Best Practices for Promoting Safe Patient Care Delivery by Hospital-Based Traveling Clinical Staff

Background: Hospitals use traveling clinical staff (TCS) to fill personnel shortages. Although this approach may help improve staffing ratios, it is not without risk. Purpose: The interdisciplinary team conducted an integrative literature review to determine best practices for promoting safe patient care delivery by TCS. Methods: Using the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice model, the authors performed an integrative literature review, including appraisal of quality, synthesis of themes, and best-evidence recommendations. Results: The final synthesis included 16 articles. Evidence demonstrated the importance of preemployment screening, standardized onboarding and orientation, and optimizing the integration of TCS into the work environment. Conclusion: Hospitals should use these recommendations when incorporating TCS into their teams.