The American Staffing Association responded to a story in The Los Angeles Times newspaper and nonprofit journalism organization Pro Publica that took the healthcare staffing industry to task for alleged inadequarte screening. The report contended some nurse staffing companies weren't doing adequate background checks, allowing incompetent nurses to endanger patients.

Here's the text of  a letter to the editor sent to The Los Angeles Times:

Dear Letters Editor:
Your report about the screening of temporary nurses raises some legitimate concerns, but the focus was on exceptions rather than the rule. The vast majority of staffing firms rigorously screen nurses and only hire those with valid credentials and verifiable backgrounds. Unfit? To the contrary, temporary nurses are highly skilled professionals who play a vital role in helping health care facilities ensure the effective delivery of quality health care services.

This was confirmed in a 2007 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the American Staffing Association. The study, which was published in the Journal of Nursing Administration, found that the quality of temporary nursing staff was on par with that of hospitals' permanent staff, and that temporary nurses actually help improve patient outcomes in hospitals with inadequate resources and staffing deficiencies.

Richard Wahlquist
President and CEO
American Staffing Association

The ASA also said Mike Weinholtz, CEO of CHG Healthcare Services Inc. and ASA board member, spoke on a Southern California Public Radio talk show with the two reporters that wrote the piece to rebut the assertions made in the article.

ASA said the next steps include continuing to defend the industry against media attacks, continuing development of best practices in healthcare staffing and advocating that staffing firms have access to a federal database of censured nurses.