Social comparison and perceived envy-motivated communication involving travel nurses: A qualitative study.

AIM: This study investigated travel nurses' perception of their communication and relational experiences with other nurses. BACKGROUND: It is common for nurses to offer and to accept help, especially since nurses enter and exit numerous nursing teams throughout their careers and sometimes several times within a single shift. The social norm of reciprocity suggests that nurses supported by other nurses will likely reciprocate in prosocial behaviour. However, when and whom one can or will help highlight differences in individuals' ability to share and compete for personal and professional resources. METHOD: Thematic analysis on data collected through semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Four categories of perceived envy-motivated communication conceptualize nurses' communication and relational experiences. CONCLUSION: This study underscores the pervasiveness of social comparison and perceived envy-motivated communication among nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers should explore how they might leverage social comparison and the effects of envy to improve unit productivity. One strategy that nurse managers might adopt to promote fairness perception and trust is to communicate expressly how they allocate resources to their nurses. A sequential strategy to level the gap in nurses' exposure to different ways of overcoming resource deficiencies is to encourage mutual learning as prosocial behaviour.

Travel Nurse Onboarding: Current Trends and Identified Needs.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe current practices for onboarding travel nurses (TRNs) and identify TRNs' specific onboarding needs. BACKGROUND: Onboarding must be streamlined and organized for TRNs to provide safe patient care. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive survey was used with 306 TRNs throughout United States who were recruited electronically from a closed social media group page. RESULTS: The TRNs identified critical information, including unit patient ratios, onboarding schedule 7 to 14 days before travel assignment start, and login IDs/accesses on day 1. Travel nurse onboarding and competency assessment checklists should be specific to the unit/facility where they will work. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study have the potential to support hospitals in the development of streamlined and tailored TRN onboarding to support regulatory compliance and patient safety as well as realize significant cost savings for TRN onboarding.

Development of a theoretical framework for assessment of quality of primary care medical service trips in Latin America.

OBJECTIVES: Short-term medical service trips (MSTs) are a controversial modality for addressing the health of marginalized populations. Despite their prevalence, there are no routinely used evaluative frameworks. This study used stakeholder consensus to validate a literature-based framework for MST best practices. METHODS: A recent systematic review was used to construct a preliminary list of best practices for short-term MSTs. We then recruited a multidisciplinary panel of academics, medical professionals, program coordinators, and non-medical volunteers for a three-round e-Delphi consensus-building exercise to review the list. A 7-point Likert scale was used, with mean scores 4-7 representing rejection, scores < 2 representing acceptance, and elements scoring in between being redistributed for discussion. RESULTS: The literature review identified 30 best practices. Twenty-six stakeholders were recruited for the e-Delphi panel, with 73.1% responding to all three rounds. Eighteen elements were accepted into the final framework. CONCLUSIONS: This framework identifies essential MST best practices and enables volunteers to compare organizations. Future research should translate this framework into an assessment tool and initiate dialogue between host communities, local clinicians, and sending organizations.

Job integration factors as predictors of travel nurse job performance: a mixed-methods study.

Concerns about insufficient work setting familiarity and orientation of temporary nurses affecting job performance are documented in the literature. This mixed-methods study identified unique needs and characteristics of travel nurses, using Web conference focus groups and an Internet survey to reach this geographically dispersed workforce. New knowledge emerged to facilitate more effective travel nurse orientation strategies.