These Nurses Built the “Facebook Marketplace” for Healthcare Gigs
- Nurse Connect connects licensed nurses directly with patients seeking short-term, in-home care.
- Nurses set their own rates, choose their availability, and keep 100% of their earnings.
- The platform fills care gaps for patients while offering nurses a more flexible, sustainable way to practice.
Healthcare is changing, and not just inside hospital walls.
Patients are going home sooner, managing more complex conditions outside clinical settings, and often being told, “Just follow these instructions.” At the same time, nurses are rethinking what a sustainable career looks like, searching for ways to continue providing meaningful care without sacrificing their well-being.
Nurse Connect sits right at the intersection of those two needs.
Founded by Kat Brennan and Jackie Passante, both nurses, and Amanda Ciardiello, a healthcare operations professional, Nurse Connect is a digital platform that connects licensed nurses with individuals in their communities seeking in-home care. The goal is simple but powerful: make it easier for patients to access skilled nursing support while giving nurses more control over how and when they practice.
A Response to a Very Real Nursing Dilemma
Many nurses don’t want to leave nursing; they just want a version of nursing that fits real life.
One of Nurse Connect’s co-founders, Jackie Passante, came face-to-face with this reality after becoming a parent. Like many clinicians, she loved patient care but found that rigid hospital schedules left little room for balance. She discovered occasional opportunities to help patients independently with specific needs, but there was no central, secure place where nurses could offer those services in a structured way.
That “in-between space,” not hospital care and not full-time home health, became the inspiration for Nurse Connect.
How It Works (Without the Agency Middleman)
Nurse Connect functions as a professional marketplace. Nurses create profiles that highlight their licensure, experience, and the services they offer. Patients and families can search by location and type of care needed, then connect with nurses through a secure messaging system before booking visits.
Nurses stay in control. They:
- Set their own rates
- Choose their availability
- Accept or decline requests
The platform verifies professional licenses and provides guidance on scope of practice and liability coverage. Nurses work independently and within their legal boundaries, not as employees being assigned shifts.
In short, it brings modern flexibility to professional nursing care.
Who Can Join Nurse Connect?
Nurse Connect is designed to include a range of licensed and certified professionals who provide hands-on care. Eligible providers include:
- Registered Nurses (RNs)
- Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses (LPNs/LVNs)
- Nurse Practitioners (NPs)
- Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs)
- Home Health Aides (HHAs)
Each professional creates a profile based on their credentials, experience, and comfort level. Services must always remain within the individual’s legal scope of practice, and licensure is verified through the platform.
The Needs No One Talks About, But Everyone Has
Nurse Connect focuses on the kinds of care situations that often fall through the cracks.
These are not long-term, daily home health cases. They’re the short-term, task-specific, “I just need help with this part” moments, such as (but not limited to):
- Post-surgical check-ins
- Medication and injection administration
- Postpartum and newborn support
- Lactation guidance
- Brief visits for older adults who need clinical oversight
- Support with chronic illness management
- Temporary help for families caring for medically complex children
Often, patients are discharged with detailed instructions and good intentions, but also anxiety and unanswered questions. Having a nurse step in for even a short visit can provide reassurance, education, and early recognition of potential problems.
It’s skilled care for the gray areas of recovery, health management, and peace of mind.
A Payment Model Nurses Appreciate (and Deserve)
One of the platform’s most appealing features is its transparent payment structure.
Creating a profile is free. Nurses set their own rates and keep 100 percent of what they charge. Patients pay a small transaction fee to use the platform, but there is no agency-style percentage taken from the nurse’s earnings.
Payments are processed electronically, helping reduce the administrative hassle that often comes with independent work.
The nurse pockets every penny they earn.
More Choice and Personalization for Patients
For patients and families, Nurse Connect offers something many traditional systems cannot: choice.
Instead of being assigned a clinician, families can review nurse profiles, explore experience and specialties, and select someone who aligns with their specific needs and comfort level. That direct connection can make care feel more personal and less transactional.
Access to timely, professional support at home may also help patients better understand their care plans, manage medications safely, and recognize early warning signs, all of which can contribute to smoother recoveries and limit unnecessary medical office visits.
Where It’s Available
Nurse Connect is currently active in New York and Florida, with expansion plans guided by nurse participation and community demand. Nurses in other states can create profiles in advance to help bring the platform to their areas.
A Different Way to Stay in Nursing
Nurse Connect doesn’t position itself as a replacement for hospitals or home health agencies. Instead, it offers another lane, one that acknowledges that nurses’ lives evolve and that patients’ needs don’t always fit neatly into existing systems.
For nurses, it can mean supplemental income, reduced burnout, or a more flexible path during life transitions.
For patients, it can mean timely, skilled help during vulnerable moments at home.
At its core, Nurse Connect reflects a simple but meaningful shift: supporting nurses in continuing to do what they do best, just in a way that works better for real life.
To learn more about Nurse Connect and hear the team’s full conversation with host Jana Price, tune in to the Nurse Converse Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or listen directly at nurse.org/nurseconverse.
🤔Nurses, does a flexible nursing marketplace like this appeal to you? Share your thoughts in the discussion forum below!
