Working as a nurse is an extremely rewarding but also very stress inducing profession. While nurses may choose to be employed directly through a hospital or healthcare agency, other nursing professionals opt to work with a professional nursing agency so that they can focus their attention on their patients instead of their job security and satisfaction. Here are 5 benefits of working with a professional nursing agency.

1. Working through an agency can often allow you to get higher earnings as a nurse than you would through a hospital or healthcare agency. Almost every nursing agency will provide their nurses with higher hourly wages that hospitals or health agencies are not able to provide to staff due to budgets and cuts. Since nurses are often able to pick up extra hours or even double shifts, these extra earnings can make a huge difference in a nurse’s annual salary.
2. Nursing agencies allow nurses more flexibility with their hours. Nurses can request time off as well as the hours they would prefer to work so that they can spend more time with family and responsibilities outside of the work place. While night shifts may work for some people, they can be extremely inconvenient for others. Hospitals do not give nurses the option to choose if they would or would not want a night shift, whereas nursing agencies provide this option and flexibility.
3. Agencies will often provide their nursing staff with regular training and on the job preparation to ensure they have mastered skills and techniques. This is especially essential for nurses with limited experience, but it can also be helpful for experienced nurses who want to brush up on specific skills in a low-pressure setting. It is also a great way to stay on top of cutting edge information and technology in the medical and healthcare world.
4. Receive a better range of job opportunities. Agencies have lots of connections with a wide variety of healthcare institutions from hospitals, private institutions and even in specific departments like geriatric units. This will open up the opportunities available to a nurse tremendously so that he or she is not limited.
5. Most agencies also have tracking and scheduling systems in place, which make their lives easier as a organization, as well as the lives of their nurses. As a nurse, you will need lots of documentation, paperwork and certificates. These systems keep track of all of these necessary documents in one, convenient place. In addition, they allow nurses to see their schedules so they can stay on top of their work obligations each week.

If you are a nurse, it is a wise idea to look into the benefits of nursing agencies in your local area to compare the benefits to your current situation as a hospital or healthcare center employee. Agencies often provide higher pay, more flexible hours, regular training, a wider variety of job opportunities in any area including geriatric nurse practitioner programs, and tracking and scheduling systems. These features allow nurses a better work environment and a healthier nursing lifestyle.