Bill Klaproth (Host): This is today in Nursing Leadership, a podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth, and with me is Adam Kless workforce Solutions executive, avant Healthcare professionals. As we discuss why now is the pivotal moment to start building your global nurse pipeline, Adam, welcome.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Hey, bill. Thanks for having me.

Host: Yeah, it's great to see you. Thanks for stopping by our podcast booth.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, thanks.

Host: Yeah, we appreciate it. So Adam, long-term recruitment timelines create workforce stability. So how do long-term international recruitment timelines help stabilize workforce planning? Especially as we approach 20,28 2030 Yeah.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Right. Yeah. So, you know, we're able to forecast international arrivals and plan them out well into the future. We have such a deep and robust pipeline of nurses that we could plan out. Um, nurse arrivals years ahead of time.

Host: Okay. So many health systems are bracing for retirements and rising patient acuity.

How does building an international pipeline mitigate those upcoming pressures?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, well, you know, rising patient acuity is going to alter the necessary staffing mix in the hospital. Um, it's also going to, uh. Require a different type of nursing skill mix as well. And the good thing about international is that you can actually go into our pipeline and select the specific skill level, the skill, um, uh, acuity, the um, the specialty for the nurses, um, to help really diversify out the hospital's, um, workforce and meet those changing needs.

Um, and retirements, you know, that's why I think, you know, international is perfect on retirement because you plan those out. And going back to our ability to schedule, um, arrivals down in the future, you could plan a retirement for two years from now and queue up a nurse to drop right in.

Host: Wow, that really makes sense.

So our nurses in other countries, they're looking to come here to help with our staffing shortages. Is that

right? Oh, yeah. I mean, we are, we are the most popular destination for international nurses. Yeah.

Okay. So in your view, uh, global recruitment really makes a lot of sense to help future-proof right?

Make it's kind of future-proofinging mechanism rather than a reactive short-term fix,

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: right? Yeah. So, you know when, when a healthcare organization partners with avant. They benefit from our deep and robust pipeline of qualified professionals, um, which allows for a really, like a much more thoughtful, long-term solution to staffing.

Host: Yeah. You can really plan ahead.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yes.

Host: And you can think about what your needs are going to be. So international recruitment expands access to highly qualified talent. How does expanding sourcing internationally then help leaders address those skill gaps that local markets currently can't fill?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, so expanding to international talent pipeline really allows leaders to hand select the, um, very specific skills that might not be present in the local market.

because not every hospital, um, their market has the skill mix. Like maybe you don't have CVR nurses And we do so, yeah.

Host: All right So. Thinking of how other people might think, are there misconceptions about the qualifications or readiness of internationally educated nurses that you think might need correcting?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, I think, you know, most commonly when people think international, they question their education. And the cool thing is about our nurses, um, their education has been certified to be the equivalent of a US education. They have passed the NCLEX but in addition to that, we at Avant have a very comprehensive clinical, uh, program that they all go through, um, in our, uh, home office in Orlando.

So extensive training and preparation.

Host: What about language barrier? Is that an issue at all?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: We typically recruit from countries where English is spoken within the country. Um, however, we also have language support available. Okay. So we give that the entire time. And if the vetting of their language skills is part of their skills training.

Host: Okay. Let me ask you this. How does international recruitment complement domestic strategies Like. Residencies, float pools and upskilling programs.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, so with resident residencies and upskilling programs, I think you don't always know if that nurse is going to stick around and are they going to see the residency through, are they going to get upskilled injunction and go somewhere else?

But when you look at international recruitment, it really gives them, uh, the properly prepared professionals, um, right when you need them And the residencies take time so you can. Plan it out, drop the nurse in, um, and they're ready to go.

Host: So you've described global recruitment as kind of a one spoke in the wheel.

What does an ideal multi-layered staffing model look like then in practice?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Yeah, hospitals really need to think about all of the approaches to staffing. So you're always going to need new grads, you're always going to need, um, experienced nurses from your local market. But also adding international in really diversifies and gives you the, the experience level And the skill level you need right when you need it.

Host: Well, Adam, I want to thank you so much for being here. One more question for you.

What advice would you give CNOs who are struggling to blend short-term and long-term staffing strategies into one coherent workforce plan?

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Well, you can start by visiting avanthealthcareprofessionals.com Um, but I'd also advise examining your local turnover rate, uh, days to fill your open jobs, your rate of non-productive time that you typically budget year to year for nursing.

If you do this, it's going to give you a more comprehensive understanding of your long-term needs and position you for planning consistent pipeline of nurses to meet patient care needs.

Host: Absolutely. Adam, thank you so much. I really appreciate you being here. Thanks Bill It's nice being here. Thank you.

Yeah. Once again, That is AvantHealthcareProfessionals.Com Adam, thank you so much. That is Adam Kelss If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you at aonl.org/nursing-leadership-podcast This is today in nursing leadership.

Adam Kless, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC: Thanks for listening.