They're paid a shit ton more. And because of that, more nurses are quitting to do the travel thing, which worsens the shortage and increases demand for travel nurses ;-) never seen an industry fuck itself over so bad. That's really the issue - healthcare has become an industry, not a profession.
It's really amazing to see travel nurses come back to work at a place they just left. They are now doing the same job as before, are getting paid almost twice as much with better schedules and are working next to people that they know and are friends with.
It's honestly surprising that more haven't taken the jump and is really shocking that hospitals aren't doing more to retain critical staff.
Its hilarious that nursing shares this problem with the tech industry and probably with most other industries. Every company is extremely allergic to giving raises and is happy to let their workforce churn constantly. You would think they believe that experience has no value.
But on the hiring side, experience is one of the most widely accepted signals of value.
1. Hospitals pay their nurses $X, which is way too low
2. Nurses quit because they're underpaid and overworked
3. Hospitals have a nurse staffing crisis and so pay travel nurses 2 * $X (or more!)
4. Hospitals are in a panic over the cost of travel nurses, yet instead of paying their nurses more to keep them around and eliminate the need for travel nurses, they ask the government to cap the cost of travel nurses
My mind is exploding over the ridiculousness of it.
Then increase the pay even more or increase the quality of life at work.
Instead of $250k, halve the work load somehow and make it two $125k.
If there is no number, then society cannot afford it.
But this is nursing, not trying to find ways around the 2nd law of thermodynamics. If nurses received $300k/year income, then there probably would not be a shortage since the barrier to entry is not that high.
If we really want to get down to the nitty gritty of it, most people cannot afford quality nurse care (or doctors or hospitals). So the question really comes down to how much wealth is society willing to redistribute to those who need it in the form of healthcare?
The point is that I know nurses that make 200k a year and still complain about the workload. More nurses and better hours is the solution. Meanwhile the trend is to make it more and more difficult to become a nurse and higher and higher for hospitals to have nurses
Not even close if you are talking about the USA (and actual nurses, not CNA's or MAs) - starting pay for 2 year RN degrees near me are about 55-65K, and you easily go over 100K in a few years.
While technically true, what we're trying to avoid is forcing the market to find a way that may include an interim period of extremely bad outcomes before correcting itself
A travel nurse means you just have to work across town you dont have to travel out of state, out of country, or to middle of nowhere. And these people are bringing in 5k a week currently. None of them are leaving.
