existing pool of nursing clinicians (300,000+ nationwide). 

This allows Nursa to effectively help facilities address short-term staffing needs on demand and cover shifts in minutes.

3. How quickly can an on-demand staffing solution place a nurse or other healthcare professional at my facility?

Facilities that use Nursa fill three times as many open PRN shifts compared to facilities that try to fill shifts themselves. 

“For our most recent call out, I was able to post the shift from my phone in thirty seconds and get it filled within two minutes. I love being able to quickly post a shift and let Nursa take care of it for me.” - Kayla van Roekel, Administrator at Forest Grove Rehabilitation and Care Center

4. How does Nursa’s platform support flexible staffing and dynamic staffing services?

Nursa does not impose long-term contracts or minimum quotas on facilities, preferring to allow users the flexibility to use the platform as needed. This flexibility is intentional and supports facilities in adapting their staffing levels to match their patient census needs without overstaffing.

Related: Get the right staffing numbers with a flexible staffing model

5. Does Nursa offer coverage for both long-term and short-term staffing needs?

Yes. Nursa provides a streamlined user interface, allowing facility users to easily post individual or batch shifts. PRN shifts can be posted to the platform in advance for planned shift coverage and up to the last minute for urgent staffing needs. Learn how to implement nurse block scheduling in your healthcare facility.  

6. What makes Nursa’s nurse staffing models more effective for healthcare facilities?

Nursa is so successful in helping facilities because it does not impose minimum-use quotas or long-term contracts. Facilities are never locked into using Nursa with a certain frequency or in a particular amount. 

Nursa’s flexible staffing solutions acknowledge that patient census and internal staff schedules constantly change. 

Instead of imposing requirements, adaptability and responsiveness are core to Nursa’s design. This design replaces rigidity with efficiency in staffing so that facilities can both meet patient needs and avoid the cost of unnecessary staff.

You can achieve efficient staffing at your facility by finding the right balance.

7. What medical staffing support does Nursa provide?

Nursa provides staffing support in several ways to ensure you receive the type of support you need.

• Online chat support is available Monday–Sunday, 6 a.m.–10 p.m. (Mountain Time).
• Our Help Center has facility articles for “How-tos,” “App features,” “Account management,” and more.
• On-the-ground regional teams provide human-to-human support.
• The Nursa Community is a forum for discussions with other facility administrators.
• Nursa’s AI Chatbot “Ask Anything” is available to support clinicians and facilities 24/7.

8. What specialties are most commonly staffed in hospitals via Nursa?

Clinicians who use the Nursa platform to pick up shifts have a wide range of work experience in both post-acute and acute care settings. Typical hospital-setting specialties among the talent pool include the following:

• Intensive care unit
• Medical-surgical
• Emergency room
• Telemetry

9. Can our hospital set specific shift requirements or skills?

Facility users can create custom “Screening Lists” so that clinician licensure and other credentials match the requirements for specific jobs. 

This will filter the candidates requesting a shift, ensuring your time is well spent evaluating only clinicians who meet your requirements.

Here’s a step-by-step flow for how to create customized screening lists in the Nursa app.

10. Can shifts be filled on short notice?

Yes—the platform updates your posted PRN shifts in real time and sends push notifications to local clinicians. 

In the case of an urgent need (shift start time is within 24 hours of posting), Nursa can send out an SMS text notification to all eligible clinicians. 

Facilities can also leverage their regional on-the-ground support team in these situations.

11. How does Nursa address continuity of care?

The app encourages facilities to rate clinicians following each completed and build a Favorites list. 

When a facility user posts a shift or a batch of shifts, they can turn on the Auto-Schedule feature, automatically scheduling any clinician from the Favorites list who requests the shift(s).

12. What is the process for selecting and evaluating PRN nurses and CNAs?

Facility users can browse clinician profiles before accepting a job request and can contact clinicians directly. 

The clinician’s profile will provide information about their license, certifications, other credentials, work experience, and reliability rating.

13. Is there a minimum shift length requirement for posted PRN shifts?

No. Shift times are adjusted and set by the facility user.

14. Can a staffing platform integrate with our existing operational systems and scheduling protocols?

Yes. Keep your timekeeping and scheduling all in one place by integrating Nursa into your facility’s workforce management systems. 

Learn more about Nursa’s available integrations and find your facility's scheduling system on the list.

15. Can I book Nursa CNAs and nurses for home health agencies?

Home health agencies can and do use the platform to source clinicians with home health experience.

16. How does communication work between a facility’s scheduler and Nursa clinicians?

Direct in-app messaging makes communication between a facility and the scheduled PRN clinician easier. In-app messaging can also be used to send a clinician a welcome package for easier onboarding. Learn more in the Nursa how to contact a clinician Help Center article.

17. How does Nursa solve inadequate staffing in medical facilities?

Communities are full of medical professionals who can’t work full time, want to supplement their income from another job, or need the flexibility of contract PRN work. 

Nursa allows facilities to tap into that cohort—typically inaccessible for traditional recruitment—to find shift coverage when they need it.

18. Does Nursa help with onboarding per diem clinicians?

Yes. Nursa partners with ShiftReady, an online resource library that facilities can use to provide clinicians access to training and onboarding materials. For more tips on PRN onboarding best practices, read 5 Ways to onboard PRN nurses at your medical facility.

19. Does Nursa offer remote staffing?

Facility users can use Nursa on their desktop computers or remotely on their phones through the app. 

No more going into work on weekends or late nights to deal with call outs. With just a few taps on your phone, you can manage shift postings and candidate selection from wherever you are.

20. How does Nursa help facilities meet their compliance requirements?

Nursa verifies clinician licenses, performs background checks at no cost to the facility, and includes credential information submitted by all clinicians who request shifts on the platform. 

An important feature is the platform’s customizable credential screening lists. Facility users can create screening lists specific to unit, shift, and clinician type. These lists filter out clinicians without the credentials your facility requires, saving you time while helping you stay compliant.

General questions about hospital and healthcare staffing

21. How does inadequate staffing affect patient care?

Understaffing not only impacts a facility’s finances in a negative way but can have a serious impact on patient care as follows:

• Increased patient wait times and delays in care
• Higher likelihood of medical errors
• Reduced patient satisfaction
• Compromised medical outcomes

For a more in-depth look at the consequences, read Understand the hidden costs of understaffing in nursing.

22. What are nurse-to-patient ratios, and why do they matter?

Nurse-to-patient ratios represent the number of patients assigned to a nurse at any given time. Proper ratios are vital for maintaining care quality and reducing nurse burnout. 

In some states and certain settings, these ratios are government-regulated.

For your reference: 

• Registered nurse-to-patient ratios by state
• CNA-to-patient ratios by state

23. What factors influence census in hospitals and other medical facilities?

Patient census fluctuates, and as a facility administrator, part of your job is to measure and predict the census and schedule staff to align with it. Influencing factors include the following:

• Patient acuity
• Nursing staff availability
• Facility budget
• Compliance with regulations
• Seasonal trends
• Regional medical needs

Learn more here: Patient census: What is it, causes, and how to manage it.

24. How do hospitals and healthcare facilities address nurse shortages?

Hospitals and medical facilities can address nurse shortages with a multipronged approach. The following suggestions are excellent starting points for any facility administrator:

• Leverage per diem clinician contractors: Nursing clinicians who pick up PRN shifts often already have another job. Although unlikely to commit to 35–40 hours a week, their ability to step in for shift coverage is crucial.
• Partner with nursing programs: Nursing programs need partnerships for clinical placements for their nursing students. Partnering with programs not only helps to grow new generations of nurses, but it also serves as an opportunity for future recruitment.
• Retain the nursing staff they already have: Retention efforts are more important now than ever. Facilities should engage in honest communication with their nursing staff to understand why nurses are leaving their jobs and seek to address those challenges directly.
• Maintain safe staffing ratios: The nursing workforce is frustrated, feeling like the demands on their time prevent them from being able to provide quality care. Safe staffing ratios allow nurses the bandwidth to get everything done without compromising patient care.

More on strategies to address the nursing shortage: The nursing shortage: causes, impacts, and solutions.

25. How does a staffing platform differ from traditional recruitment methods in healthcare?

Traditional recruitment for a bedside registered nurse position takes an average of 86 days. Operating your medical facility with even one vacancy for that amount of time can put a serious strain on your staff roster. 

The way our staffing platform helps facilities with this issue is two-fold:

1. PRN nurses can pick up shifts: During the 83 days it takes to recruit and fill a single position, PRN nurses sourced through the platform can fill the schedule gaps to ensure you don’t overwork (and burnout) your internal staff.
2. Facilities can recruit through the platform: Our explicit “no hire-away fees” policy is designed to foster convenient and reliable recruitment. PRN shifts serve as excellent opportunities to observe a nurse at work and determine their capabilities and character. Around 33 percent of clinicians in our clinician talent pool are “currently seeking a full-time or part-time position,” and 10 percent more of them would consider accepting the right job.

Read the report: Nursa 2024 clinician workforce trends.

26. What are the latest staffing industry trends impacting medical facilities?

Expect to see increased integration of technology and AI in multiple facets of healthcare delivery, worsening nurse shortages, higher demand for schedule flexibility from clinicians, and growth of PRN contract labor through staffing platforms.

For a more in-depth exploration of these trends, see: A close look at the top nursing trends of 2025.

27. How does efficient and effective staffing impact hospital costs?

We know that hospital facility executives, including chief nursing officers (CNOs), are experiencing significant financial pressures. Staffing efficiency is possible by maintaining a solid internal staff roster and augmenting coverage for patient census fluctuations with contracted PRN nursing professionals. 

This strategy allows facilities to avoid overstaffing during periods of low patient census and reduce costs associated with W-2 employees (benefits, overtime, PTO, etc.) while maintaining safe staffing ratios when the patient census increases.

28. What regulations govern nurse staffing?

Regulations vary by state and type of facility, often involving mandated nurse-to-patient ratios or guidelines on working hours and overtime to ensure patient safety and quality of care.

States approach the topic of overtime (mandatory or not) differently. Refer to your state’s respective overtime laws for more information.

The CMS Staffing Rule imposes minimum staffing standards on all nursing homes that are Medicare- and Medicaid-certified.

Understanding medical staffing services & models

29. What are staffing solutions, and how can they support healthcare facilities?

Funding nursing programs, expanding the nurse pipeline, and regulating staffing ratios are examples of big-picture systemic changes that—while important—do not address the “now” issue of staffing shortages in healthcare.

Our platform offers staffing solutions that are customizable, flexible, and strategic so that facility administrators and schedulers can address the shift gaps in their schedules now.

30. Why are fewer healthcare facilities using travel nurses?

Simply put, relying on travel nurses isn’t cost-effective or sustainable. 

Travel nurse contracts are usually eight to 13 weeks in duration. They are notoriously expensive because they factor in an hourly rate for work plus expenses for relocation, housing, and meals. 

These characteristics mean travel nursing contracts aren’t practical solutions for chronic staffing needs because they are financially unsustainable and lack the flexibility to adjust staffing levels if the patient census drops during the contract period.

As facilities prioritize cost-effective staffing approaches, more are turning to PRN contracted labor for precision and efficiency.

Learn more about how attitudes toward contracted labor in the healthcare sector are changing: Healthcare Executives' Views on Contract Nursing Labor.

31. What is flexible staffing, and why is it important for hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and other medical settings?

Flexible staffing allows facilities to augment and reduce their staffing levels to align with a fluctuating patient census. 

If facilities grow their internal staff rosters to be able to match peak census volume, they risk overstaffing the rest of the time. Alternatively, understaffing contributes to turnover, negative patient outcomes, and all the financial costs that accompany them.

Flexible staffing is a cost-effective strategy that supports a strong internal staff core and uses contracted PRN clinicians to bolster the ranks when the patient census rises. 

Addressing staffing challenges

32. How can a staffing app or platform help solve inadequate staffing in nursing?

Many of the solutions presented to facilities focus on future gains: improving the pipeline, growing nursing program capability, and long- or medium-term temporary staffing contracts.

Although beneficial, these solutions fail to solve the day-to-day scheduling issues.

The Nursa platform provides temporary staffing solutions in real time without imposing long-term commitments. This allows facilities to respond to last-minute call outs, find coverage for staff PTO, and all the scheduling gaps in between.

33. Can local staffing services help address regional staffing shortages in healthcare?

Absolutely. Tapping into the local talent pool to fill shifts is a smart strategy because it utilizes the workforce resources already available in your community and the surrounding areas.

This strategy creates impact in real time and doesn’t rely on waiting for the future growth of the nursing workforce.

34. How can a healthcare staffing company help alleviate staffing shortages in healthcare?

Nursa’s platform allows facilities to connect to the clinician workforce, which is unavailable to fill long-term position vacancies but is very available to pick up occasional shifts.

Furthermore, it facilitates schedule autonomy, which nursing clinicians increasingly demand.

35. How do I know if a nurse staffing model fits my facility’s unique needs?

All facilities have different needs that change from week to week or even day to day. Depending on the type of nursing care your facility provides and your geographic location, you may be held to specific regulatory standards regarding patient census and staffing ratios.

Ultimately, when examining staffing models for your facility, you should look for the following qualities:

• Flexible: A staffing model should allow you to respond to changes without overcommitting.
• Customizable: The model shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Staffing models should be customizable to your facility’s needs, taking into account variability of demand for healthcare services and required licensure types, specializations, and work experience.
• Cost-effective: Healthcare operating costs are increasing for facilities. Staffing is a significant portion of a facility’s budget and should be strategically and effectively managed.

Technology & efficiency

36. What features should I look for in healthcare or nurse staffing software?

When considering software options to support your staffing needs, you’ll want customizable features.

Nursa’s public API offers peerless integration with your existing applications while maintaining its core features that allow you to post PRN shifts and manage shift tracking data.

37. How does technology influence medical staffing? 

Technology, such as staffing software, improves scheduling efficiency, predicts staffing needs, and optimizes resource allocation. 

Examples of technology in medical staffing specific to the Nursa platform include algorithms for clinician-shift matching and shift pricing guidance that will keep you competitive in the market.

Operational details and compliance

38. How do per diem staffing arrangements work?

Some facilities manage their own internal per diem staff pools. Generally, facilities are held to the same standards for their in-house per diem staff as they are for their full- and part-time rosters (overtime regulations, benefits, paid time off).

Alternatively, per diem clinicians sourced through Nursa’s platform operate as vetted independent contractors, relieving facilities of any overhead costs for credential verification, background checks, and benefits. 

With this type of contingent staffing arrangement, facilities only pay for the shifts worked.

39. How do staffing services work?

The way that staff augmentation services work depends on the company’s business model. Agencies and platforms may employ their healthcare professionals and “loan” them out to facilities for agreed-upon periods. 

Alternatively, they may operate with a contract work model, wherein the clinicians are 1099 independent contractors.

40. What do healthcare staffing companies do?

Although medical staffing companies’ features and business models can vary widely, their core service is sourcing healthcare professionals, or talent acquisition.

Depending on the company, this may or may not include the following:

• Recruitment
• Candidate selection
• Contracts
• Credential verification and background checks