Atlas All Access

What happens when you are a travel healthcare professional and your company disappears? Or goes through a merger? Acquisition? Or any number of business challenges.

Is your job safe? Will you even get paid this week? What happens next?

These are scary questions for a nurse about to start their shift, potentially working an entire weekend for free.

Thankfully, in this episode, we talk about when the stars align and everything works out.

Join us as we revisit the Atlas MedStaff asset purchase of Meridian Staffing, and find out what that process looks like from the inside: from a nurse's perspective living through every moment, and from a recruiter's side where they found new opportunities.

One thing is for sure, the life of a travel nurse is never boring!

Get to know Travel Nurse Recruiter Connor Velvin:

https://tinyurl.com/skstb8q

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Previous Meridian episodes

Mergers, buyouts, and acquisitions are pretty common in the travel healthcare staffing industry, but that doesn't make them easier if you are a traveler or an employee of a company going through challenging times. When Meridian Medical Staffing was going through a tough time, Atlas MedStaff stepped up to ensure those travelers were paid and taken care of.

https://youtu.be/DPn33LhPskM

We check in with Atlas President Steve Ryan to talk all things Tanzania.

What's going on with the Tanzania trip? How are our friends doing overseas? What have we been able to do to help them?

Atlas MedStaff has partnered with the good people at the Mosaic Foundation to give back to communities in Tanzania. This year's trip has been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, but we are still excited to keep open hearts and minds and give back where we can.

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Previous Tanzania episodes

Check out the original story about how Atlas MedStaff got connected to the Mosaic Foundation and began our quest to partner with the Tanzania community. We are proud to give back where we can, and inspired by the friends and change-makers we've met.

https://youtu.be/EqkPnp4zhJM

Here a solid mix of beers that our own Atlas President Steve Ryan brought back to Atlas HQ. We cracked these open in this special episode of A Beer With Atlas, where we review craft brews from around the country where our healthcare travelers visit.

https://youtu.be/aY-RpfldHbw

We ran a contest to select two Atlas travelers and two Atlas in-house staffers to go on our next trip to Tanzania. We have an excellent group selected, and everyone was excited to go and make a difference. Unfortunately, Covid-19 and the current state of the world has put those plans on pause. But we can't wait to reconnect with our friends overseas.

https://youtu.be/2q5DFn7gp-E

Are you on LinkedIn yet? Should you be?

We talk with Nurse Recruiter Jody Pokorny about the benefits of LinkedIn, the professionalism of the platform, and how you might find your next travel healthcare job (or recruiter) on the platform.

Tired of the negativity and the dreck you can find on Facebook? Maybe LinkedIn is the professional platform you need to propel your career.

Get to know Travel Nurse Recruiter Jody Pokorny:

https://tinyurl.com/qwjhjm7

Find Nurse Recruiter Jody Pokorny on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jody-pokorny

Follow Atlas MedStaff on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/atlas-medstaff

Wear a mask. Save a life.

It's frustrating to us to see basic science, not to mention healthcare, be turned into a political statement. This is not about that.

What we do want to focus on is the importance of wearing a mask. There's a lot of false information out there. So let's go over the facts. What's the truth behind wearing a mask?

We've worked with thousands of nurses, techs, therapists, and healthcare professionals around the country, we regularly talk with some of the biggest names in the healthcare industry and some of the most recognized medical facilities in the country and they all say you should wear a mask.

Healthcare professionals, of course, already know all this. But if you have been trying to find a piece of content to share with a family member that is *not* political, but does go over the facts of wearing a mask ... well, we hope this helps.

Stay safe out there. Wear a mask and protect your fellow man. Look out for each other.

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WHO Myths

Wearing a mask causes oxygen deficiency.

- Nope.

- Otherwise nurses and docs who wear masks for 8-12 hour surgeries would collapse.

Drinking alcohol prevents the coronavirus.

- No, but nice try. You might feel better about things, though.

Hot sauce and hot peppers protect you from getting Covid-19

- No. Otherwise our ICU nurses would be injecting patients with 10 CCs of Cholula and epi-pens loaded with Tapatio. (Don't inject hot sauce, kids.)

5G causes Covid-19

- No.

- But it might give you a better mobile signal to research facts from the WHO or CDC.

Extreme heat (or cold) kills the virus.

- Also no. Do not blast a blowdryer up your nose.

Injecting bleach or cleaning agents stops the virus.

- No. Unless you count that it will kill you. Do not do this.

TravCon 2020, the largest gathering of travel healthcare professionals, is officially canceled.

Yeah, we know. We're bummed, too. But we also think it's the right call.

This was not an easy decision for them to make. We're sure the TravCon board agonized over this one. In the end it's the right call for the conference, for the attendees, and for all of the business partners planning to go.

Find out more about TravCon, how jobs are opening in the wake of coronavirus, and what we hope to see at TravCon 2021.

Most importantly, we hope to see you.

Stay safe.

NOTE: If you purchased TravCon tickets for the 2020 conference, you are eligible for a full refund. Visit their Facebook page or website for more info.

That amazing job you saw posted on Facebook? The one you think is too good to be true? It probably is.

But how can a travel nurse or healthcare pro know? How do you spot the fake posts from the real ones?

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Nurse Recruiter Jake Brower and Atlas MedStaff Vice President Rich Smith, as we get right to the heart of the matter. Nothing is left on the table as we dissect the realities behind all those job posts you see on Facebook. What do they mean, and what are those recruiters really trying to do?

The best defense against janky job posts on social media? Build a relationship with a recruiter you can trust.

Your recruiter should be ok with you sending them a job post you see in the wild, both to ask if it's one they can get for you, and also to trust them enough when they tell you it's likely BS (that's the technical industry term).

Get to know Nurse Recruiter Jake Brower:

https://tinyurl.com/y6ajdjoa

This week's episode comes directly from a question a listener sent in. (Obligatory: long-time listener, first-time caller.)

Is there anything you can do to increase the chances of getting that placement you are hoping for right now? And is traveling what I want to do right now?

Great questions! Tune in to find out some simple tips on how you can improve your odds of landing that next contract. (This is good for any traveler, not just our own Atlas family.)

Persistence and Communication.

What's it like to be a nurse during a pandemic?

Even more complicated, how do you unwind after the high-stress job of working on a COVID-19 floor?

Learn from our travel nurses who have had a front-row seat to the changing impact of the coronavirus on hospital life for healthcare workers.

Whether you are a permanent staff nurse, an active travel nurse, or someone looking to take that first travel contract -- here's what it is like to be a travel nurse during the COVID-19 age.

Things have been rough, and we have said many times this is a #podcast where we will tackle any topic for you. This is the reality of being a nurse during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is what it's like after you come off the job. With all that stress and pressure, it's important to connect with others and do something you enjoy -- find a way to unwind.

Be careful, be smart, and be safe out there. And take some advice to heart from nurses and fellow healthcare professionals who have been there.

Check out last week's episode for more nurse views from the front lines:

https://tinyurl.com/y8xazlsb

What's it like to be a nurse during a pandemic?

Learn from our travel nurses who have had a front-row seat to the changing impact of the coronavirus on hospital life for healthcare workers.

Whether you are a permanent staff nurse, an active travel nurse, or someone looking to take that first travel contract -- here's what it is like to be a travel nurse during the COVID-19 age.

Things have been rough, and we have said many times this is a #podcast where we will tackle any topic for you. This is the reality of being a nurse during the coronavirus pandemic.

BUT-- there is a ray of light in the tunnel. We are seeing things improve, new procedures and operations are being scheduled for the summer, and jobs are opening back up.

Be careful, be smart, and be safe out there. And take some advice to heart from nurses and fellow healthcare professionals who have been there.

It may feel like things keep shifting whenever you start to get your feet beneath you. We're right there with you. Take a breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Again. That's better.

And then remember: the travel healthcare industry has been through this before.

The 2008 housing crises and subsequent recession played havoc on a host of industries that were never the same afterward. In this episode of Atlas All Access, we offer a little perspective in the midst of the 2020 pandemic by reflecting on the lessons we learned out of the 2008 recession.

There are many similarities between 2008 and 2020 for the travel healthcare industry. For some of our veterans and you longtime nurses it may even feel a little eerie.

Sometimes it's difficult to see the forest for the trees when you are in the middle of the forest working overtime in full PPE and the lumberjacks refuse to wear flannel because of the zombie bears that metaphor may have gotten away from us, but you know what we mean.

We will get through this.

You got this.

BONUS WEEKEND GAME: Take a shot every time someone says the phrases the new normal or in these unprecedented times.