What Travel Nurses Should Know about “Hybrid” Travel Nursing Jobs

Not all travel nursing contracts are the same. With a traditional contract, travel nurses are an integral part of the hospital’s regular schedule. They’ll be scheduled just like everyone else. They’re essentially part of the hospital’s staff for a temporary period. However, some contracts deviate from the norm.

What is a hybrid travel nursing contract?

I’ve heard these contracts referred to as “Travel/Per Diem Contracts”, “Float Pool Contracts”, and “Hybrid Contracts.” “Hybrid” is probably the best term to describe these contracts. Essentially, these contracts are a combination of a traditional assignment and per-diem (PRN). They typically ask you to provide 5 days of availability each week. In return, the travel nursing company will guarantee that you work 3 shifts per week.

For example, you might make yourself available Monday through Friday, 7PM-7AM. The company would then schedule shifts for you and call you 2 hours prior to the shift start time to confirm or cancel the shift. If you are conformed and work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then you wouldn’t be obligated to stay on the schedule for Thursday and Friday. In other words, you are obligated to work only 3 shifts.

If this sounds a lot like PRN, that’s because it is. The company is essentially staffing the travel nurse PRN. The difference is that the company is offering a contract with a start date, end date, and guaranteed number of hours per week, hence the term “Hybrid”. There are variations among companies with respect to these scenarios. The guaranteed hours may work differently from agency to agency. Some agencies may be willing to provide travel stipends and/or company provided housing, and others may not. Some agencies may require that the travel nurse be willing to take shifts at multiple hospitals within a reasonable commute, others may not.

What do travel nurses need to watch out for?

When considering these options, it’s best to ensure that the agency has some skin in the game. In other words, make sure the agency is providing something, like travel stipends or lodging. This will ensure that they stand to lose something if they are unable to schedule the shifts. For the record, it’s fairly common for agencies to offer Extended Stay Hotels for Hybrid assignments because there’s a need for flexibility. In any case, like any other assignment, take nothing for granted and make sure that everything is clearly spelled out in the contract.

What are the pros and cons of hybrid travel nursing contracts?

I’ve heard mixed reviews on Hybrid Contracts. On the negative side, I’ve heard complaints that agencies didn’t live up to their end of the bargain, mostly regarding the guaranteed hours. I’ve also heard complaints about the scheduling in some cases. In the worst case, a travel nurse would be scheduled at one hospital and then be told to go to another hospital 4 hours in to the shift for the remaining 8 hours of the shift. To top it off, the travel nurse came to find that he was only paid for 11 hours because of the time it took him to drive to the other hospital in the middle of his shift!!

Hybrid Contracts aren’t all bad though. They can be a great for someone looking to gain travel nursing experience. Hybrids rarely require experience because experience is not required by hospitals for PRN shifts. Hybrids can also be used as stop gaps in several circumstances. For example, many travel nurses don’t want to work the holidays. However, if you’re looking for a job to start any time around October, then you’ll be hard pressed to find one that doesn’t require working through the holidays. You can use a Hybrid contract because they’re more flexible. Simply tell the agency the number of weeks that you can commit for, and they should be fine with it.

Hybrid contracts can also be handy if you’re waiting on a state nursing license to come through before taking an assignment there. For example, I worked with a pair of travel nurses who had Compact licenses, were ready to travel immediately, but wanted to go to California and hadn’t started the licensing process yet. We set them up with a Hybrid Contract in Dallas, TX while they were waiting on the California license. Seven weeks in to their stay in Dallas, their California licenses came through and we started submitting them for travel nursing jobs in California. They landed a assignment within 2 weeks and were off to California. The important point is that Hybrids are flexible because there is no obligation to the hospital.

Hybrid contracts are always out there, but they have become more prominent during the economic recession. During this time, healthcare workers who may have otherwise worked less or not at all opted to work more. Furthermore, hospitals realized they could get by with PRN staff in lieu of travel nurses, which hospitals always prefer to do. In addition, people utilized healthcare less in an effort to save money or because they lost their health benefits. As a result, many agencies turned to hybrid contracts as a way to keep revenue flowing and keep their travel nurses working.