A critical turning point in David Theobald’s life occurred at the age of 18 when a motorcycle accident left him hospitalized and unconscious for eight hours. When he woke up, he was amazed at the compassion and skill of the nurses at his bedside. “The caring of the doctors and nurses in the hospital gave me a new appreciation for helping others,” Theobald says. This experience, along with helping care for both of his late grandmothers, inspired Theobald to pursue what he says is his true calling: a diversified career in nursing.
Now Theobald is a nurse entrepreneur with a Masters in Nursing Education and more than 15 years of healthcare experience. As the CEO of Stat Staff Professionals and Davin Workforce Solutions, two nurse owned and operated healthcare companies based here in Saratoga Springs, Theobald utilizes his expertise in patient care to address the growing needs and demands of today’s healthcare issues, finding creative, clinical and technology-based solutions for facilities of all sizes and functions across the United States. “One constant element in healthcare is change,” says Theobald. “We have to embrace change to improve patient outcomes for all.”
The inspiration for Theobald’s first company, Stat Staff Professionals, came in 2002, while he was working as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Troy’s Samaritan Hospital. By his side at that time were supplemental and travel nurses filling critical gaps in the hospital staff during a national nursing shortage. “I saw that there was certainly a need for temporary and supplemental workforce, but I saw a better way of doing it,” says Theobald, who emphasizes that his companies are run by nursing professionals. “A lot of the organizations that provide these services aren’t run by clinical folks, and specifically, not nurses.” Theobald founded Stat Staff Professionals in 2003 and started offering both temporary fixes to fill immediate needs in nurse staffing as well as more permanent solutions to ease the recurrent cycle of staffing shortages.
In 2015, Theobald expanded by founding Davin Workforce Solutions, a sister company that develops complementary software that hospitals and nursing schools can use for a number of functions, from streamlining the clinical placement and credentialing process of nursing students to promoting workforce development; and, ultimately, even reducing hospital reliance on supplemental staffing. This year, Theobald took the company national, bringing its technology to colleges across the country to help them develop a new clinical workforce.
