Search for Nurses in California Is Feverish

The L.A.Times reports:

Competition to hire nurses in California is so intense that some headhunters routinely make cold calls to nursing stations at rival hospitals, desperate for recruits.

Others are sending out direct-mail pitches that read like time-share come-ons. Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, for example, offers nurses a $200 gift card just to come in and take a look around.

And in one extreme case, a nurse-staffing firm is using a $10-million Newport Beach mansion as a lure.

Even the recruiters are getting recruited.

"I probably get a call once a week," said Robin Ludewig, director of nurse recruitment for UCLA . "It's a dog-eat-dog world out there."