Two traveling nurses make St. Luke’s their home

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Travel nurses are an essential part of many hospitals across the country, but here at St. Luke’s Magic Valley, two travel nurses have made St. Luke’s their home.

As national nurses month comes to a close, two nurses at St. Luke’s Magic Valley are making the region their home.

Lexi McFarland came to Twin Falls as a travel nurse after years of being a nurse at a hospital in Montana.

“The first thing I really liked is how clean it was, we have great communication with our doctors and providers, we have some great core nurses here that I really enjoy working with and I really enjoy our management staff,” said Lexi McFarland, a nurse.

After spending one year as a travel nurse, she decided to make St. Luke’s her home, and it’s been 8 months since then.

Her co-worker Kelly Osborne had a similar situation.

“It’s a super busy floor but I really like it. The communication skills between the nurses, the doctors, PT, housekeepers, everybody is just super awesome. Everybody is just really good to communicate with,” said Kelly Osborne, a nurse.

And having experienced nurses at any hospital is pivotal, which is why it is so special to have two traveling nurses stay.

In the past year there has been 5 traveling nurses that have stayed.

One nurse manager says they make great mentors to the new nurses.

“We are very lucky to have CSI in our community that brings us new grad nurses, but we have a really hard time getting more experienced nurses to come into the Twin Falls area, so with traveling nurses coming into our hospital and staying, gives us that more experienced nurse, and nurses that have seen more hospitals than our new grad would be,” said MJ Kljucanin, the nurse manager on the surgical floor.

As St. Luke’s vows to provide quality health care, that balance between experienced nurses and new grads is vital and they all say they are excited to continue being leaders in their departments.

“We’ve got to have core nurses that know the ins and outs of the hospital, know the policies and procedures, know how to get ahold of appropriate people,” said McFarland.

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