Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / One Nurse at a Time: Building Relationships in Healthcare Staffing | Staffing Series

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One Nurse at a Time: Building Relationships in Healthcare Staffing | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories cast where leaders share their experiences
0:21
so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how
0:24
they've overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:27
today's guest is Michael Darby co-owner of Nurses Direct family
0:31
owned business that provides nursing services directly to
0:34
healthcare facilities in the state of Louisiana.
0:37
In fact, they were one of the first nurse staffing agencies in
0:40
Louisiana. They staff hospitals at home,
0:43
private duty locations and other healthcare facilities with
0:47
nurses who provide a high quality of patient care.
0:50
Their mission is to provide staffing services in a manner
0:53
that is tailored to the needs of each client and to do so in a
0:57
manner that is personal, courteous, and professional.
1:01
You can find their website at Nurses Direct dot US.
1:04
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
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1:34
Now back to our guest today, the co-owner of Nurses Direct,
1:37
Michael Darby. I appreciate you making the time
1:39
to Share your story today. Thank you.
1:42
Appreciate you having me. So let's go to the origin.
1:46
How did nurses direct first get started?
1:48
I see that you're an RN. Did that happen well in advance
1:53
of starting the company or sort of in conjunction?
1:55
With well, no, that that actually happened well in
1:58
advance. I kind of started at the bottom.
2:01
I I worked my way up. I was what they call an LP and a
2:05
licensed practical nurse. My mom was a nurse for 40
2:09
something years kind of inspired me.
2:12
I just love helping people and caring for people and the
2:15
medicine interests me a lot. So I went in and I, I obtained
2:21
my LPN in a technical school in, in, in in Opelousas, LA.
2:25
And then from there I worked at a local hospital in this little
2:30
town of Opelousas, LA. And then they helped and paid
2:33
for my schooling for me to go back to school and work every
2:36
weekend. And I received my, my registered
2:40
nurses degree from LSUE in Eunice and I received my
2:44
associate's degree from there. And then from there, I went back
2:47
and took other classes to pursue my my bachelor's.
2:50
And then I opened an open a nursing agency, but that was
2:53
about 12 years after starting my nursing career.
2:57
So 12 years after you started your nursing career is when you
3:00
started your staffing agency and was that nurses direct or was
3:03
there one that came before it? The one before it was called
3:06
Nurse Corps, CORPS, Nurse Corps kind of like Marine Corps.
3:11
And our, our vision was like, you know, the last to know the
3:15
1st to go. And then, you know, they call us
3:18
whenever they needed someone in the middle of the night.
3:20
So, but the problem with that was the name kind of threw us
3:23
for a, a, a curve because they would say Nurse Corps instead of
3:27
Corps. And I said, I don't know if that
3:30
goes, that goes over too well. That's sending the wrong message
3:34
in your marketing. Agree, agree.
3:37
We we did well with that and but anyhow, and here we are today.
3:41
Nurses direct so and. So when when did nurses Direct
3:44
get started? What year was that?
3:47
Almost nine years now, so I don't know that I'd have to look
3:50
on the Secretary of State, but about nine years ago and prior
3:54
to that we had Nurse Corps. That was around 2000 in in 1999,
4:00
two thousand was the concept. We started from there, so.
4:05
Why in 2000 get started in in nurse staffing?
4:08
What did you see that made you think there's an opportunity?
4:11
There's an unfilled need here. Well, my business partner, Mark
4:15
Sagwa, he's a nurse also. He's, he's like 1213 years older
4:20
than I am. It's kind of an ironic story.
4:22
I'll just give it to you how in kind of in the the short
4:25
version, my grandfather is still living, he's 98 years old.
4:29
Mark Savois, my business partner that I'm in business with today,
4:32
his stepfather was a Barber and he and my grandfather went to
4:36
school together. So every time I would go to
4:39
bring my elderly grandfather to get a haircut two or three
4:41
times, Mr. BIM, which was Mark Savoir's stepfather, would say,
4:46
you know, my stepson's in a nursing agency.
4:50
He, he, you need to speak to him.
4:52
And me. I was all like, no, I hadn't
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worked my way up at the hospital.
4:56
I was a department head. I had a Monday through Friday
4:58
job. I worked, I lived two blocks
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from the hospital. I'd walked to work.
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I mean, I loved it and I, and I was salaried.
5:05
So I said I, I was thinking from the concept of working agency
5:09
working, go on work supplemental shifts.
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Well, about the second or third time I go, he, he happened to
5:16
call his, his stepson and Mark shows up.
5:19
He said, well, how would you like to own your own nursing
5:21
agency? I said, well, OK, how much of an
5:23
investment would that be? He said nothing, I will float
5:26
the payroll. I'll help you.
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Do you know, whatever money it cost, I just need you to get out
5:30
there and recruit facilities and nurses for me so that we can
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staff. And he, he had been in the
5:35
industry quite some time by then.
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And I mean, it was known there was a nursing shortage.
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This was back, like I say, in the late 90s.
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I, you know, so they, I said, well, yeah, there seems like
5:47
there's a need for that. And so I gave it a try.
5:50
And, you know, 4-5 months later, I was making more money doing
5:55
staffing. But I mean, like I was hustling
5:57
every day. And after I think almost 18
6:02
months or so, I was able to quit my job as a department head and
6:06
pursue this full time. So Market had a background in
6:10
nurse staffing. Maybe he had his own company
6:13
before or he had one at the time and he needed some help.
6:18
He knew how to run the business side of things.
6:20
But he's like, you seem like a good personality, a guy who can
6:23
do sales, go out and hustle, find us some more clients, find
6:27
us some more nurses. Is that kind of what the thought
6:29
process was? That's what happened.
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Yes, yes, he was looking for people to help get more business
6:36
and, you know, market and drum up more business.
6:40
And he always wanted nurses and he only wanted registered
6:42
nurses. He wanted that level of
6:44
professionalism. And so he'd always tried to get
6:47
a registered nurse to help market and, and a native nurse
6:51
in that, in that specific area to get started.
6:55
That was his. That was his, his, his concept.
6:57
That was his model. So you were a nurse.
7:01
You'd been a nurse for several years.
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You'd gone through that education.
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You, you, you worked your way up to department head.
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Obviously you knew that world pretty well.
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Now you're stepping into a related world, but a different 1
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and in a very different role in sales.
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Did you feel well equipped going into that, or did you feel like
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you were kind of fumbling your way through the dark?
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Well, I'll say this, ever since my teenage years, probably
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around 1314 years old, I've always inspired to, to be an
7:29
entrepreneur. I, I went into the medical field
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because my mother was a nurse. You know, I went into nursing
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and I knew that I would have job security.
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I would have something that was stable to fall back on.
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A lot of my friends, especially being from South Louisiana, went
7:43
into the oil field or engineering or stuff like that.
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And I knew that was cyclical, depending on who was in the
7:51
White House. You know what?
7:53
The price of oil is doing. Yeah, that's exactly.
7:55
Right. And I'd see it all the time.
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It was the ebbs and flows. I said, well, you know, we don't
8:00
live in a third world country. We have the greatest healthcare
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in the world. You know, they're going to make
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the people, if they're sick, they'll spend their last penny
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to go in the hospital and seek healthcare.
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I said that's a stable, stable field to go into.
8:13
So I went into that. But I've always look at the time
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I had a lawn care service, I was cutting the the grass for the
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hospitals in the nursing homes where I would work and supervise
8:24
that, you know, I had contracts with them on that.
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But one of the things Mark Szabla told me, he said, you
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know, you cannot go cut grass in Peoria, IL, he said, but you
8:33
could staff nurses there. I said, OK, that kind of makes
8:36
sense. He said that's very labor
8:37
intensive what you're doing. So he's taught me a lot about
8:40
business and he mentored me over the years.
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OK, so he brings, he brings you in as a partner.
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He's like, hey, I'll front the payroll.
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You know, I I've got my role here, you've got your role.
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Tell me about how you sold that first client.
8:55
Well it wasn't easy. The first client that I that I
9:00
that I got was the 1st shift I ever staffed was at at a
9:05
hospital that I was working at. But it was a facility, an entity
9:11
that leased space in the hospital.
9:14
They weren't owned the hospital. They were like they were called
9:17
an L tac, a long term acute care and what they would do, they
9:22
would lease space in the hospital.
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So many beds for rehab patients. So that was my first shift.
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I, I, I figured that was the easiest thing for me to get into
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because the hospital didn't look at me.
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They looked at me as an employee administration looked at me as a
9:37
registered nurse, as a department head.
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They didn't look at me as, oh, a businessman.
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And you're going to come in and supplemental staff as you're,
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you're our nurse yourself with no business experience.
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So I was able to get into this entity to, to this facility and
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it was called Louisiana Healthcare Group.
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And now I've been staffing them 20 something years now.
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And ironically, whenever they first started, they were a small
10:02
company, but they just sold for 5.4 billion.
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And yeah, yeah, good friend of mine, Keith Mars, Louisiana
10:09
Healthcare Group, they sold out to the biggest hospital system,
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Optum in United Healthcare. So yeah.
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And I was able to follow them around and done a lot, a lot of
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work with them over the years. And is your service still
10:22
focused in the state of Louisiana or are you providing
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staffing outside of there? During COVID, I think we
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expanded out to like 24 States and now we're in like, I think
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we just went back in 19 or 20. I'd have to look it.
10:36
It's we, we do, we do contract work sometimes and another, you
10:42
know, work. So in different states, we have
10:44
different footprints, but our concentrations more so the South
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Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas is where the majority of our works
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at. But I mean, we've gone all the
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way to Wyoming and I don't know where Delaware or New Jersey.
10:59
I mean it just depends wherever the needs at.
11:03
So I'm curious on the staffing side of things, why do you think
11:07
your contract employees prefer working through you versus
11:11
getting a full time job at the same place or somewhere else?
11:15
Great question. Nursing's a female dominated
11:19
Phil and you know, a lot of times the and then, then it then
11:25
it also has to do with the younger nurses generation of
11:27
nurses. They don't want that to be
11:30
locked down. They want to be able to, let's
11:33
say, go to their their kids soccer game or maybe their
11:36
husband has a really good job and they don't need the
11:37
benefits. They won't be flexibility of
11:40
being able to pick and choose when they work, how often they
11:44
work and where they work. Sometimes, and not all of them,
11:47
but especially some of the younger nurses.
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I'm realizing, see, whenever I got out of school, I wanted that
11:52
stability. I wanted to go to one facility,
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build, climb the ladder, build relationships there.
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That's just how I was. You know, I wanted the
12:00
stability. But like I say, and I'm not
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trying to be gender specific here, but I mean women
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sometimes, a lot of times we'll see their husbands have really
12:08
good jobs, their own, their insurance and they have the
12:10
flexibility. And they also a lot of times are
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taking care of the, you know, the, the, the children and
12:15
stuff. And, and not always, but
12:17
sometimes. And we also see a lot of single
12:20
mothers that are nurses and they want the flexibility also to be
12:25
able to work when they can. They can work lots of days in a
12:28
row, make enough money, then take off and and then make their
12:31
schedule as they see fit. And so how does that work from a
12:35
scheduling perspective on the client side, right?
12:38
Because I would think that they would want sort of that stable
12:43
staffing, right? But if if your contract workers
12:48
are getting flexibility by working for you instead of the
12:50
hospital, how are you kind of filling in the gaps when they
12:52
don't want to work? Well, you that's another good
12:56
question. Our facilities, they do like
12:58
what we call the continuity, the same nurse, same facility, same
13:02
unit. And that does happen a lot.
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And what they'll do is they'll, after years of developing
13:08
rapport and, and developing relationships with the nurse in
13:12
the facilities, they, they'll build a pool with us of let's
13:16
say three or four or five or 10 nurses that they really like.
13:20
And they try to continue to schedule those same nurses,
13:23
actually asking for them by name or sometimes circumventing us
13:27
and texting them directly, which I don't like.
13:30
But it's hard to prevent us because, you know, we have to
13:33
make sure that we, we keep up with everything and we make sure
13:38
everything is confirmed. But I have nurses that have been
13:41
working for me for 15 years, some of them since I started and
13:46
some of them still work at the same facilities that they were
13:49
working at back then, just in working through us through
13:52
supplemental staffing because they've developed that
13:54
relationship. I mean, they're almost, they're
13:57
like staff now at the facilities, you know, and it
14:01
works out. It works out sometimes and
14:03
sometimes it don't. But you know, especially in the
14:07
hospital systems, maybe not so much in the long term care
14:10
facilities or what we call nursing homes, The census
14:14
fluctuates a lot. It's an insurance has changed so
14:17
much over the years. You know, 30-40 years ago you'd
14:20
go in for an appendectomy, get your appendix taken out, you
14:23
might stay in the hospital a week.
14:24
Now you go in in the morning, you're gone before lunch, you
14:27
know, so the staff has to also follow that.
14:31
So when the census is up, it's a direct correlation.
14:35
They need the nurses, but they don't need to keep that par
14:37
level and benefit full time nurses at all times.
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And what gives us the capability to do it better than the
14:45
hospitals? If they have a free standing
14:48
brick and mortar hospital and that's all they have in that
14:51
area, they might not own any other facilities.
14:53
They cannot flex these nurses and send them to facilities
14:56
across the street or across town, whereas we can do that.
15:01
What happens with them if their census drops and they're not as
15:05
busy? Well, those nurses are gone
15:06
elsewhere, isn't looking for work.
15:08
I'm able to give it to them if I develop a base and and have
15:13
enough nurses and enough facilities in one given area to
15:16
stay safe stable. Well, and I think you've just
15:19
answered my next question, which is why do the hospitals want to
15:23
contract through nurses Direct instead of hiring these folks
15:26
themselves? And I think the big thing I just
15:28
heard you say is they need that flexibility.
15:32
Like there, there are times when they've got more patients in
15:34
there, they they need more coverage.
15:36
There are times when things are slow, they need less coverage.
15:39
And it's harder to do that when they've got their own full time
15:42
employees there. It's a lot easier to have that
15:45
flexibility with nurses Direct because you've got multiple
15:49
hospitals in the area that you can send people to or pull them
15:52
from when that need rises or falls, right?
15:56
Correct. In a nutshell, yes.
15:59
I mean, there's a lot more to it, but exactly, that's the
16:02
concept, yes. Are there other benefits for a
16:06
hospital using nurses direct versus hiring their own full
16:11
time employees? Well, I mean, you know, they,
16:14
they don't have, they don't have to manage, they don't have to
16:18
manage as many people, they don't have to pay as many
16:20
benefits. And, and I believe, you know,
16:22
like I said, if, if they hire their employees directly and
16:26
something happens, you know, to where they don't have the need
16:31
for them or if they have them on full time, then they'd have to
16:33
guarantee them those hours. And here's another thing, many
16:36
of times the hospital systems and I've seen it over the years,
16:39
over 27 years of staff and they'll try to do their own in
16:43
house pool of agency. Same thing happens though they
16:47
they can't keep them busy enough.
16:49
And, and like I always tell the hospital is they're not in the
16:52
recruiting staffing business. They're in the patient.
16:56
They're, they're, they're in the business of taking care of
16:58
patients. Bottom line.
17:00
That is what they do. They're in the medical, you
17:02
know, medical field of taking, you know, medically taking care
17:05
of people. They're not in the HR
17:06
recruiting, staffing, supplemental staffing business
17:09
and managing and some of the best, best bedside nurses.
17:13
They're, they're most senior nurses in the facility.
17:16
They're sitting behind a desk trying to get staffed instead of
17:19
at the bedside where they really so that they, they see the
17:21
benefits long term. And like I say, they can work
17:25
through us and then one call or one text message.
17:27
And with technology nowadays, we pretty much eliminated phone
17:30
calls. Well, I mean, you know, where
17:33
with the apps and the programs that we have, they just shoot us
17:36
over the knees when we put them in a put them in our staffing
17:39
program and it goes straight to them and they know who's coming
17:41
in when, where, what? Wow.
17:43
And that's the reason why I called the nurses direct.
17:46
I still haven't tweaked it exactly the way I want it, but
17:48
I'm getting there. Still haven't tweaked the name
17:50
the way that you want it or? The concept of what I want to
17:54
do, nurses direct concept always was using the technology and
17:58
platform with the Geo fencing so I'd know when they when they're
18:02
going to be at the hospital, when they leave for time and
18:04
attendance and and eliminating a lot of the labor intensive
18:09
processes of it. And is that something still
18:13
being worked on, that tech that you're describing?
18:16
Yes. And I don't know, you mean I
18:17
can't you can't implement it everywheres in that because
18:21
especially in Louisiana and some of the places we staff being
18:24
really rural areas, we don't have the bandwidth some places
18:28
to be able to do that. You know, my concept was
18:31
whenever Geo fencing came out and the technology came out is I
18:35
can have a Geo fence around my facility and I would know if a
18:37
nurse bought by having their push notifications open on their
18:41
app. If they wouldn't get there in
18:43
time, I can redirect it to the other nurses in the area to let
18:47
them know that they wouldn't be there and also to the facility
18:50
for call insurance or no, you know, stuff like that.
18:53
But a lot of times in the rural areas, we don't have the
18:56
bandwidth for them to even punch in and out or some of my nurses,
18:59
if I, if I, you know, some of them, especially some of the
19:03
nursing assistants, they don't their phones won't allow them to
19:06
do certain things, you know, apps or they don't have, they
19:09
don't have media on their phones.
19:11
So are the older ones. So you always run into bumps in
19:14
the road, but that's that's kind of the the route I was taking.
19:17
I mean, we, we're getting there and I mean, the system is so
19:20
much better than whenever I first started.
19:22
I had a three ring binder and razor phones that I was trying
19:25
to keep charge. You know flip phones.
19:31
So what stage is that tech in now?
19:33
Is it sort of like kind of sitting on the shelf because of
19:36
some of the challenges that you described with flip phones and
19:39
lack of bandwidth or are you, are you effectively working on
19:42
it and tend to roll it out in the areas that you can?
19:45
Well, we, we're always improving our technology.
19:48
We, we use texting apps, we use staffing apps that'll allow the
19:53
nurses to see where all our needs at in any given area.
19:56
We can do, we can push out messages to nurses in any given
20:00
area, query it however we want. They can pick up shifts, the
20:05
hospitals can can accept the shifts.
20:07
Then we confirm them all within clicks on the phone with.
20:10
No phone with with with. Calls or labor intensive
20:14
processes all through apps and and the different things that we
20:17
use. So no, we're there.
20:19
I mean, we're there. I'd always like to improve it
20:21
and make it better. But like I said, in some areas
20:24
it'll never be. I mean, you know, they're never
20:27
going to go somewheres in the middle of any nowheres, a little
20:31
nursing home that might be a population of 300 people, you
20:35
know, a little village or something.
20:36
It's not. We're not going to get there
20:38
with that. All right, I'm going to go back
20:40
to something that you said earlier because it, it kind of
20:42
clicked something in my head sort of this idea of like
20:46
hospitals are not HR and staffing companies.
20:50
They're, they're in the business of taking care of sick and
20:53
injured people. So I mean, each in the same way
20:56
that they would go out and hire, say like a, a marketing firm,
20:59
you know, if, if they wanted to, to do some marketing, because
21:02
that's not, I mean, they could hire marketing people in house,
21:05
right? But you're not going to get that
21:06
same level of broad expertise that you would get if you hired
21:10
a firm who specializes in that. And it's a similar kind of thing
21:13
with you guys. Like what you do all day every
21:16
day is you recruit and retain great nurses and know how to
21:24
move them in and out of different places as the demand
21:28
warrants. And that's just not something
21:30
that the hospitals are set up to do as well as you are.
21:36
Correct. That is not their goal, you
21:39
know, yes, I mean, they, they, they, they try really hard, but
21:44
I mean, their, their bottom line is like you say, take care of a
21:46
patient in the bed and making that yes.
21:49
So by using Nurses Direct, they're able to focus more on
21:52
their core competencies. Yeah, yes.
21:55
So I'm curious to hear a little bit more about what makes you
22:02
guys special in the industry. Clearly, you're not the only
22:04
company that provides nurse staffing.
22:07
What is it that Nurses Direct does that is special or
22:11
different? Well, we're all nurses here that
22:15
have founded the company and family, nurses and family.
22:19
My wife is a school teacher, but she's given up her career to
22:24
work for us full time. Mark's wife, my business
22:28
partner, Mark Sabwa, his wife's a registered nurse also.
22:31
She works here with us. So we know from actually doing
22:37
the job. Working agency, Darla's worked
22:39
agency, Mark's work agency, I've worked agency.
22:42
So we were on the other side, we were the ones being recruited
22:46
and and marketed and trying to, you know, get to retain us to go
22:50
out and work at facilities. So we have first hand experience
22:53
before even coming into the staffing and on the other side
22:56
of the fence. So we really care and we have
22:59
our own stories and we know the we know the industry pretty
23:04
well. I'll I'll say, you know, I've
23:07
been doing it my whole career and so is Mark and so is Darla.
23:10
So I think that's kind of what sets us above everyone else.
23:15
And especially in this region in South Louisiana, what we kind of
23:19
call Cajun country here is where we're located.
23:23
It's such a, it's such a unique area in Louisiana and so much
23:29
culture. Everybody feels like family.
23:31
So I think we have a really good connection here from where our
23:34
base started and we try to treat everybody like, you know, I look
23:38
at each and every nurse. My concept is always one nurse
23:42
at a time. I want to develop a relationship
23:45
with the nurse, find out exactly what they need and what they
23:48
want and what their likes and what their tendencies are and,
23:52
and give us the feedback. And then we want to try to find
23:55
them the best possible work environment that we can give
23:59
them. That's what we do.
24:01
And I'd rather have one quality nurse than than 10 of them that
24:04
I don't really know. And, you know, as it's grown,
24:08
it's not physical. I'm not physically capable of
24:10
doing it anymore. I used to know all of my nurses.
24:12
Now we have databases of thousands of nurses.
24:15
And I still try and they always get me.
24:17
Look, you need to, you need to call this.
24:19
When I called two of them today, you know, there were issues and
24:21
problems and, and I still like talking to them because I, I can
24:25
feel and empathize and understand the stress that
24:29
they're under, You know, working in, in a hospital environment or
24:33
in the environment, it's very stressful sometimes.
24:36
And so we want to just try to help them along their way and
24:40
pay them well and treat them fair.
24:43
Well, I think you've hit on a great point there, the fact that
24:46
you, your partner and his wife who's also a partner, all have
24:53
background in these roles. And so when you're talking to
24:57
the nurses, when you're talking to the hospitals, you're not
24:59
talking as somebody who's unfamiliar or uneducated about
25:04
what the environment is like. You know, you've been there.
25:07
You've gotten your fingers dirty.
25:08
You've had your sleeves rolled up.
25:10
Yes. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
25:12
You know, and I can give you an example, whenever I first
25:15
started, I had mentioned I only lived a couple of blocks from
25:17
the hospital that I worked at before I opened my nursing
25:21
agency. Well, I had a nurse one time,
25:23
drove about about an hour to come to work.
25:26
It's in Baton Rouge, drove to Opelousas for some reason calls
25:30
me whenever he gets in the parking lot and says, you know,
25:33
really don't feel like going to work today.
25:35
I think I'm going to just call off and I'm all like, they're
25:38
asking for like 4 or five more nurses.
25:40
Please don't do this to me. Well, I had to call the director
25:44
of nurses at the time and we came up the ladder together.
25:47
But she was the head of the hospital and she was there
25:49
working because their census was so high and it was a weekend and
25:52
they didn't have anybody. So whenever I called her and I
25:54
let her know that I won't mention the nurses name wouldn't
25:57
be coming in, she said why don't you put on your lamp coat and
26:00
come on over here. And I sure did.
26:02
All right. Oh.
26:03
Yeah, I mean, I've, I've done that.
26:05
You know, I did whatever it took physically if, if I was able to
26:09
do it, I I would go, I'd work shifts and, and develop that
26:11
rapport and, and with the with the facilities and, and, and so
26:16
they know they can count on us, you know, So, yeah, I've done
26:18
that in multiple times. So we talked about how you got
26:22
that first client. I'm curious how you recruited
26:24
that first nurse. I'm guessing technology's way
26:28
different today and the the processes that you're using at
26:31
the scale are and changed dramatically.
26:33
But how about that first one? OK, well, I'll tell you what I
26:38
did. I kind of cheated a little bit
26:40
here, I guess you can say I was working in the hospital where I
26:46
was working at and other agencies were staffing, you
26:50
know, in the facility. So I had AI was actually the
26:54
head of a hyperbaric wound care unit and we bring around a
26:56
little digital camera to take pictures of the of the wound
27:00
care, the wound patients and stuff.
27:02
Well, I'd see the other agency nurses in there because they
27:04
don't allow them to wear the agency badges anymore, but they
27:07
had the little name tags and with the agency.
27:08
So I would approach them, say, listen, I'm trying to and I take
27:11
their picture with the same digital care I was using to make
27:14
them a little badge. And then next, next day they
27:16
were working for me somewheres else or wherever.
27:18
So that's how I recruited them because I was in there.
27:21
I was already in there. So.
27:22
And So what was the sales pitch? What what?
27:24
They've got a job now, why switch?
27:27
Well, I mean, I just had to sell them on and then tell them, you
27:30
know, that I was a nurse because I guess they, they didn't see
27:34
the other, the, the agency people there and they were far
27:38
off. They weren't local.
27:39
So I tell them, look, I'm going to treat you good and I'm trying
27:41
to pay them a little more or whatever I had to do to convince
27:44
them. And I tell them, look, I'll give
27:45
you the preference on the shifts and I tell them which facilities
27:48
I have where you'd like to work at.
27:49
I said, oh, look, I have that facility.
27:51
You want to come work over there, I'll give you the day
27:53
shifts or whatever shifts you won't come work for me and I'll
27:55
pay you every day. I'll pay them Bailey if where as
27:58
they wouldn't getting paid as often.
28:00
I even implemented some years and years ago where I had a
28:03
little payroll card and I would transfer the money from this
28:06
card to that card. It was like a prepaid credit
28:09
card and I would load this card and then transfer their money
28:13
while they were walking to their car.
28:15
I'd put their money on their card so they were paid
28:17
instantly. They like that.
28:18
Anything I had to do to get them to start with me and then I
28:21
developed the relationships with them.
28:22
I tried everything. Yeah.
28:25
This is a question that I love to ask all my guests is, you
28:29
know, I've heard certain industries, the labor market is
28:31
softening a little bit, but still tight.
28:34
And I'm going to guess it's still pretty tight in the
28:37
nursing world. Is that correct?
28:40
Yes, I mean, there's still a very big need for nurses.
28:44
I I mean, look, whenever COVID hit, I've never, we've never
28:47
experienced anything like that before.
28:50
It was, it was really, it was, it was hard.
28:54
It was bad. Not only that, I mean, it
28:56
affected our industry directly. Nurses were scared.
29:00
They won't. I mean, look, we had nurses, we
29:01
had to pay a lot. I mean, it was a lot.
29:04
I mean, the cost went up 50% or more in some areas.
29:10
You know, it's coming back down now for different reasons.
29:13
And I like to do a lot of research and monitor.
29:15
But you know, the burnout rate is very, very high with nurses,
29:18
especially nurses working at the bedside.
29:21
So a lot of them are trying to get into different fields or get
29:25
into doctor's offices or something.
29:27
So what we do, specifically staffing at the bedside and in
29:31
the hospital systems, acute care, the burnout rate's pretty,
29:35
pretty high. Is there anything that you can
29:38
do to to help alleviate that? We're trying.
29:44
I'm working with the in Louisiana specifically, I work
29:48
very closely with our legislatures, our
29:51
representatives in passing bills to get more nursing schools,
29:54
more nursing instructors. I try to work with the
29:58
facilities to direct recruit for them.
30:01
We even do head hunting to hire temp, you know, hire directly
30:04
for them to fill their needs because I'm not always going to
30:07
be able to just feel all of their needs.
30:09
And actually I tend to kind of stay away from facilities that
30:15
some facilities I'll start staffing and I'm noticing rural
30:18
every nurse in there is my nurse.
30:21
No, that's not. I mean, I've had that happen
30:25
before, especially during. Is that not part of the contract
30:27
that they can't hire the? The the contract, what I'm
30:30
talking about the whole like every nurse that was working.
30:34
With oh, they are working for you and and so they're relying
30:37
fully on you. Pretty much yes.
30:40
I mean, like it's some of the nursing homes, especially during
30:42
COVID and since all the nurses were quitting because
30:45
opportunities were elsewheres. And so it's like, OK, we have 5
30:51
or 6 nurses and nursing assistants and I'd ask them
30:53
because back then we still they'd sign slips.
30:57
Paper slips are now it's digital and I'm all like, why is one of
31:00
my nurses verifying your time? They said, well, Mr. Mike,
31:03
there's nobody else in here but our nurse.
31:06
I said, whoa, hold on. That's scary to me because I
31:09
know there's really no continuity there and, and it and
31:14
it's worrisome to me. So I would rather a facility,
31:18
it's stable. You know, your nurses don't want
31:19
to work in places like that, that are chaos.
31:22
You know, you have it like you were saying, they have a
31:24
different nurse, different day. I, I'd rather help them build
31:28
their pool, their staff up to where they have good staff.
31:31
It's easier for me to staff their whole, their their
31:33
supplemental staffing then if they have a good base.
31:37
So I realize that. Without giving away any secret
31:40
sauce, I'm curious what you guys do to be so successful, first in
31:45
recruiting good nurses and then retaining them to where they
31:49
don't want to go and work for one of your competitors or or
31:51
leave and go to a hospital directly.
31:53
What, what are some things that you've tried in that recruiting
31:55
and retention space that have worked for you?
31:58
Well, everybody's unique and, and, and, and individuals are
32:03
different and every nurse is different.
32:04
But I'll tell you the things over the years we've worked at,
32:07
whereas before we used to run ads on like the typical Indeed
32:12
or Glassdoor stuff, social media is a big platform now.
32:16
Getting on a lot of these blogs and finding, you know, the
32:22
nurses there and developing relationships with.
32:24
I always tell my recruiters and my staff anytime they are
32:29
talking to a nurse and and trying to recruit a nurse,
32:33
always find out as much information on them as possible.
32:38
The better we know our nurses, the better we are.
32:41
We are able to to serve them and, and and and help them find
32:45
what they need. So I, the one of my biggest
32:48
things is whenever we're on the phone with somebody, don't ever
32:52
explain something away. What's the problem?
32:54
How can we fix it? I want to help you and develop
32:57
the relationship, find out about, you know, their children
33:00
and what they like and everything.
33:01
So I think we have, we're trying to get a really personal
33:04
relationship with our nurses and, and you know, I like to be
33:09
transparent with them. Also.
33:11
I'm like, you know, I'm going to, we have to stay in business,
33:15
but I'm going to try to pay my nurses as much as I can and, and
33:20
make my profits to stay in business.
33:22
And they they see that. So where they won't try to go
33:25
for a temporary other nursing agency, I'm going to pay you
33:28
another couple dollars an hour. Well, yeah, but it's going to be
33:31
temporary because eventually the facility, they're going to have
33:34
to go up on their rates at the same facility and the profit
33:37
margins will be different. So they're going to get that to
33:39
it's the, it's the carrot and stick.
33:41
There's going to be no longevity there.
33:42
And they see, hey, if we stick with nurses direct, they're
33:45
going to treat us right. They're going to give us
33:47
preference on the shifts and they're going to fight for us
33:49
and try to get the, you know, availabilities for us and
33:52
develop also the relationship with the department managers and
33:56
their heads in the facilities is another thing.
33:58
So we have to kind of on both sides have that relationship.
34:03
And whenever I first started, I would go out and meet and greet.
34:07
But now we try to do Zoom calls with our facilities and talk to
34:11
them and see what we can do better and, you know, with
34:13
quality control. Do most of your nurses tend to
34:17
work in the same geographical area or do they like to kind of
34:21
move around? Like, oh, I want a vacation in
34:23
Atlanta. Like I'm, you know, I'm going to
34:25
go work there for a few months. I used to do, I used to do some
34:28
travel nursing years and years ago.
34:30
I, we, we kind of tend to steer away from that now.
34:34
I don't like to send nurses across the country and there are
34:37
agencies that do just that. We're not heavily weighted on
34:41
traveling nurses across the country.
34:43
What I like to do is recruit in a specific area and build a pool
34:49
of facilities in that area and a pool of nurses in that area.
34:53
Now some of them will drive, you know, and we can stipend them if
34:56
they drive more than like 6065 miles or whatever.
35:00
We give them allowances for housing and and food and supply.
35:04
But as far As for I have in the past, but it's more labor
35:08
intensive. I would send nurses from state
35:10
of Louisiana to St. George, UT staff nurses in
35:13
Hawaii, staff nurses all up and down the coast.
35:16
You know what I mean? All over.
35:18
But now I find that the, the, the, the, the way I lay, you
35:24
know, my, my business model is, is to recruit in an individual
35:27
area and, and spread from those pods.
35:31
Yeah, it sounds like there would be economies of scale from your
35:33
model, right? You, you don't just have one
35:35
hospital and you don't just have like 3 nurses.
35:38
You've got several hospital outfits and you've got dozens or
35:43
hundreds, I don't know of nurses in that same geography.
35:46
So it's easier to move people in and out of shifts as demand.
35:49
Changes. That's that's that's what works
35:52
best for us. And that was trial and error.
35:55
You know it. We learned and we all like and
35:59
this is this is the the model that worked best for us.
36:03
And that's what I choose. That's how I choose to do, yeah.
36:06
What What are future growth plans look like for Nurses
36:09
Direct? Well, we're, we're definitely
36:12
growing. I can see us going, you know,
36:17
pretty much in any state we want to in the next couple of years.
36:20
We're working with a lot more what we call vendor management
36:23
systems to where we getting into bigger hospital systems and
36:26
bigger areas. I mean, I can, you know, year by
36:31
year, but now COVID was was an outlier.
36:35
But I mean, I can see as I mean, we're growing year, year in,
36:38
year out. 10:50 I mean, during COVID, I saw I was growing 10% a
36:43
month sometimes. I mean, it was so hard to keep.
36:46
It was so hard to keep up it the volume was really, I had to give
36:49
up my desk. I had to give up my office.
36:52
My business partner had to give up his desk in his office.
36:54
We had to hire so many human resource and own borders.
36:57
And yeah, it was, it was, it was craziness sounds really intense.
37:02
It was, it was. And I but the good thing about
37:05
it, the end result, we developed a lot of relationships with
37:09
nurses and facilities. So it all worked out in the end.
37:12
But I mean we were working some 1820 hour days every day.
37:18
Well, on behalf of everybody who was on the receiving end of
37:22
those nursing services, thank you to you and your nurses for
37:25
what you did during that crazy time.
37:28
I everybody was scared and nurses in particular because,
37:31
you know, they were on the front line of it all.
37:33
So hats off to you guys, yes? Absolutely.
37:37
Thank you. So I'm curious as you go into a
37:40
new state, is that a big lift? Is there like new licensing
37:43
rules and each place you your go?
37:46
Every state's different. Some states require a license in
37:50
the state. Other states just require us to
37:52
be licensed, you know, and follow certain criterias.
37:56
But each state is different. Some of the, the more difficult
38:01
states, maybe for instance, California has a lot of
38:04
regulations, New York, but I mean pretty much every state's
38:08
different. And I have, I have a legal own
38:13
staff, you know, I have, I have actually Matt that you saw
38:15
earlier, he has his Juris Dr. And so he kind of evaluates all
38:19
of the stuff for us and he does a little bit of everything and
38:21
he's great with IT. So Matt helps out a lot with
38:24
that. Yeah, Matt was helpful in
38:26
getting us all set up and resolving some tech issues here
38:29
before the interview. So, yeah, he he's wearing many
38:33
hats as well himself. What?
38:36
Michael, what are some of the most common mistakes that you
38:39
see hospitals making when when staffing their facilities?
38:45
One of the biggest mistakes I see with with staffing,
38:49
especially supplemental staffing, I'd like to focus in
38:52
on that is the agency nurses are there to help me to need.
38:58
And lots of times they know that the agency nurses are better
39:02
compensated than they are and there's some animosity
39:07
sometimes. And the way I look at it is
39:12
treat them fair. Try to and I and I and I try to,
39:15
I don't like to get involved on that end because that's not my
39:18
position. But I talked to the department
39:20
heads and when, especially whenever one of my nurses I know
39:23
are getting not getting fairly treated, they'll give them the
39:27
harder assignments. They'll, you know, just not
39:30
communicate with them, not show them the little tit insurance
39:34
and outs, because every place is different.
39:36
Where where this is located, where that's, you know, and it's
39:39
like we try to do the best we can with orientation.
39:42
And the longer that I do staff the facilities, the the more
39:48
capable we are at educating the nurses prior to them working
39:52
there. And and you know, every facility
39:54
is different, but some of them will allow us to send our nurse
39:57
for, you know, like a. Scaled down version of an
40:02
orientation, maybe 8 hours or or you know, 4 hours or something
40:07
like that. But they usually don't get as
40:09
much as a full time employee would have because they want
40:13
them to come in and function right away.
40:16
So I think one of the biggest mistakes that I think it happens
40:19
and it happens on the staffing side is them not, not, not
40:26
treating the nurses the same as their full time staff.
40:29
And whenever that happens, I, I tend to pull back and you know,
40:33
like, no, it's not a really good place.
40:35
And that the nurses know well, I'm just going to work over
40:37
there and they know. Nobody needs that.
40:41
That's not helpful for business and that's not helpful for your
40:43
nurses. Yeah.
40:45
I want to shift gears on you now, Michael, curious to hear
40:48
about a serious challenge that you had to overcome either
40:51
personally or professionally, and maybe some lessons that you
40:54
learned coming through that. Wow, this one really gets to me
40:57
here. And January 1st of 2004, I was
41:04
doing both. I was working agency and I was
41:07
still kind of picking up at the facility where I was at just PRN
41:12
as needed. So I was still kind of working
41:14
as a nurse and running my nursing agency while I was
41:16
involved in a motorcycle wreck and serious, serious wreck.
41:21
I, I broke 19 bones at one time, brushed both my femurs, nine
41:27
ribs, punctured my lung, both my wrist, my arm.
41:31
I wound up at the same hospital I worked at for 12 years on a
41:35
ventilator in ICU, like just holding on, grasping for life.
41:40
And, you know, it really touched me thinking I didn't know if I
41:44
was going to make it out of there.
41:46
I stayed in a wheelchair one day less of like six months, had
41:50
multiple surgeries. So it really, really even more
41:54
so showed me the patient side of it.
41:59
I was scared, you know, and and it's like you want to be
42:02
informed of what's going on. You think my career was over.
42:05
I thought I was going to lose everything.
42:07
I really thought I was going to die.
42:08
And I fought to come back. I never forgive.
42:12
I'd show up to work in my wheelchair, you know, and now I
42:15
can tell from first hand experience, my nurses that work
42:20
in critical care or even bedside.
42:22
I said, listen, inform your patients, let them know what's
42:25
going on. Don't treat them like a number
42:27
that's somebody's brother or grandfather or mother.
42:31
And I just tried to make the best of the situation, but that
42:35
would that's hard for me. And even to this day, I have
42:38
effects from it. Just thinking about it.
42:41
I get emotional and and and physically too hot still hurt.
42:45
I have to obtain him rods for both my knees to both my hips
42:48
and all arms. So I know I would never be able
42:51
to work anymore as a nurse full time.
42:54
They wouldn't accept me and I so I'm, I'm, I'm blessed to say
42:58
that I do have this now and it made me work and I appreciate it
43:01
even more. So that was, that was.
43:05
What was that like that I, I, I mean, I don't, I don't want to
43:09
go too much back to the dark days, but I mean, to be in a
43:11
position where you're not sure if you're going to make it.
43:15
And that's a fear that thankfully I've never known, but
43:19
I'm kind of curious. A couple of things, you know,
43:21
one, like what got you through that hard period?
43:25
And then two how, if at all, did it change your perspective on
43:31
life and business? Well, what got me through, I'll
43:35
never forget there this one moment that I can I can pick out
43:41
whenever I was in ICU and I was on the ventilator and my arms
43:45
were tied and my wife, I'm with Mindy, the one I tell you, the
43:50
school teacher and my daughters walked in.
43:52
They were really young at the time.
43:54
They were standing up against the wall.
43:55
They didn't even want to come touch me.
43:57
They couldn't even they didn't even recognize me.
43:59
And I said to myself, you know, I say, you know, I'm a
44:03
Christian, I'm Catholic. And I said, well, God, if you're
44:05
going to take me, go ahead now. And I felt like for something
44:11
like I said, you know, I'm, I just felt like, OK, I'm going to
44:14
make it. And I started fighting then what
44:16
kept me through that got me through that is my children and
44:19
my wife and I just fought. And at that point in time, I
44:23
quit taking all pain medicine to try to wean myself off the
44:26
ventilator because I wasn't able to come off of it with all of
44:29
the morphine and, and, and stuff they were giving me because it
44:32
was suppressed my respirations. So, and it was hard with non
44:36
broken ribs every time that ventilator would circulate, but
44:39
I knew I had to come off the ventilator or they were going to
44:41
treat, they were going to put a tracheotomy and I didn't want
44:43
that either. So I quit taking my pain
44:46
medication and they weaned me off the ventilator like 48 hours
44:50
later. Wow, wow.
44:55
That's intense. Yeah, how?
44:58
Do you? How do you view life differently
45:00
now than you did before the accident?
45:02
I definitely appreciate it a lot more.
45:05
I mean, you know, I appreciate my kids and my family a lot.
45:09
I'd say a lot more. It's just I realize how precious
45:11
life is. I did before being a nurse
45:15
because I'd see people come in, you know, and they would die
45:19
young and then I'd see old people come in and suffer and
45:21
suffer for months and months and months.
45:23
But now I realize that, you know, you, you only die once
45:28
and, and, and it can happen at any time and nobody's, you know,
45:32
they say, well, you're not promised tomorrow.
45:33
Well, no, you're not promised today.
45:35
We don't know we're going to make it through the day at any
45:36
given time. You know, the body is very
45:39
resourceful and can get you through a lot of things.
45:42
And then other things. It doesn't take much.
45:46
Some type of bacterial infection.
45:48
I've seen older people die from chicken pox, Baricell pneumonia
45:51
that you would never think. I mean, other people get in
45:54
major accidents, major trauma and they pull through.
45:56
So what is it? You know, I don't know.
45:59
Life is life. You have to look at it as we're
46:02
not, we're not promised the next day and we're not promised
46:06
anything. So make the most that you can of
46:09
each and every day and today. Live in this.
46:12
Moment. Absolutely, yeah.
46:15
Michael, what's a fun fact that somebody wouldn't know about
46:17
you? Something interesting.
46:21
A fun fact that somebody wouldn't know about me.
46:24
Well, I'm, I'm very, very extroverted and and outspoken
46:28
and I've never been a shy person in my life.
46:30
But I really, I really can withdraw.
46:33
I own some timber property. I love to just go out there and
46:37
forget about everything and not have anybody around me or to
46:40
speak. I don't know that I guess people
46:42
would never think. They always think I'm a sociable
46:45
want to be. A lot of times I just want to be
46:46
alone and not have and, and most people don't judge me.
46:50
I would never think you would be like that.
46:51
So yeah, I don't, I don't, I have to escape sometimes that
46:55
and I mean, I can be a nerd sometimes I like to collect
47:00
coins and stuff like that. So, you know, like old.
47:04
US coins or something? Else silver coins and different
47:07
things numerous. I don't collect as much
47:09
numismatic anymore. I used to but I like to have
47:11
perfect coins. 70s. Like if I buy anything, it'll
47:15
always be perfect and numismatic.
47:18
Like they they grade them from 1 to 70.
47:20
I always buy. I like to because even though
47:23
they're uncirculated, untouched and everything, only one in
47:26
thousands and thousands are going to ever come out perfect.
47:28
If it's the first die or the 1st print, after a while there will
47:31
never be rated that. So yeah, I'm a kind of a nerd of
47:33
that. I'll sit there with my
47:34
magnifying glass and look at them and stuff.
47:36
My wife laughs. And so do you keep them like in
47:39
a drawer or safe or do you have them on display somewhere in a
47:42
case? I have them in a safe.
47:44
I don't. Yeah, I don't keep them.
47:45
Yeah. And I'll go through them.
47:46
I got them all cataloged and when I bought them and how much
47:49
I paid for. And so do.
47:50
You ever take them out to your your property and and all alone
47:54
just sit there and look at them with nobody else around and sort
47:57
of recharge your batteries? That's so funny.
47:59
I sent my my business partner a video the other day of my
48:03
collection and he's all you need help.
48:06
And I was at my place getting them all in order and
48:09
everything. Yes, I do.
48:11
That's so funny. That's ironic you say that.
48:13
Yeah, I did. But you you combine two of your
48:15
loves there. Like even the most gregarious
48:18
people, they they got to recharge their batteries
48:20
sometimes. Yeah, I have to escape.
48:22
Yes, And that's my escape. And yeah, I love, I love South
48:26
Louisiana. It's home to me.
48:28
I love the culture. I love the peacefulness.
48:30
I mean, I've been all over the United States.
48:33
I used to have another company, a cell tower business, but
48:35
that's another day. So I've got to travel a lot
48:38
around this country, but this is home to me and I always come
48:40
back. Let's see what's what's
48:46
something you wish you could teach your younger self,
48:48
Michael? Something that's obvious to you
48:53
now maybe wasn't back then. Not to sweat the small things.
48:59
Keep your eye on the big picture and continue at your goals.
49:05
Educate yourself as much as possible on anything that you
49:08
have a passion for and use your own judgement.
49:11
I've always whenever I was younger, I think the biggest
49:15
mistake I'd make was listening to other people directly that I
49:21
kind of looked up to. And now I realize I am that
49:24
person. And the advice I even give to to
49:28
younger generation, find your passion, work at it as diligent
49:33
and as hard you know as you can. Educate yourself, do your due
49:36
diligence and make your own decisions.
49:39
But but educate yourself and use examples.
49:42
But it there's no one, there's no best way.
49:48
There's your best way. So that that that's if I could
49:52
tell my young self that it would be that blaze your own trail.
49:57
I like that I'm writing that one down.
49:58
There's no best way. There's your best way.
50:02
Yes, you know, I always say the same thing.
50:07
We're all products of our environment and what we're
50:10
surrounded with. So you're molded because my my
50:13
background was psychology and that's I thought I'd one time I
50:16
was going to be a psychologist, but then I went into nursing
50:19
because I wouldn't have made any money way back then.
50:21
They didn't pay for those, the psychological disorders, but you
50:25
know, we're products of our environment.
50:26
You either adapt and thrive and in nature, you'll be called out
50:30
if you don't. So you have to, you have to
50:33
conform. And my biggest thing I always
50:35
use, and they'll hear me say this around the office all the
50:38
time. I said you never failed unless
50:39
you quit. And I don't quit, I pivot.
50:42
I'm not going to continue to do the same thing that I'm doing
50:45
that's not working because that's insanity, you know, to
50:49
expect a different result. But I pivot, so I'm going to
50:52
just continue to. And one of my biggest
50:54
inspirations and quotes I love is Martin Luther King Junior is
50:58
yeah. You know, if you can't fly, run.
50:59
If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl.
51:02
Whatever you do, just keep moving forward and pivot, Pivot
51:05
if you need to. So, you know, I don't give up.
51:09
I I won't quit. I'll quit doing the same thing
51:12
over and over. You'll pit them.
51:13
I'm going to do. That's exactly right.
51:16
Yeah, I think words matter. And that's, that's a good
51:18
example of that. Any, any specific mentors,
51:22
books, podcasts, other types of experiences that you want to
51:26
give a shout out to that have been helpful and sort of molding
51:29
you and and the trajectory of your career?
51:32
Well, I like to read and research and stuff, and whenever
51:37
I was younger I would read different articles and different
51:40
things. I've always looked up to
51:42
successful people. So I mean, I can give you a few
51:46
examples. I mean, I looked up to, to, to,
51:50
to like the billionaires, like the Microsoft, the Gates and and
51:57
even Trump, I read some of his things and just to see how
52:00
businessmen and models and entrepreneurs.
52:03
So I've always looked up to anybody that's successful in
52:06
their field. No one thing in particular, but
52:09
I always aspire to, to I always had that entrepreneurial mind
52:15
and concept and I've always wanted to work for myself.
52:18
So no, I won't say anything specific.
52:21
I read and make like I say, I read everything I can.
52:23
I get my hands on and I'll make my, my decisions on whether you
52:27
know, so that that's nothing specific.
52:30
OK, Mike, I just have one more question for you, but before I
52:34
ask it, I want to do 2 things. If you're listening today and
52:36
you like today's content, please hit the like, subscribe or Share
52:39
button on your favorite podcast app.
52:42
I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch
52:44
with you. Mike, what would that be?
52:46
Well, they can go to our website at Nurses Direct dot US or they
52:52
can call our Direct Line 337-362-4004.
52:58
And also we have they can look us up on Facebook and Nurses
53:02
Direct. So multiple ways that'd be the
53:05
best way to get in touch with us.
53:07
Great. Last question for you, Mike.
53:09
How do you see your industry evolving in the next 5 years?
53:12
What do you think the big changes are that are coming?
53:15
Well, I think we're going to have to see what AI is going to
53:18
do to this industry technology wise, how medicine may advance.
53:22
We, we don't know. It's always, you know,
53:24
medicine's always on the cutting edge of technology.
53:27
So we don't know what cures or what things can happen.
53:29
As far As for the nurse staffing, I see it always still,
53:35
still still be in a very, very, very high demand, like I said,
53:39
because of the burnout rates. I'm just hoping we can perfect
53:42
the model more to at least utilize the, the staff and
53:46
availability that we have now to the best of their potential.
53:50
So in the next 5 years, it's hard to, it's hard to see what
53:54
changes go. I mean, I've been doing it for
53:56
25 years and there's changes, but there's not acute and
53:58
drastic changes. COVID or whenever our hurricane
54:02
hits US, it's acute, drastic for me because I went through Rita
54:04
and Katrina and it was, let me tell you that was that I could
54:09
compare that to COVID. It was worse for a short period
54:13
of time. COVID was just longer.
54:16
Oh, interesting. And those those hurricanes are
54:19
bad for you because of there there's so much trauma that
54:22
needs dealt with and there's so many people displaced.
54:25
Some of those people that are displaced are the the nurses
54:28
that you want to get there to help these folks.
54:31
Yeah, and the patients, they evacuated all of New Orleans and
54:34
sent them to north Louisiana and Arkansas.
54:37
And they, you know, I mean, there was, yes, it's chaos.
54:41
It's like herding cats. And then the nurses scatter.
54:44
You know, they all have to look out for themselves, their family
54:46
and everything. So yeah, it's a hurricane really
54:50
is. It's an acute, drastic change
54:53
for us. And we have to prepare because I
54:56
have a lot of nurses in Louisiana.
54:59
But in terms of changes to the the nurse staffing model, maybe
55:03
AI is going to have some impact on on how you recruit folks and
55:06
and how medical care is delivered.
55:08
Is that kind of where your thought is?
55:10
Yeah, and, and, and I hope, you know, I'm excited.
55:13
I'm really excited about it to be able to better piece together
55:17
all pieces of the puzzles, to be able to recruit, recruit nurses
55:20
better. And I don't like using this
55:22
word, but profile nurses tendencies where they want to
55:26
work each individual nurse because like I say, my motto,
55:28
I'll go back to one nurse at a time.
55:31
I like to develop that relationship, have that basis
55:34
and that foundation with them. Because if if you spend the time
55:38
in the beginning, it's going to last for a longevity a long,
55:42
long time. If you, you try to cut corners
55:46
and you know, they see through it, if you care, they, they'll,
55:50
they'll know. They know you care.
55:52
You know, and I do. I, I legitimately care about my,
55:56
my, my, but I, like I said, I can't have, there's only 168
56:00
hours in a week. So I'm not physically capable of
56:03
doing that. But every opportunity that I
56:06
have, if I have to put out a far, I'll do it.
56:08
And they know my whole, all my staff knows caught you.
56:12
We need you to call them in. And I do every, I mean, I will
56:15
because that's what got me here. I'm not going to change.
56:17
I'm not going to change what's working.
56:19
Michael, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both
56:22
your time and your story with us today.
56:24
I really appreciate it. Well, I mean, I enjoyed this
56:27
also. Thank you very much.
56:28
Really appreciate it. Folks, that's a wrap on another
56:32
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
56:34
Thanks for learning with us today.