What to Ask a Staffing Agency Before Your Next Shift Request

Calling a staffing agency for last-minute coverage is a routine part of running a facility, but it's easy to default to whoever answers fastest instead of whoever actually screens their people properly. If you're a DON or scheduler evaluating a per diem staffing partner in the Richmond area, here's what's worth asking before you make that call a habit.

Ask exactly how they screen and credential staff

This is the question that matters most and the one facilities ask least specifically. Just CNA's Inc. describes its own process as verifying professional licenses, providing written copies of credentials or on-site access to an automated credentialing program, completing criminal and abuse background screenings, and completing drug testing. Ask any agency you're vetting to lay out their process in that same amount of detail. A vague "we screen everyone" isn't an answer, it's a deflection.

Ask which disciplines they actually place

Not every staffing agency covers the same range. Just CNA's Inc. places RNs, LPNs, CNAs, PCAs, and Med Techs, along with per diem nursing, travel nursing, pharmacy, anesthesia, clinical research, and management solutions. If your facility has mixed coverage needs across a shift, a single agency covering more of that range means fewer phone calls and fewer handoffs between vendors when your census shifts.

Ask what settings they're actually used to staffing

An agency that mostly places into acute care hospitals is going to have a different bench than one that regularly staffs assisted living or psychiatric facilities. Just CNA's Inc. places into physician and medical offices, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, psychiatric facilities, hospitals, hospices, private duty facilities, rehab facilities, schools, and daycare centers. If your setting is more specialized, ask directly whether they've placed staff there before, not just whether they're willing to try.

Ask what happens if you can't get through right away

Shift gaps don't wait for business hours, and neither do good staffing partners. Just CNA's Inc. states that if they miss or are unable to answer a call, they'll usually get back to you within 24 hours. That's a reasonable standard to hold any agency to. If a vendor can't tell you what their callback window actually looks like, you're finding that out for the first time during an actual staffing emergency, which is the worst possible time.

Put it together before you're desperate

• Get their screening and credentialing process in writing or in specific detail, not a general assurance
• Confirm the disciplines they place match what your unit actually needs across a full shift
• Confirm they've placed into your specific type of facility before, not just a similar one
• Get a straight answer on callback time before you're relying on it during a real gap

The facilities that end up with reliable per diem coverage aren't the ones who called the first name that came up during a Friday afternoon staffing crisis. They're the ones who asked these questions ahead of time, while there was no pressure on the answer.

Set the relationship up before you need it

The best time to vet a staffing agency is before a shift is actually open, not during the scramble to fill one. Get the answers to these questions on file, confirm which of your unit's disciplines and shift patterns they can realistically cover, and keep that information somewhere your scheduling team can find it fast. Just CNA's Inc. has been placing staff in the Richmond area for 24 years, and that kind of longevity is worth asking about directly, since an agency that's been doing this a long time has usually already worked out the kinks that newer vendors are still figuring out on your unit's time.