Emergence of the free agent nurse workforce

The health care world is changing rapidly and so is its workforce. As nurses are welcomed as copartners in care delivery and design, a new relationship between employer and employee is forged. Nurses who see themselves as free agents, working in partnership with their employers, function within a very different employment relationship than in past years. The concept of free agency is more familiar to nurses in the Generation X age cohort but is of great interest to all nurses and nurse administrators. Free agency is more of a mindset than an employment status and is explored in this article.