[sllewe]

Using an anecdotal source - My Wife (ICU RN) this is sounds right.

Outside of the existing issues with Bedside nursing (long days, physically demanding) - the primary issue is staffing. Pre-pandemic the ratios were already bad but now many are leaving for travel contracts which carry significantly better wages. It quickly becomes a loop where employees leave for Travel Contracts, and then can only be backfilled with Travel Contracts. The remaining FT staff nurses are left making much less money, and have to assist "training" with the outside Travel nurses. And while this is nothing against them - The travel RNs also often have a different "vibe" as they are much less focused on long term improvement or problem solving within the Unit.

Also ICU/PCU/ER nursing throughout the pandemic was a terribly depressing place to be. Leaving many of my Wifes colleagues (including herself) with what is essentially PTSD with little or no support from the Hospital System.

[durrden]

My wife (ER/Trauma RN) feels the same way. They will need to double the pay of non-travel nurses to get through this.

[alostpuppy]

The existence of travel nurses should really be indicative of a problem.

[InitialLastName]

Should it? The market for medical care has a base rate (and appears to be clearly under-staffed for that rate), but (especially in a pandemic) it's rather peaky and the basic skills appear to be VERY transferable from location to location. If there are people with the skills that are willing to travel, it seems that a system that maintained maximum capacity in all locations would be a very wasteful one.

[alimov]

Yes, it should be indicative of a problem. The fact that nurses are overworked, and underpaid is a big issue.

> If there are people with the skills that are willing to travel, it seems that a system that maintained maximum capacity in all locations would be a very wasteful one.

The general idea here is that more and more nurses are willing to do this because they are underpaid and overworked in their regular (non-Travel Nurse) positions. I didn’t see anyone arguing for “maximum capacity” either… just better wages and working conditions.

> basic skills appear to be VERY transferable from location to location

If you read the parent comment by sllewe you will see that there are other costs and concerns around this which do more to stress existing nurses at whatever hospital is being filled with travel nurses. Imagine training a new someone every week (or however often new travel nurses pop up) while also having to do your own job… especially when you are already being overworked and when a miscalculation on your part could result in loss of life. All the while knowing that the travel nurse is making significantly more money than you, negotiated their hours of availability and doesn’t have to care about the unit beyond whatever contract length they signed up for..

[pmulard]

Travel nurses serve a need, like if another nurse gets injured or has a child, and they will need to be temporarily replaced.

[solenoidalslide]

Shouldn't travel positions exist for every other profession?

The reason why it's expected for nursing in particular is the indicator that something here is very wrong.

[manmal]

It’s an indicator for very small room for error when it comes to utilization.

[solenoidalslide]

There are more stressful and dangerous careers that do not have travel positions as a norm.