How to Start an International Nursing Agency
International nursing agencies offer a myriad of services and benefits to their members. A primary focus of the agency is to assist nurses from around the world with career development, job placement and learning new ways to improve the lives of patients they care for. Starting an international nursing agency can be rewarding, challenging and one of the greatest learning processes you may undertake.
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Instructions
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Build a board and establish benefits
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Create a mission statement. Clearly define the reason that your international nursing agency is being created. Highlight the benefits that members will obtain after they join your agency. Identify gaps in the nursing industry that your agency will fill. For example, your agency could focus on gaining employment for nurses who relocate to a different country or providing temporary nursing staff to hospitals and clinics around the world. Review existing mission statements for nursing agencies like Essy Nursing, Knight Nursing, Aberdeen Nursing Agency and Care Select Network Limited (see Resources) as you craft your mission statement.
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Write a detailed business plan for your international nursing agency. State whether your agency is a not-for-profit or commercial entity. Evaluate and compare your agency's offerings to those of other existing nursing agencies. You should be aware of current clients, success rates and services offered by other nursing agencies. As you continue to design your business plan, consider working with a state nursing board (see Resources) to conduct a quality assurance inspection on your agency. The more thorough you are in building your agency, the greater likelihood your nursing agency has of being successful. Draft a workable marketing plan you will use to get the word out about your agency to medical schools, nurses and nursing boards. Next, build your line item budget to cover all staff salary, marketing, printing and travel expenses. Reference journals and organizations such as "Nurse Leader," "Science Direct" and "Mosby's Nursing Consult" as you build out your budget (see Resources). Spend several days to a week creating your business plan. Should you need to raise capital by applying for grants or a bank loan, you will need to present a solid business plan with your application.
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Build a Board. Partner with hospitals, clinics, medical schools and reputable health care organizations such as John Hopkins Hospital, Loyalist College, the American Assembly of Men in Nursing and the Nursing Council of New Zealand to create your board of directors. Contact one to two licensed and seasoned medical professionals across several organizations to serve on your board as chairperson, vice-chairperson, treasurer, head of technology, marketing lead and chief administrative officer. Review your business plan and mission statement with your board. Schedule regular in-person meeting dates and times with your board. You could meet quarterly if your board members are located in various countries.
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Establish relationships with government offices. Reach out to associations and organizations such as the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Australian Nursing Council, College of Nurses of Ontario and state nursing boards. Set up a meeting with the directors at each of these organizations. Communicate your international nursing agency's services and benefits. Set up ways for your agency's members to obtain and renew required licensing at the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) levels. For example, you could offer members the chance to download licensing application forms and submit fee payments directly through your agency's website upon written agreement with the licensing boards.
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Offer continuing career education. Give members the opportunity to continue their nursing education by taking web and offline seminars provided through your agency. You could offer courses such as Health Literary in Primary Care, Swine Flu Prevention and Advanced Concepts of Adult Healthcare. Charge a competitive fee for members to attend the trainings. This may prove to be an effective way to generate capital to pay for your agency's annual standard expenses.
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Provide job opportunities. Build key relationships with career services managers at organizations such as the Nursing Knowledge International, Nurses of Emergency, International Association for Human Caring, the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, International University of Nursing and the Honor Society of Nursing. Ask the career services managers to send you international job openings. Post the openings at your agency website. If you have an offline presence, post the job openings at your physical place of business as well.
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Work with relocation and real estate providers like Brookfield Global Relocation Services, Americas Relocation Home Services and Summit Global Relocation Services (see Resources) to assist nurses traveling aboard with locating and securing a place to live. Offer your member's discounted rates for using the relocation service providers.
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References
Resources
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