Hiring incentives for nurses
A recent study by the company of Martin, Fletcher showed that hospitals are really rolling out the red carpet in their efforts to hire new nurses. 88 percent of hospitals offered a substantial sign-on bonus, in the high thousands of dollars, the study on health compensation showed. Other benefits offered by hospitals hoping to recruit new staff include generous relocation packages (average over $5,000, the study showed), tuition reimbursement deals, and payment for continuing education.
However, nurses should investigate the hospital that they are considering working at; is there a high turnover rate? If so, why? Is it in a neighborhood/city that the nurse wants to be in for at least a few years? (Generally when a hospital offers a financial incentive to come work for them, they require the nurse to stay for a certain agreed-on period of time in exchange for it.)
The fact that a hospital is offering a lot of incentives to work for them, though, does not necessarily mean that they are a bad place to work. There is such a severe nursing shortage everywhere that even great facilities are scrambling to recruit new nurses.