future of travel nursing

Trusted Health Blog

Is Travel Nursing Still Worth It in 2024?

The answer is simple: Absolutely! Here's Why:

Are you a nurse considering your first travel assignment, or perhaps a seasoned traveler contemplating your next move? If you've been wondering whether travel nursing is still worth it in 2024, we've got fantastic news for you! We're going to take a comprehensive look at the travel nursing landscape in 2024, including what you can expect to be paid as a travel nurse!

During the COVID pandemic, travel nursing experienced a significant increase in demand as healthcare facilities urgently sought more nurses to fill critical needs.  This led to a surplus of high-paying contracts that attracted many nurses who may not have previously considered travel nursing. Now, as the travel pay begins to find a new baseline, some nurses are now questioning whether travel nursing will remain a favorable option in the future.

Travel nursing remains one of the most rewarding and fulfilling career moves you can make and we’re going to break down exactly why that is! The essence of this career choice—higher pay, flexibility, new connections, adventure, a politics-free environment, and professional growth—continues to thrive.

Travel Nurse Benefits Outweigh the Cons

Travel nurses have become a crucial part of the healthcare workforce, consistently filling critical needs and delivering care where it’s needed most. While travel nurses once made up only 3-4% of the nursing workforce, this number surged during the pandemic to nearly 10%. Post-COVID, we’ve seen this settle back in around 5% in 2024. The world has indeed seen significant changes, but the demand for skilled and compassionate nurses within the US has not waned. In fact, with healthcare facilities adapting to new realities, your expertise and adaptability as a travel nurse are more valuable than ever.

Travel Nurse Pay Remains High 

Although the average gross weekly income for travel nurses has decreased since the days of the pandemic, Becker’s Hospital Review was still reporting an average of $2,409 per week at the beginning of 2024. This amount is much more fruitful than the national average of $1,655 earned by staff nurses, according to the BLS .

These figures firmly indicate that travel nurses continue to enjoy significantly higher compensation than their stationary counterparts, making travel nursing a financially rewarding choice for nurses seeking financial growth.

Embracing Flexibility

Travel nursing offers you the freedom to take extended time off between assignments - an essential aspect of preventing nurse burnout.   Committing to just 4-13 weeks of work at a time,  you can take breaks between assignments to rest, recharge, visit family, or take off on bucket-list vacations.   When you take your next assignment is totally up to you, ensuring the perfect work-life balance! 

Increased flexibility isn’t limited to time off, either - you also get to choose where you work.  Whether you crave the coast, the mountains, or charming small towns, our vast network of healthcare facilities across the US offers plenty of exciting options for your next assignment.

Making Friends and Connections Across the US

Travel nursing isn't just about exploring new places; it's also about forming connections and building your network. Working with a broad network of healthcare professionals allows you to experience different hospital cultures, learn new ways of doing things, and make friends who will last a lifetime.

Imagine having a support system of like-minded professionals scattered across the country, ready to connect no matter where you go!  Trusted makes it easy from the start - we connect you with other travel nurses through our Trusted Community from day one! 

Adventure Awaits: Embrace New Places and Experiences

We know you love adventure; that's why you’re considering or have made the leap to travel nursing in the first place! Travel nursing takes that adventurous spirit to a whole new level. Each assignment is a new chapter in your life, offering the opportunity to immerse yourself in different cultures, try local cuisines, and discover hidden gems in your temporary home. Be sure you check out our city guides in top destinations like Houston , San Diego , Chicago , and Miami ! 

From the sun-kissed beaches of Florida to the snow-capped mountains of Colorado, from the historic charm of New England to the laid-back vibes of the Pacific Northwest, the country is a treasure trove of experiences waiting for you to uncover. 

No More Workplace Politics: Focus on What Matters

Many experienced travel nurses will tell you that one of the best parts of travel nursing is that you get to skip the office politics that often plague traditional staff jobs. Say goodbye to the drama , the gossip, and the unnecessary stress. Instead, focus on what truly matters: providing exceptional patient care and making a positive impact on people's lives, wherever you are.

By working in different healthcare settings across the US, you'll gain valuable experience and enhance your adaptability—qualities that will make you a stronger and more versatile nurse, prepared for any challenge that comes your way.

Professional Growth: Elevate Your Nursing Career with Trusted Health

At Trusted Health, we're committed to your professional growth. Travel nursing allows you to gain experience in various specialties and settings, sharpen your skills, and broaden your expertise from coast to coast. Whether you're a seasoned nurse or just starting your journey, each assignment presents an opportunity to expand your horizons and elevate your nursing career . As a traveler, you can gain experience in all kinds of settings, from rural facilities where resources are limited, to large magnet facilities where care is top-of-the-line.  No matter where your travels take you, you’re improving your ability to function as a valuable team member and learning new ways of doing things in order to provide the best care possible for your patients. 

Don’t Sacrifice Health Insurance and Retirement Benefits

We know that taking time off between assignments is essential for preventing nurse burnout and ensuring you're ready to take on your next adventure. When you travel with Trusted, you don't have to worry about gaps in insurance coverage during your downtime. We’ve got you covered from day one and your insurance coverage is active through the end of the month in which your contract ends. We also offer coverage options between assignments, so you can enjoy your time off worry-free, knowing you're protected and supported. All you need to do is sign a contract for a new assignment that has a start date within 28 days or less of your current end date and let your Care Team know that you'd like to stay enrolled in your current benefit plans.  So enjoy those 3 weeks off, without having to worry about a gap in coverage. 

And finally, we recognize the importance of planning for the future, which is why we offer a 401k plan to help you secure your financial stability in the long run. With Trusted, you can take charge of your retirement goals while enjoying the exciting journey of travel nursing. Plus, our coverage options between assignments ensure that you won't have to worry about any gaps in coverage during your downtime.

With Great Adventure Comes Great Reward

So, for all the nurses who are contemplating whether travel nursing is still worth it post-pandemic, we have one resounding answer: Absolutely, yes! This is your time to seize the adventure, embrace the rewards, and become part of a community of passionate healthcare professionals.

The travel nursing landscape may have evolved, but the essence of this extraordinary journey remains unchanged. Higher pay, flexibility, new connections, adventure, a politics-free environment, and professional growth—all of these await you as you embark on an unforgettable travel nursing experience.

Trust in yourself, trust in the opportunities that await, and trust in Trusted Health to be your partner in this life-changing journey. Let's create a future filled with boundless opportunities and unforgettable memories as you bring your exceptional skills and heart for nursing to every corner of the nation! Are you ready to embrace adventure? Sign up to travel and become a part of the Trusted Health family today! Your extraordinary journey awaits!

Audrey McCollough, RN, BSN, is a pediatric critical care nurse who traded her scrubs for a laptop to come work internally at Trusted two years ago. With eight years of critical care experience and four years of travel nursing under her belt, Audrey now uses her experience and expertise to support others in the healthcare industry, particularly her fellow nurses. When she's not at work, Audrey loves to explore the great outdoors! Hiking, skiing, or just soaking up nature's beauty - Audrey is all about it.

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The Future of Work Issue

‘Nurses Have Finally Learned What They’re Worth’

As the coronavirus spread, demand for nurses came from every corner. Some jobs for travelers paid more than $10,000 a week. Will the boom last?

Chris Detten earned enough as a traveling nurse to make a down payment on a home in Lubbock, Texas. Credit... George Etheredge for The New York Times

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By Lauren Hilgers

• Published Feb. 15, 2022 Updated June 15, 2023

Listen to This Article

In the early morning on Mother’s Day in 2020, Solomon Barraza walked into an intensive-care unit in Amarillo, Texas, and, with the fluorescent lights clicking on above him after the night shift, flipped through the stack of papers attached to a gray clipboard — his roster of patients and nurses for the day. Barraza, who was 30 at the time, had only recently become a charge nurse at Northwest Texas Healthcare System hospital. He was technically still a “baby nurse”: Just over a year earlier, he started working his first shifts in the I.C.U. Now he was responsible for overseeing the care of everyone there, making sure his nurses and patients had whatever they needed, answering questions and directing care in case of an emergency. As he looked through his roster, he saw that there were 11 patients on his floor; eight had Covid-19, and five of those were intubated. Then he looked at the other sheet of paper. There would be four nurses working for the next 12 hours. He needed at least six.

He could see the day play out: a cascade of emergencies, a cacophony of beeping alarms and running feet, disasters that ended with overwhelmed nurses and patients crashing alone. And so for the first time, Barraza made the decision to call for “safe harbor” under a Texas law that can be invoked to protect nurses’ licenses while working in conditions that are potentially unsafe for patients. Barraza grabbed a form from the nurses’ station, and one by one, they all signed it.

Almost immediately, the emergencies began. “You need to get over to 18!” someone shouted. Barraza grabbed his mask and ran. He started hand-pumping air into the patient’s lungs with a ventilation bag while two other nurses hooked the bag up to oxygen. They stabilized that patient, and Barraza jogged down the hallways to check on the other seven. One person’s blood pressure was dropping precipitously, and Barraza was preparing to go inside the room when he thought to check on another patient, one door down. That patient’s blood-oxygen level had dropped into the 40s, far below the normal range of 95 to 100. “So what do I do?” Barraza said. “Who do I help first? There are multiple people’s lives at stake at the same time. What if I pick wrong and someone dies?”

A year and a half later, Barraza was sitting on the desk in the middle of the cardiac-intensive-care unit, or C.I.C.U. — which handles both coronary and Covid patients — looking around the group of nurses, remembering those first months of an ongoing crisis. “There were some funky things going on with staffing back then,” he told the group. Nurses were leaving the hospital to take traveling jobs in New York. The rest of the hospital was shut down, so the I.C.U. floor was the chaotic heart of a ghost town. The hospital had yet to hire traveling nurses to pad its local staff, and Mother’s Day felt like a turning point. It was the day Barraza recognized that the pandemic would be defined by twin emergencies, two figures that he would watch anxiously as they rose and fell: the waves of patients on ventilators in his I.C.U., and the number of nurses available to take care of them.

In 2020 alone, Northwest lost 185 nurses — nearly 20 percent of its nursing staff. In the I.C.U., that number was closer to 80 percent. Many of those nurses left to take jobs with travel-nursing agencies, which placed them, on a temporary and highly lucrative basis, in hospitals throughout the country. When the nurses at Northwest quit, the hospital eventually hired its own travelers, who flowed onto Barraza’s floor to work for weeks or months at a time. There have been days when the unit was barely staffed and days when 20 travelers showed up unexpectedly. Barraza has watched friends burn out and retire. He has watched nurses leave for better pay or less stressful jobs. He has welcomed the strangers who have come to take their place — befriending them, folding them into his I.C.U. team and then watching them leave all over again.

Bedside nursing has always been, as one hospital chief executive put it, a “burnout profession.” The work is hard. It is physical and emotional. And hospitals have built shortages into their business model, keeping their staffs lean and their labor costs down. When the pandemic hit, shortages only increased, pushing hospitals to the breaking point. Nationwide, the tally of nurses with both the skills and the willingness to endure the punishing routines of Covid nursing — the isolation rooms, the angry families and the unceasing drumbeat of death — is dwindling. In a survey of critical-care nurses last year, 66 percent of respondents said they were considering retirement.

Sitting on the desk that day, Barraza didn’t know why he kept reflecting on May 2020. He had stabilized those two patients that morning, but that would not always be the case. For the most part, he said, the days bleed together in his mind. Sometimes it felt as if he had spent the last two years running the world’s longest marathon, his adrenaline pushing him from patient to patient, watching people die and trying his best to pause for a moment, just enough time to recognize each as an individual without being overwhelmed by emotion.

“That was the first time we called for safe harbor,” said Matt Melvyn, a veteran nurse who has stayed with Barraza throughout the pandemic. “But it was definitely not the last.”

In the flood of resignations, retirements and shortages that have redefined workplaces across industries these past two years, nothing has been as dramatic or as consequential as the shifts taking place in nursing. The scramble for bedside nurses is tied to everything from how we run our hospitals to the way we value the work of caring for others to our understanding of public health and medicine. And if our health care system has faltered under the weight of the pandemic, it will need hundreds of thousands more nurses to build itself back up.

For at least three decades, hospitals across the United States have followed a model that aims to match nurses precisely to the number of occupied beds. It’s a guessing game that has charge nurses performing daily tallies and hospital administrators anticipating the seasonal movements of illness and people — winter flus and migrating retirees. Many hospitals don’t offer nurses clear paths toward career advancement or pay increases. Depending on demand, they may trade nurses between units. When there are shortages throughout the hospital, they will send out emails and text messages asking nurses to come in and take an extra 12-hour shift. And when the shortages are too great, hospitals turn to travelers.

Even before the pandemic, there were many reasons to hire travelers. Nurses would be brought in for a season, a maternity leave or the opening of a new department. This kind of gig work grew increasingly common, and from 2009 to 2019, according to data from Staffing Industry Analysts, revenue in the travel industry tripled, reflecting a work force that was already in flux. There are hundreds of staffing agencies in the United States — national agencies, regional agencies, agencies that specialize in bringing in nurses from other countries, agencies that send American nurses abroad. In mid-March 2020, there were over 12,000 job opportunities for traveling nurses, more than twice the number in 2019.

Then, as the coronavirus spread, demand came from every corner. By December 2020, there were more than 30,000 open positions for travelers. And with the help of federal dollars — from the CARES Act Provider-Relief Funds and the American Rescue Plan — their salaries started climbing. Job listings in Fargo, N.D., advertised positions for $8,000 a week. In New York, travelers could make $10,000 or more. The average salary of a staff nurse in Texas is about $75,000; a traveler could make that in months.

Nurses often refer to their jobs as a calling — a vocation that is not, at its core, about money. At the same time, nurses have spent years protesting their long hours and nurse-to-patient ratios. In 2018 alone, there were protests in California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and several other states. When the pandemic hit and travel positions opened up in hospitals all over the country, nurses suddenly had more options than ever. They could continue serving patients, continue working grueling hours in frantic conditions, but they would be paid well for it. Travelers were valued. Their work was in demand. The money would be enough that after a few weeks or months on the job, they could go home and recover.

Hospital associations were already beginning to see the steep costs of these workers, but they had little choice in the matter. The shortages were too severe, and they would only get worse. In July 2020, Texas established a statewide emergency staffing system, coordinated by select regional advisory councils. The state has put $7 billion in relief funds toward supplementing staffing, which has allowed hospitals like Northwest to attract travel nurses without shouldering the full cost. “The problem is that their salaries were so much higher than our employee salaries,” said Brian Weis, the chief medical officer at Northwest. “Our employed nurses were doing the same job, but they’re saying, ‘Why are we getting paid a fraction of what these nurses are?’”

The following year, the demand for travel nursing broke loose from Covid. In April and May 2021, as case counts dipped, hospital requests for travel nurses only grew exponentially. “They now know what pent-up demand does to a health care system, and it’s not healthy,” said April Hansen, the group president at Aya Healthcare, one of the largest providers of travel nurses in the country. “If you look at our demand today, it looks like our demand pre-Covid in terms of specialties: med surge, telemetry, I.C.U., emergency room, surgical. It’s just the volume that is being asked for in every specialty.”

It isn’t the traveling-nurse boom alone that has transformed the market. There are also more job opportunities beyond the bedside than ever. Nurse practitioners treat patients in doctors’ offices; insurance companies employ thousands of nurses; Microsoft and Amazon have hundreds of open nursing jobs. Today, only 54 percent of the country’s registered nurses work in hospitals. “There was competition for talent before the pandemic,” Hansen said. “But the pandemic took a small crack and made it as wide as the Grand Canyon.”

To make things worse, the nursing shortage is part of a worker shortfall that spans the entire health care industry. “This is labor across the hospital,” said Rose O. Sherman, an emeritus professor of nursing at Florida Atlantic University. “This is respiratory therapy. This is lab. This is dietary, environmental services. They have not been immune to having an Amazon warehouse open up and losing a significant chunk of their staff.” If labs are backed up, patients have to wait for a diagnosis. If rooms aren’t cleaned, nurses step in to do the work themselves. Barraza has been known to empty bedpans when the housekeeper is too busy.

Even as hospitals have scrambled to hire travel nurses, many have been chafing at the rising price tag. A number of states are exploring the option to cap travel-nursing pay, and the American Hospital Association is pushing for a congressional inquiry into the pricing practices of travel-nursing agencies. Sherman, however, believes that the problem will not be solved until hospitals start considering how to make bedside jobs more desirable.

After two years, nurses have borne witness to hundreds of thousands of deaths. They have found themselves in the middle of a politicized illness and faced countless angry, grieving family members. Many, now, are moving on. They are looking for jobs outside the hospital. Others are simply uprooting themselves — leaving their homes and their families and continuing to do their jobs for a higher salary. “Nurses have finally learned what they’re worth,” Nora Shadix, one I.C.U. nurse, told me. “I don’t think they’re going to go back to the way it was before. I don’t think they’re going to settle.”

One of the nurses who has cycled through Barraza’s staff is Kulule Kenea, who was furloughed from her job as a nurse practitioner in Minneapolis in March 2020 as part of the city’s initial lockdown. She spent her early years working in I.C.U.s and trauma wards. Her uncle was a registered nurse, as was her cousin. It was something she had always wanted to do. Kenea, who is 33, liked her job. She never had that itch to travel or move. Even before starting her furlough, she got text messages from travel agencies looking for nurses willing to fly to New York. She wasn’t sure how the agencies got her number, but the offers kept coming. “I saw and heard other nurses too,” she said, “just getting mass texts out of nowhere.”

Many nurses like Kenea started traveling in the early months of the pandemic. They were nurses who had also been furloughed, nurses whose personal circumstances allowed them to travel, nurses who felt the call to help people in an emergency and nurses who were drawn by the salaries. Ivette Palomeque, who lives in Texas, traveled to Florida during her divorce. Shadix, who was working at BSA Health System in Amarillo, the hospital across the street from Northwest, decided to travel for six months starting in the summer of 2020 after her boyfriend at the time gave her the number for a staffing agency. Susie Scott, a charge nurse in Abilene, Texas, left her job in the fall of 2020, after 19 years at the same hospital; it had become so short-staffed that Scott was doing the jobs of two or three people. Traveling was an escape. “Now, what I do,” Scott told me, “I go in, I take care of my patients and that is it.”

“People were so desperate for this particular skill,” Kenea told me. “My only responsibility at home is to water my plants. I don’t have kids. I don’t have any other responsibilities. It felt wrong. It felt unfair to be able to just sit at home in the comfort of my house when other people are suffering.” Kenea took a contract to travel to New York and was on an airplane within days — there were only a handful of other people on her flight. She spent a night in a hotel, woke up the next morning and boarded a bus heading to a hospital in Harlem. She was assigned to a medical surgical unit and, on her first shift, was given 11 patients, compared with the typical four or five. It was, Kenea said, unreal. “It did not feel like America.” She worked 14 days in a row, 12-hour shifts, compared with the three-day-a-week standard before the pandemic. She did chest compressions on one patient while another was in the room, watching her, terrified.

Kenea’s father sent her text messages daily, asking her to come home and to stop risking her health. “He would send me all these statistics,” she said. “And I would be like: ‘I’m in the hospital. I know.’” A few months later, in July 2020, Kenea contracted with a traveling agency called Krucial Staffing, which specializes in emergency disaster response. She knew her assignment would be in Texas but had to call in to learn which city — the agency was working primarily with nurses who were willing to go anywhere at a moment’s notice. Kenea would have about a day to get her bearings, taking quick tours of I.C.U.s, notebook in hand. The alarms in each I.C.U. have their own sounds. The charting systems change from place to place. “You need to know the pins for certain doors and a telephone number or email for a manager or somebody who can make stuff happen for you quickly,” Kenea said. “You need to get those things down pat first within the first couple of hours: eyes wide open, ears listening sharp, constantly aware of things.”

Kenea was sent to Corpus Christi and assigned to an older part of the hospital that had been reopened to help accommodate the influx of Covid patients. Not long afterward, she was transferred to another ward, where many of the nurses were younger than she was. Kenea worked a relatively manageable five days each week, although the job was still grueling. “I am not afraid of running toward the fire,” she told me. And the staff nurses were welcoming. Some stopped to ask Kenea for advice on how to start traveling themselves.

Barraza’s unit sits on the fourth floor of a tower on the north side of Northwest. It is brightly lit and wide, and most doors have a yellow sign alerting everyone to the need for personal protective equipment. The medical intensive-care unit, or M.I.C.U., where Shadix has been working as a staff nurse after her stint as a traveler, is separated from the C.I.C.U. by a bank of elevators. There, the lights are dim, and most of the patients have been medically paralyzed so the ventilators can work without resistance. Alarms beep, and monitors are facing the glass, the oxygen levels of each patient blinking toward the hallways.

I.C.U. nursing demands a particular set of skills. Nurses here monitor life-support equipment, track patients’ reactions to medications and respond quickly in an emergency. It can be physical work — it takes multiple people, for example, to turn a patient without unhooking any equipment. I.C.U. nurses are trained to titrate several medications and drips. Good nurses can anticipate when a patient is about to crash. They’re expected to handle situations that are unpredictable and patients who are unstable. “If you don’t use those skills,” Kenea said, “you lose it.”

In December 2020, Kenea arrived in Amarillo for an assignment on Barraza’s team. By that time, the hospital had already seen waves of travelers come and go. Before the pandemic, potential travel nurses were carefully vetted by agencies for expertise and good standing. They were required to have clocked at least a year in their specialty, sometimes two or three. Kenea, for her part, had eight years of nursing experience under her belt. During the early days of the pandemic, however, with hospital staffs suffering from shortages and looking for immediate relief, many local nurses and administrators had doubts about the level of experience of some of the travelers who were landing in their I.C.U.s.

When groups of travel nurses started arriving in Amarillo, Barraza barely had time to connect with them before they disappeared. Their contracts didn’t stipulate how long they needed to stay in any particular hospital, and some would be gone within weeks. Barraza worked shifts in which he was the only member of the core staff, unsure of who had the experience to handle an emergency. “There were some travelers that came, and they were amazing,” he told me. “They were some of the best nurses I’ve worked with. But then there were the ones who shouldn’t have been there.”

If the challenge for travelers, before and during the pandemic, has been to do their job in an unfamiliar environment, the challenge for the nurses who stayed was to offer consistency amid the chaos. Barraza knew early in the pandemic that he would stay. He took on the job of keeping up morale and arrived at his shifts with the energy of a favorite aunt. He started taking in baskets of candy and snacks. He knew the moods of his nurses and which patients were feeling scared and in need of company. He knew who needed a break and who could keep going.

As time went on, the work of boosting morale became more difficult as nurses found themselves facing an unprecedented level of hostility from the outside world. A majority of Covid patients now in the I.C.U. at Northwest are unvaccinated — the region hovers below a 50 percent vaccination rate — and restaurants and malls are filled with unmasked people. Melvyn, the veteran on Barraza’s team, said that one of the most difficult parts of the job is walking outside the hospital into a world where it seems that the pandemic is already over. “You are here and it’s a war zone, and you walk outside and there’s no war,” he said. “My whole life we’ve been preparing for a pandemic, but in none of those meetings, in none of those drills, did anyone say, ‘What if there’s a pandemic, and nobody believes it’s a pandemic?’”

Families of patients now yell at staff daily, asking for unproven treatments or accusing nurses of doing harm. They oppose intubation or refuse to wear masks. Shadix still remembers the time a family blamed her for the death of their loved one. “I will always have compassion for my patients,” she said. “But I’m running out of compassion for the families.”

Nurses have compassion fatigue, fatigue fatigue and alarm fatigue, becoming desensitized to the beeps of monitors. Nurses at Northwest have nightmares about crashing patients, nightmares that they’re being intubated themselves, nightmares that wake them up doing chest compressions on their mattresses. Shadix turns on cartoons while she falls asleep to drown out the soundtrack of alarms that plays in her head. A lot of nurses are stoic, she said. They hold it in. They make jokes. “Surely the Lord is going to bless me for putting up with all of this crap,” one nurse told me.

On bad days, Barraza holds the nurses’ hands while they cry. “We have a pretty well versed nurse that has been a nurse for a long time,” he told me. “But there was a day when her patient was going to be intubated, and she was in the hallway crying, saying that this isn’t fair and she couldn’t do it. I hugged her, and I said: ‘It sucks that it is this hard, but you’re here for a reason. I am here for you, and you’re here for me, and we’re here for these people.’” He went on: “I’m still trying to keep holding on to that aspect of my personality and who I am. If I start losing that part of me, then I need to get out.”

When Shadix was traveling, she left her daughter in the care of her mother and ex-husband and struggled to leave her work at work, she said. For months she took it back to her hotel rooms and Airbnbs — the faces of the patients she lost, the feeling of doing chest compressions, the fear in people’s eyes when they came in. Now when she loses someone, she counts to 10 and allows herself to feel all her emotions. Then she takes a breath and does her best to put them aside.

But for many other travelers, the exhaustion and the hostility they regularly face is blunted by their ability to do something staff nurses can’t: leave. Kenea thinks that moving around has helped her navigate the emotional toll of the pandemic without losing hope — she has witnessed death firsthand, but in episodes, each hospital providing a change of scenery. And when she “decommissions” from an assignment, she allows herself a break before she takes a new job. She feels overwhelmed at times but never burned out. At the end of each shift, she assesses her day, and if she feels she has done everything she can, she lets go of it as soon as she leaves the parking lot.

Then, of course, there’s the pay. Kenea has made enough money to help cover the tuition to become a nurse anesthetist. Shadix’s six-month stint as a traveler allowed her to put a down payment on a house. Chris Detten, a traveler at Northwest, was also able to afford a down payment. Adrian Chavira, Detten’s friend and another traveler at Northwest, said the money has made it possible for his partner to stay at home with their new baby. “Money is a very good motivator,” Detten said. There’s a sense that all the hard work is being rewarded. “You don’t have to worry about the politics of the hospital you’re in.” The power plays, the interoffice dramas, the personalities you can’t escape — the travelers are insulated from it all.

“I appreciate that they’re here,” said Karen Hammett, a longtime charge nurse at Northwest. “Am I a little salty that they’re making more than me? Yes.” Hammett was a veteran of the hospital. She had made it through every wave of the pandemic. But last year was her hardest. “It’s having to deal with the secondary stuff that gets to me — the hate is what sucks. And it’s the worst it’s ever been.” She had her last shift at Northwest on Nov. 21. After nearly 20 years at the hospital, she quit.

As I.C.U. beds in city hospitals filled up and staff nurses started leaving in droves, another story of a precariously overextended health care system was unfolding in smaller hospitals across the country. Rural hospitals, which have long sent their most acute cases to larger hospitals, were left with patients they were ill equipped to handle. Many of these hospitals, with lower profits and wages, struggled to retain nurses and compete with the enormous salaries offered by travel agencies. With no padding, entire departments shut down. Only 40 percent of rural hospitals in Texas offer labor-and-delivery services, and with staffing shortages, many deliver babies only a few days a week. There are 71 counties in the state with no hospitals at all. Across the country, 22 rural hospitals have shuttered in the past two years. According to one 2020 study, 453 more are in danger of closing.

Hereford Regional Medical Center is roughly 50 miles southwest of Amarillo. Shortly before Christmas, hospital officials there declared an internal state of disaster — all the travelers had gone home for the holidays, leaving the remaining staff and administrators struggling to keep the doors open. Administrative staff took shifts over Christmas and New Year’s to avoid a complete shutdown. Nursing teachers from Amarillo drove in to help bridge the gap between the departing and arriving traveling nurses. The hospital had stopped performing surgeries and was sending its labor-and-delivery patients to other hospitals. It could no longer take referrals — serving only the people who showed up in the emergency room — and none of the larger hospitals nearby were able to take its acute cases.

Other rural hospitals are reeling from similar shortages. In Missouri, one rural hospital was unable to transfer a patient with acute pneumonia after contacting 19 different hospitals. A nurse saved the woman’s life by staying up all night, loosening the mucus in the patient’s lungs with a hand-held massager. Rural hospitals in New Mexico have reported calling 40 or 50 hospitals in order to find a bed for acute patients. Candice Smith, the chief nursing officer at Hereford Regional, said: “We need staff, we need supplies, we need medicines. We have spent multiple hours on the phone to try to get patients out of here. If they’ve had a stroke or a heart attack or a traumatic brain injury, we’ve been getting them to Dallas or Oklahoma.” Smith sent a request to its regional advisory council asking for more travelers, but she was unsure of when, or whether, they might show up. “As a rural hospital, we can’t pay for them forever,” she told me. “It will cripple the health care industry.”

“There has been an evolution in the travelers,” Smith continued. “Now they don’t come here or to any facility and say: ‘What can I do? I’m willing to work any day you tell me to.’ Now they say: ‘I’m only going to work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I’m going to take off for Christmas.’” When I asked Smith if there was anything else she wanted to share, she said simply, “Just tell people to pray for us.”

In light of the grim staffing numbers, both city and rural hospitals have tried to focus on retention efforts, in some cases mirroring the benefits of the travel-nursing industry. Northwest now offers higher overtime rates for nurses who take extra shifts, and BSA started offering better pay overall. In Florida, hospitals are hiring recent nursing graduates and placing them in nursing teams with more experienced personnel. UAMS Medical Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is offering a signing bonus of $25,000 to qualified nurses willing to stay for three years. At Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas, doctors have been helping ease the burden on nurses by performing some of their duties.

Ronda Crow is the chief nursing officer at Moore County Hospital District, a nonprofit that serves Dumas, Texas, and the surrounding rural areas. She has spent nearly 10 years working on hiring and retaining nurses, including implementing scholarship programs to help local students through nursing school. Everyone was paid a full salary throughout the pandemic whether they were scheduled to work or not — an incentive, Crow hoped, to stay. “We’re lucky here in Dumas,” she told me. The hospital has the backing of a foundation that helps with funding. During the pandemic, Crow has managed to increase her staff and now has the ability to open every bed in the hospital. “By staffing up, it gives me the opportunity to grow nurse leaders,” Crow said. “Is it an expensive gamble? Yes. Will it pay off in the end? Yes.”

Other rural hospitals, however, will continue to struggle. Without state support, many can’t afford to pay the higher wages that nurses are commanding. Fewer patients are insured, and many are older, their illnesses more severe. And experienced nurses are continuing to leave for other, lower-stress jobs. There are around 153,000 new nurses being licensed every year, but based on projected demand, it will not be enough.

For Barraza, each new spike in Covid patients seems to happen overnight. He may know a surge is coming. He may worry about families gathering for the holidays, but the influx always feels sudden. In the fall, Covid cases in Amarillo dropped, and the hospital was assigned fewer state-subsidized nurses. But the moment the travelers started to leave, a wave of new Covid cases began to fill the hospital’s beds. Northwest scrambled to bring in travelers again. Then the Omicron variant arrived. The hospital’s exhausted nurses went into overdrive. In late December, Shadix texted me a GIF of an exploding house.

“It’s bad,” she said. “But it’s fine. We’re fine.” There were new nurses in the medical intensive-care unit, people who had just graduated, and Shadix was watching them flounder. “It’s a sink-or-swim situation,” she said. “And you learn to swim really quickly, because otherwise, people die.” She had taken on many of the hard conversations with families — telling them that their loved ones would probably not make it. “They started calling me the hospice queen,” she said grimly. Families were allowed to enter the I.C.U.s, and Shadix let them, hoping that once they saw how bad things were — how low the quality of life was for their family members — they would start to let them go. Early in the pandemic, Shadix told me, nurses in the M.I.C.U. tried to stay positive, to offer family members a ray of hope until the end. Now they are more realistic. They need to set expectations.

By January, Northwest had made appeals to the regional advisory council and FEMA for more nurses. Covid patients were filling up the emergency room and surgical floor. At one point, Brian Weis, the chief medical officer, knew of 43 patients in rural hospitals waiting for a transfer. Around 75 staff members at Northwest were in quarantine. While travel and military nurses began arriving, core staff continued leaving. Dellani Spradling, a charge nurse in the M.I.C.U. who never anticipated leaving, abruptly resigned in early February. Another Northwest nurse took a traveling job that moved him to the hospital across the street.

Shadix hopes to be a traveler again. She loves the physicians she works with at Northwest — she knows what labs they need and what questions they’re going to ask. But staying doesn’t make sense. “Here you are, killing yourself for five days making pennies,” she said, “versus working four days or three days making three times what you’re making right now.” Once Shadix goes, some of the longest-serving nurses in the M.I.C.U. will be travelers.

Many nurses are hoping to move on from the I.C.U. entirely. Kenea is starting the nurse-anesthetist program in May. Shadix is taking classes toward her nurse practitioner’s license. “Maybe once this is all over and done with, I’ll come back to the I.C.U. and take my normal patients,” she told me. “But if I never have to see another N95 mask in my life, I will not be sad.”

Barraza is hanging on for now, providing as much continuity as he can. In December, he was working six days a week. The C.I.C.U. was so full of Covid patients that it couldn’t take transfers from the emergency room. “We have beds; we just don’t have the ability to staff them,” he told me. “If we do bring them in, we just overwhelm people even more and possibly push them out the door.”

Barraza has begun taking patients himself in addition to overseeing all the nurses in his unit. He tries to take his candy cart down to the nurses in the emergency room now — he knows they are tired, too. Emergency-department doctors are in such huge demand in smaller hospitals that Weis recalled at least one at Northwest who was contacted and told to name his price.

As the new year started, however, even Barraza was beginning to fray at the edges. He has been having trouble falling asleep. He passes out on his couch most nights. “I lay there, and I see the people that I saw all day and the people that I saw before. I try to keep myself centered and not dwell on it too long, because it puts me in a low place.” He thinks, instead, of his staff. He thinks of the nurses who have made it out. He thinks of a patient who recently recovered. He tries to relax, but sometimes his body won’t let him forget.

Lately, as he tries to fall asleep, he has been feeling the phantom pressure of a hand in his — the feeling of a patient about to be intubated, another frightened person on the edge of life and death. “You get all these sensations and feelings,” he told me. “Feeling them grasp you, and feeling their grasp letting go when the medication hits them.”

Lauren Hilgers is a writer based in New York. She is the author of “Patriot Number One: A Chinese Rebel Comes to America.” George Etheredge is a New York City based photographer raised in North Carolina. He was recognized as one of “The 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2020.”

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Helpful or hurtful? The ‘double-edged sword’ of travel nursing.

Rural hospitals are struggling with staffing shortages as more of their nurses leave for better-paying travel nurse roles—but some experts warn that hospitals' reliance on travel nurses may be a "double-edged sword."

The nursing shortage particularly strains rural hospitals

Hospitals around the country have seen a shortage of health care workers, particularly nurses, as Covid-19 case rates and hospitalizations continue to rise. Earlier this month, the American Nurses Association (ANA) sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra asking him to declare the current nursing shortage a national crisis and work to address it.

However, while hospitals nationwide are struggling with the current staff shortage, rural hospitals have been hit the hardest.

Around 60 million Americans who live in rural areas rely on small, local hospitals for medical care, and the pandemic has further exacerbated the staffing shortages these hospitals have long struggled with, NBC News reports.

"If you lose one or two nurses, that makes a difference," said Audrey Snyder, president of the advocacy group Rural Nurse Organization and a faculty member at the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Nursing . "These hospitals are small hospitals and they don't have a large nurse workforce."

According to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research , a record number of rural hospitals closed last year after continuous low patient volume and high numbers of uninsured patients and patients with government-funded insurance plans. And Brock Slabach, COO of the National Rural Health Association , said another 216 rural hospitals are at high risk of closure.

"The rural hospital workforce has always been a challenge," Slabach said. "What Covid was uniquely suited to do was take advantage of every fracture and widen it significantly and make it even harder to cope with demands being placed on them."

Many staff nurses leave for travel jobs

A recent surge in demand for travel nurses has made long-running staffing shortages at rural hospitals even worse, NBC News reports.

Aya Healthcare , a medical staffing firm, said demand for travel nurses has increased 284% from the same time last year. And Kathy Kohnke, SVP of client relations at Fastaff Travel Nursing , said there are now more than 40,000 positions for travel nurses available on any given day. According to Modern Healthcare, 90% of hospital executives hired travel nurses to bolster their teams during the pandemic, compared with less than 60% in 2019.

In particular, many rural nurses are leaving for travel nurse positions that can pay up to 10 times more than their current salaries, NBC News reports.

According to data from the hiring website ZipRecruiter , nurses at rural hospitals are paid an average of $70,000 a year, or just over $1,200 a week. However, some staffing agencies, such as Nomad Health and White Grove Placement , are offering travel nurse positions that pay over $5,000 a week. And the health care hiring site Vivian has listed several travel nurse assignments that pay up to $9,562 a week.

Compared with rural hospitals, larger, better-funded health systems can pay travel nurses these higher rates, often in addition to a stipend for housing and travel expenses, Modern Healthcare reports.

"The travel nursing situation has essentially created a bidding war between hospitals," Phillip Coule, VP and CMO at Augusta University Health System , said. "A nurse can leave a facility, go on a 'travel contract' for a facility across the street, and earn more than double what they were making, while still living at home."

Separately, Susan Salka, CEO of the staffing company AMN Healthcare , said, "The delta virus is causing even more competition for scarce talent, and our clients are citing problems not only with permanent hiring but also with retention."

Salka added that demand is not exclusively due to surges in Covid-19 patients—it has been complicated by "leaves of absence, clinician fatigue, rising patient volumes and operating room backlog," which is "unlikely to change anytime soon," she said.

Relying on travel nurses may be a 'double-edged sword'

According to Modern Healthcare , this increased reliance on travel nurses may also lead to problems among hospitals' regular nursing staff.

"The good part of travel nursing is that when there's a natural disaster or there are very irregular levels of demand, hospitals can use travel nurses to sort of patch up the gaps," Patricia Pittman, a professor of health policy and management at the School of Public Health at George Washington University , said. "The bad side of travel nursing is that it becomes an excuse to not invest in your regular nursing staff. It's a double-edged sword."

According to Pittman, many staff nurses are being driven away due to frustrations stemming from working conditions and staff shortages, along with pay disparities between staff and travel nurses.

Kelly Rivera-Craine, a business agent for Teamster Local 332 and an RN at Ascension Genesys Hospital in Michigan, said offering bonuses to travel nurses but not staff members—who have remained loyal to their employers throughout the pandemic and amid staffing shortages— is a "slap in the face."

Rivera-Craine also said travel nurses may disrupt clinical care and workflow at hospitals since they typically don't receive as much training as their staff counterparts and don't stay at hospitals long enough to build relationships with patients.

Separately, Coule agreed with Rivera-Craine's assessment, saying, "When you go substituting team members, it certainly has the potential of impacting the quality of care… The potential for error, for communication issues will most likely go up."

And according to Matt Calzia, a nurse practice consultant with the Oregon Nurses Association , the reliance on travel nurses is only worsening the already existent staffing shortages in rural and underserved areas, most of which have fewer resources and are home to marginalized communities with poor access to care.

"You're perpetuating the disparities within the healthcare system overall," Calzia said. "We are taking nurses from areas that really need nurses, but don't pay as well, and moving them into areas that might pay better, who also really need nurses."

According to Pittman, as hiring travel nurses becomes more unaffordable for some hospitals, many are now realizing it was a mistake to furlough nurses early in the pandemic instead of investing in them as crucial workers.

"The silver lining of this crisis is that it is forcing nurse leaders and hospital leaders to take the nurse staffing situation much more seriously," Pittman said. (Miranda, NBC News , 9/15; Masson, Becker's Hospital Review , 9/16; Devereaux, Modern Healthcare , 9/16)

There’s a bidding war for nurses—how do organizations compete? See our 3 takeaways.

These articles highlight an unfortunate hard truth: the nursing workforce is not immune to the labor shortages and economic forces affecting nearly every industry in the wake of the pandemic. With demand for direct patient care jobs increasingly outpacing supply, the competition for nurses is fierce. Lucrative travel opportunities are exacerbating existing staffing shortages and impacting care quality. Here are three takeaways for health care organizations thinking about the boom in travel nursing:

Even though premium labor is costly, short-term reliance on premium labor to fill vacancies is necessary to maintain safe staffing and ensure the stability of the practice environment. However, be thoughtful about how you incorporate travel nurses into your workforce. Constantly communicate the necessity of agency labor to full-time staff—travel nurses are there to reduce their workload and serve as a temporary fix. Emphasize that your organization aims to convert agency labor to full-time staff. 

Financial incentives to join staffing agencies have significantly increased during the pandemic—expect some of your staff to take advantage of this opportunity. Consider allowing staff to leave for a travel contract but maintain their employment status and return to your organization when their contract ends. Establish a program to ensure returning travelers and other nurses at your organization can work together effectively in a positive practice environment.  

• Allow staff to scratch their travel itch through opportunities to flex internally.

Nurses are asking for flexibility to alter their schedules, and sometimes, location, to better meet their individual needs. To meet nurses’ needs and compete with agency labor, some health systems are creating internal travel agencies to flex staff across regions. If your system has sufficient scale, consider developing an in-house travel staffing resource pool that competes with traditional agencies on compensation. Offering this type of flexibility helps reduce your reliance on contract labor, helps retain staff interested in travel opportunities, and ensures nurses working in your health system are familiar with system protocols and culture.

While a reliance on travel nurses will help keep your hospitals running today, this band-aid solution is unsustainable and will not stabilize your nursing workforce in the long-term.

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Future of Travel Nursing: Preparing for Transitions After COVID-19

Whether you were on the frontlines when COVID-19 unfolded at unprecedented speeds or in your final year of nursing school, it’s hardly news that the pandemic fundamentally changed the world—including the realm of health care.

Now, in our “post-pandemic” universe (yes, even as the illness continues to pose a threat across the globe), we’re continuing to see how COVID-19 has impacted the medical field and the nurses it employs. Additional PPE is largely required, while telehealth has moved from a niche practice to downright prevalent. Compensation has increased right alongside the demand for nurses—a shortage that has been partly fueled by professional burnout. And last but not least, nurses have become increasingly aware of their utter importance and asking for change.

But will these crucial shifts affect travel nurses in particular, and what does the future hold for travel nurses, period?

The Future of Travel Nursing in 2023

With a lot of strain on our health systems, is health care a good career path? In order to get a better handle on the future of travel nursing after COVID-19, we should first reflect upon the past and examine how the changes in nursing are impacting us today:

• The demand for travel nurses rose dramatically during the pandemic – Travel nursing has long held widespread appeal for registered nurses searching for flexibility, solid pay, and the opportunity to explore other towns and cities. During the pandemic, the need for travel nurses positively skyrocketed: In 2020, the profession rose 35% from the preceding year.  

This was primarily due to two critical factors: 1) an overall shortage of nurses in various health care settings (keep in mind that there was a nursing shortage even before COVID-19 rocked the world), and 2) professional burnout, with 66% of 5,600 nurses surveyed by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses reporting that they’re considering leaving their profession.

• Some states waived licensures – Nurse.org reports that, at the height of the pandemic—when a state of emergency was declared—states forewent state licensure to fill nursing staff shortages. Other states accepted temporary licenses. This paved the way for travel nurses to work at different facilities across the nation—and allowed them to provide care during a tremendous “hour” of need.
• The need for travel nurses will continue to rise – According to some estimates, the need for travel nurses will only continue to escalate—the field is expected to rise another 40% in the future. This bodes extremely well for anyone who is weighing the pros and cons of the future of travel nursing.
• Wages for travel nurses may escalate even more – COVID-19 may have been an exceptionally distressing time for nurses—before and after vaccines were widely released, with 76% of nurses in the survey quoted above stating that unvaccinated patients “ threatened their mental and physical well-being.”

At the same time, travel nurse pay increased as well. The average travel nurse salary grew by 25% in April 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, with some travel nurses now earning between $5,000 and $10,000 per week.

• The interest in travel nursing has increased – Flexibility with scheduling, higher pay, the capacity to see different parts of the country, and the excellent benefits afforded by travel nursing agencies —all have motivated people to consider pursuing the profession. According to Indeed, interest in travel nursing roles has continued to ascend; searches for travel nursing positions are roughly five times higher than they were before the pandemic hit.

Lastly, more and more nurses are permanently leaving their positions, in part because of the mental and physical challenges they experienced during the pandemic. This will lead to increased shortages and—you guessed it—a more immediate need for travel nurses to fulfill these empty roles.

How Has COVID-19 Affected Health Organizations?

Every healthcare organization around the globe was acutely taxed during the pandemic, and its employees felt it. A high level of professional burnout was felt across medical care facilities, from large city hospitals to small community clinics. 

In fact, according to a survey performed at the beginning of the pandemic by American Nurses Foundation, roughly half of nurses reported feelings of angst, overwhelm, and irritability.  

Meaning, nurses were desperately needed, but they were also tested.

Indeed, if there’s one thing that the pandemic has reminded the world, it is this: People in the medical profession are invaluable . 

Travel nurses may have started bringing in a more lucrative income during the pandemic, but they were also working exceptionally hard: in January of 2022, the number of hours travel nurses put in rose 23% from the previous year.

Now, nurses have become empowered—and are advocating for change and health equity. Typically, nurses are:

• Exploring new avenues in their field that extend beyond bedside care and into medical research, home care nursing, and telehealth
• Requesting higher pay
• Asking for stronger mental health policies
• Demanding better protection for themselves
• Petitioning for block booking

And because the need for nurses isn’t going anywhere anytime soon—the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the field will continue to grow by 6%—nurses may be in a better position than ever to receive what they request.  

To this end, many nurses are choosing to work with reliable travel nursing agencies to pair them with places and opportunities that will fulfill their wishes.

How to Adapt as a Travel Nurse

Whether you have just launched a career as a travel nurse intent on capitalizing on the positive wave of change in the profession or have recently started exploring traveling nursing jobs , you may be feeling a tad… daunted by what is ahead of you.

And yet, with some advance planning, you can easily adapt as a travel nurse. Here are a few tips:

• Embrace (and hone) flexibility – It goes without saying that working as a travel nurse necessitates working in numerous facilities in numerous locations—and each facility will have their own way of running the proverbial ship. 

“Go with the flow” may be overused, but it’s imperative in this particular career. Embracing new policies and adapting to new procedures, knowing that it is part of your role, is key to dodging frustration and becoming a trustworthy, helpful member of any medical team.

• Consider self-care one of your primary responsibilities – When it comes to nursing, you know that you must put on your own oxygen mask first in order to survive and be of assistance to others. This takes on a new degree of urgency and importance in the travel nursing field. On top of caring for your patients and working with a new staff, you are also adjusting to a new home environment and, in some cases (and at some times), also recovering from traveling. 

This is where, why, and when self-care becomes an absolute necessity for travel nurses. Ensure that you clock in consistent, quality sleep, eat often and nutritiously to maintain your energy levels, hydrate frequently, take adequate breaks, and decompress between assignments.

• Call upon your communication skills – Adapting to a new environment—and oftentimes environments that operate at a fast pace—is no easy feat and deeply admirable. But one of the golden tickets to ensuring that you make a snag-free transition each and every time is through communicating . Ask questions whenever one arises for you, especially in facilities where management may overlook (or be too pressed for time) to share essential pieces of information with you.
• Build bonds – You may only be on assignment in a certain facility for six weeks—but that’s still six weeks in which you can develop friendships with others on the staff you’re joining. Having a friend and confidante at your temporary place of employment may bring substantially more satisfaction to your job while partnering up with a local nurse (or another healthcare employee) may introduce you to new parts of the city or town you’re staying in on your assignment.
• Work with a travel nursing agency – A solid and reputable travel nursing agency can be an indispensable resource. Whether they arrange for your housing, negotiate your contract, optimize your compensation, or provide you with mental health resources to help you avoid that professional burnout we discussed, they may prove to be a superb ally and advocate on your working adventures.

Elevate Your Nursing Career with MAS Medical Staffing

The pandemic radically changed life for countless people across the world—and life for innumerable nurses. Nurses are now in a prime position to ask for what they want and, importantly, deserve . From better, more realistic pay to enhanced protection, they’re speaking up for themselves and increasingly turning to travel nursing jobs to obtain the lifestyle and income they’ve worked so hard to achieve. 

MAS Medical Staffing is the partner to bring along on your foray into travel nursing. As one of the top travel nursing agencies in the country, we work hard on behalf of nurses to place them in desirable positions, all the while helping them make enormous strides in their careers. With terrific benefits and per diem pay, we can help you reach your professional and personal goals while giving you the chance to explore new locales and accrue fresh experiences.

Reach out to us today to start the conversation—and prepare for a rewarding and meaningful time, one in which the future of travel nursing is yours.  

Rasmussen University. COVID-19 and nursing: 6 ways the pandemic has made an impact.

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/blog/covid19-and-nursing/

Health Affairs. COVID-19’s impact on nursing shortages, the rise of travel nurses, and price gouging.

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20220125.695159

American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Hear us out campaign reports nurses’ COVID-19 reality.

Hear Us Out Campaign Reports Nurses’ COVID-19 Reality – AACN

Advisory Board. Why travel nursing will likely outlast the pandemic.

https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2022/03/18/travel-nursing

Trusted Health. Transition back from crisis: the future for travel nurses after COVID-19.

https://www.trustedhealth.com/blog/transition-back-from-crisis-the-future-for-travel-nurses-after-covid-19

National Nurses United. Nurses call on FTC to investigate hospital contracts that place onerous burden on RN graduates.

https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-call-on-ftc-to-investigate-hospital-contracts

U.S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics. Registered nurses.

  https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm

American Nurses Foundation. American Nurses Foundation Releases Comprehensive Survey About Nurses. https://www.nursingworld.org/news/news-releases/2021/american-nurses-foundation-releases-comprehensive-survey-about-nurses/  

Reviewer Bio

Heidi Lough, Principal Recruiter:  Heidi has worked as a recruiter at MAS since September of 2020, right in the middle of the COVID pandemic. She came in and saw our company growing exponentially due to the pandemic which resulted in a severe need for healthcare providers. She is a top performer and loves the hustle of recruiting and helping professionals find their next adventure in their nursing specialty. Outside of work, she enjoys being in nature, being involved at church, and hanging out with her cat, dog, 6 chickens- oh, and husband.

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• Mar 20, 2023

The Future of Travel Nursing in 2023: Opportunities and Challenges

Travel nursing is a dynamic and exciting career path that offers healthcare professionals the chance to experience new places, meet new people, and earn higher pay. As we approach 2023, the future of travel nursing looks brighter than ever, with opportunities and challenges on the horizon. In this article, we'll explore the current state of travel nursing and the trends that are shaping its future. We'll examine the opportunities and challenges that travel nurses will face in the coming years and how they can prepare for the future of this exciting field.

Overview of the Current Travel Nursing Industry

Travel nursing is a rapidly growing industry that has seen significant growth in recent years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for registered nurses is expected to grow by 7% from 2019 to 2029, with an additional 221,900 jobs expected to be added to the workforce. This growth is due in part to the aging baby boomer population, which requires more healthcare services.

Travel nursing is a unique subset of the nursing industry that allows healthcare professionals to work on a temporary basis in different locations. Travel nurses are in high demand, particularly in rural areas and other underserved communities. They also provide flexibility for healthcare facilities that need to fill staffing gaps quickly.

While the demand for travel nurses is high, there are also challenges that come with this career path. Travel nurses must be adaptable and able to adjust to new environments quickly. They must also be able to handle the stress and pressure that comes with working in a fast-paced healthcare environment.

Trends in Healthcare and Nursing That Will Impact Travel Nursing

As the healthcare industry evolves, travel nursing is also changing. There are several trends that are shaping the future of travel nursing and impacting the demand for these professionals. One of the most significant trends is the shift towards value-based care. Healthcare providers are increasingly focused on providing high-quality care at a lower cost. This means that travel nurses may be called upon to provide specialized care to patients with complex medical needs.

Another trend that is impacting travel nursing is the rise of telehealth. Telehealth allows healthcare providers to connect with patients remotely, reducing the need for in-person visits. This trend is particularly important in rural areas, where healthcare facilities may be far from patients' homes. Travel nurses may be called upon to provide telehealth services to patients who cannot travel to a healthcare facility.

Finally, the nursing workforce is becoming more diverse. More men and people of color are entering the nursing profession, which is historically dominated by women. This diversity has the potential to create new opportunities for travel nurses and expand the role of nursing in healthcare.

Opportunities for Travel Nurses in 2023

Despite the challenges facing the travel nursing industry, there are also many opportunities for professionals in this field. One of the most significant opportunities is the potential for higher pay. Travel nurses typically earn more than their stationary counterparts, and as demand for their services increases, this pay gap is expected to widen.

Another opportunity for travel nurses is the chance to explore new places and gain new experiences. Travel nursing allows professionals to work in different healthcare environments, from hospitals to clinics to long-term care facilities. This diversity of experience can help travel nurses develop new skills and expand their knowledge of healthcare.

Finally, travel nursing offers the chance for professionals to work on a flexible schedule. Travel nurses can choose assignments that fit their needs, whether that means working for a few weeks at a time or taking extended breaks between assignments.

Challenges Facing the Travel Nursing Industry in 2023

While there are many opportunities for travel nurses, there are also significant challenges facing this industry. One of the biggest challenges is the competition for the best assignments. As more nurses enter the travel nursing field, the competition for the most desirable assignments will intensify.

Another challenge facing travel nurses is the need to adapt to new technologies. As telehealth and other digital healthcare services become more prevalent, travel nurses will need to be comfortable using these technologies to provide care to patients.

Finally, travel nurses will need to be prepared to navigate changing healthcare policies and regulations. The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and travel nurses must be able to adapt to these changes quickly.

How to Prepare for the Future of Travel Nursing

To prepare for the future of travel nursing, professionals in this field must be proactive in developing their skills and knowledge. Continuing education and professional development are critical for travel nurses who want to stay ahead of the curve.

Travel nurses should also be comfortable using new technologies and adapting to changes in healthcare policies and regulations. This may require additional training and education, but it will be essential for staying competitive in the travel nursing industry.

Finally, travel nurses should be prepared to embrace new employment models. As the healthcare industry evolves, new models of employment may emerge that offer more flexibility and better pay. Travel nurses who are open to these changes will be well-positioned to take advantage of new opportunities.

Technology and Travel Nursing in 2023

Technology will play a significant role in the future of travel nursing. As telehealth and other digital healthcare services become more prevalent, travel nurses will need to be comfortable using these technologies to provide care to patients. They may also need to be familiar with electronic health records (EHRs) and other digital tools used in healthcare.

In addition to these digital technologies, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics may also play a role in travel nursing. These technologies have the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, but they may also change the role of travel nurses in the healthcare system.

The Importance of Continuing Education and Professional Development for Travel Nurses

Continuing education and professional development are critical for travel nurses who want to stay competitive in this rapidly evolving industry. These professionals must be able to adapt to new technologies, navigate changing healthcare policies and regulations, and provide high-quality care to patients with complex medical needs.

Travel nurses can pursue a variety of continuing education opportunities, including online courses, workshops, and conferences. They can also pursue certification in specialty areas such as critical care, emergency nursing, or pediatrics.

Resources for Finding Travel Nursing Jobs

There are many resources available for travel nurses who are looking for their next assignment. Travel nursing agencies can help connect professionals with available positions and provide support throughout the application and hiring process. Online job boards and social media groups can also be valuable resources for finding travel nursing jobs.

Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Travel Nursing

As we approach 2023, the future of travel nursing looks bright, with many opportunities for professionals in this field. While there will be challenges to navigate, travel nurses who are proactive in developing their skills and adaptable to changes in the healthcare industry will be well-positioned to succeed.

To thrive in the future of travel nursing, professionals must be comfortable using new technologies, navigating changing policies and regulations, and pursuing continuing education and professional development opportunities. By embracing these changes and staying ahead of the curve, travel nurses can continue to provide high-quality care to patients and achieve success in this exciting and dynamic field.

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Home > Blog > Assessing the Value: Was Travel Nursing Worth It in 2023, and What’s the Outlook for 2024?

Assessing the Value: Was Travel Nursing Worth It in 2023, and What’s the Outlook for 2024?

September 26, 2023 by Voyage Healthcare

Travel nursing, a profession that flourished with demands for healthcare flexibility and a growing trend of nomadic living, was undeniably a popular career choice in 2023. The pertinent question, as we step into 2024, is whether the pursuit was worth it for those who embraced this dynamic career, and what the future holds for travel nursing.

Travel nursing involves registered nurses taking up temporary assignments in various locations, often filling in gaps where nursing staff is in high demand. This career path offers an opportunity to explore different parts of the country or even the world, all while gaining diverse clinical experience. The profession offers a blend of adventure, learning, and financial rewards, making it a sought-after career choice for many nurses.

The Rising Trend of Travel Nursing

Historical Growth

Travel nursing, as an occupation, emerged as a response to nursing shortages and evolved significantly over the years. Historically, during the early 1980s, the concept of travel nursing originated to address regional shortfalls and cater to seasonal population fluctuations. The industry’s growth trajectory since then has been remarkable, underpinned by an ever-increasing demand for healthcare services and a need for specialized nursing skills across various geographical locations.

Current Demand and Supply Dynamics

Fast forward to 2023, the travel nursing sector is experiencing an unprecedented boom. The ongoing global health challenges, notably the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, have amplified the requirement for skilled nursing professionals across the globe. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are grappling with increased patient loads, and the specialized skills of travel nurses have become invaluable in ensuring that quality care is uncompromised.

Current market dynamics showcase a supply-demand mismatch, where the demand for travel nurses far outweighs the supply. This imbalance has led to competitive remunerations, enhanced benefits, and varied opportunities, making travel nursing a highly attractive career option. The flexibility and autonomy associated with this career are further fuelling its popularity among the nursing community, especially among those seeking diverse experiences and work-life balance.

Predictions for 2023 and Beyond

Analyzing the current trends, 2023 is poised to be a year of substantial opportunities and growth for travel nursing. The ongoing healthcare developments, demographic shifts, and increasing healthcare needs predict a sustained demand for travel nurses. Advancements in telemedicine and digital health platforms will likely further integrate travel nursing into the broader healthcare ecosystem, offering more diverse and remote opportunities.Looking ahead to 2024, industry analysts predict sustained demand for travel nurses. The ongoing evolution of healthcare needs, coupled with the desire for flexible staffing solutions, will continue to drive opportunities for travel nurses.

However, the transient nature of travel nursing also brought forth challenges, particularly concerning job security and work-life balance. Some travel nurses expressed concerns about the unpredictability of assignments and the potential impact on their long-term career trajectories. Balancing the demands of frequent travel with personal life and relationships was another area that required navigation and adaptation.

Why Consider Travel Nursing?

In a dynamic world, the allure of travel nursing comes from its unique blend of professional development, adventure, and financial incentives. But what makes it particularly appealing in 2023 and beyond?

Financial Rewards

One of the standout benefits of travel nursing is the financial reward. Travel nurses often earn competitive salaries, and the chance to work overtime can further boost income. Let’s explore some high-paying contracts with Voyage Healthcare:

• Pay: $2,495/wk (36 hrs)
• Duration: 13 weeks
• Shift: 3×12’s Flex
• Pay: Starting $2,336/wk (36 hrs)
• Shift: 3×12 Nights
• Pay: Starting $1,799 (36 hrs)
• Pay: Starting $4,880 (36 hrs)
• Shift: 3×12 Days

These contracts showcase the lucrative opportunities available, making the financial aspect of travel nursing quite enticing.

Flexibility and Adventure

Beyond the paycheck, travel nursing provides a sense of adventure and flexibility. The ability to choose assignments in various locations allows nurses to explore new cities, experience diverse cultures, and meet different people. This variety not only keeps the job exciting but also fosters personal growth.

Building a Diverse Skill Set

Travel nursing enables nurses to work in different healthcare settings, from large urban hospitals to rural community clinics. This exposure helps in building a diverse skill set, making travel nurses adaptable and highly sought after in the industry.

Real-Life Examples

Across the globe, many travel nurses have found fulfillment and success in their careers. They’ve explored breathtaking landscapes, immersed themselves in diverse communities, and have made a significant impact on the lives of their patients, all while advancing their nursing skills.

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Like any profession, travel nursing comes with its set of challenges, such as adjusting to new environments and dealing with the uncertainty of temporary assignments. However, with the right mindset and preparation, these challenges can turn into growth opportunities.

Addressing Common Concerns

Job security.

Job security is a critical concern for individuals contemplating a career in travel nursing, given the contractual nature of assignments. However, the skyrocketing demand for healthcare services, especially post the global health crises, has made travel nursing one of the more secure professions in the healthcare sector. The ongoing shortages of skilled nursing staff across various geographical locations have led to a constant and increasing demand for travel nurses. While individual assignments may be temporary, the abundance of opportunities available means that travel nurses often have the next assignment lined up well before the current one concludes, contributing to consistent employment and income.

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is another common concern, given the variable and sometimes unpredictable working hours associated with nursing. Travel nursing, however, offers a unique advantage in this regard. The flexibility to choose assignments, control over the duration and location of the job, and the ability to take extended breaks between assignments contribute to a better work-life balance. Moreover, travel nurses can explore new locations, experience diverse cultures, and enjoy recreational activities that a traditional, stationary job might not permit, thereby enhancing life satisfaction and overall well-being.

Benefits and Compensation

In terms of benefits and compensation, travel nurses are often at an advantage compared to their stationary counterparts. Due to the high demand for their specialized skills, travel nurses typically command competitive salaries, often higher than permanent staff. In addition to this, many agencies offer comprehensive benefits packages, including health insurance, retirement plans, housing allowances, and travel reimbursements. These perks not only address the financial aspect but also cater to the holistic needs of travel nurses. Moreover, the opportunity to earn bonuses and overtime can further enhance their earning potential.

In conclusion, travel nursing in 2023 offers a plethora of benefits, from financial rewards with companies like Voyage Healthcare to the thrill of adventure and the chance to build a diverse skill set. And yes, while travel nursing presented its share of challenges in 2023, for many, the rewards and experiences garnered made it worth the journey. The outlook for 2024 remains positive, with continued opportunities and an evolving support landscape for travel nurses. The profession’s dynamism, combined with ongoing efforts to address common concerns, suggests that travel nursing will continue to be a valuable and rewarding career path in the coming year. If you’re ready to kick start or take on your next travel assignment in Tulsa or anywhere else in the US, Voyage Healthcare is here to help! Call them today at 800-798-6035 for more details about travel contracts.

• Registered nurses with at least one year of clinical experience are eligible for travel nursing.
• Typically, assignments last 13 weeks but can vary depending on the contract.
• Yes, travel nurses have the flexibility to choose their preferred assignment locations.
• Most travel nursing agencies offer housing stipends or assistance in finding accommodation.
• Yes, reputable agencies like Voyage Healthcare provide comprehensive benefits to travel nurses.

Read Another Blog Post: Explore the Best Books for Travel Nurses: Unlocking Knowledge and Inspiration

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Travel nurses' gold rush is over. Now, some are joining other nurses in leaving the profession altogether.

Working as a travel nurse in the early days of the Covid pandemic was emotionally exhausting for Reese Brown — she was forced to leave her young daughter with her family as she moved from one gig to the next, and she watched too many of her intensive care patients die.

“It was a lot of loneliness,” Brown, 30, said. “I’m a single mom, I just wanted to have my daughter, her hugs, and see her face and not just through FaceTime.”

But the money was too good to say no. In July 2020, she had started earning $5,000 or more a week, almost triple her pre-pandemic pay. That was the year the money was so enticing that thousands of hospital staffers quit their jobs and hit the road as travel nurses as the pandemic raged. 

Two years later, the gold rush is over. Brown is home in Louisiana with her daughter and turning down work. The highest paid travel gigs she’s offered are $2,200 weekly, a rate that would have thrilled her pre-pandemic. But after two "traumatic" years of tending to Covid patients, she said, it doesn’t feel worth it.

“I think it’s disgusting because we went from being praised to literally, two years later, our rates dropped,” she said. “People are still sick, and people are still dying.”

The drop in pay doesn’t mean, however, that travel nurses are going to head back to staff jobs. The short-lived travel nurse boom was a temporary fix for a long-term decline in the profession that predates the pandemic. According to a report from McKinsey & Co., the United States may see a shortage of up to 450,000 registered nurses within three years barring aggressive action by health care providers and the government to recruit new people. Nurses are quitting, and hospitals are struggling to field enough staff to cover shifts. 

Nine nurses around the country, including Brown, told NBC News they are considering alternate career paths, studying for advanced degrees or exiting the profession altogether. 

“We’re burned out, tired nurses working for $2,200 a week,” Brown said. People are leaving the field, she said, “because there’s no point in staying in nursing if we’re expendable.”

$124.96 an hour

Travel nursing seems to have started as a profession, industry experts say, in the late 1970s in New Orleans, where hospitals needed to add temporary staff to care for sick tourists during Mardi Gras. In the 1980s and the 1990s, travel nurses were often covering for staff nurses who were on maternity leave, meaning that 13-week contracts become common. 

By 2000, over a hundred agencies provided travel contracts, a number that quadrupled by the end of the decade. It had become a lucrative business for the agencies, given the generous commissions that hospitals pay them.  A fee of 40 percent  on top of the nurse’s contracted salary is not unheard of, according to a spokesperson for the  American Health Care Association , which represents long-term care providers. 

Just before the pandemic, in January 2020, there were about 50,000 travel nurses in the U.S., or about 1.5 percent of the nation's registered nurses, according to Timothy Landhuis, vice president of research at Staffing Industry Analysts, an industry research firm. That pool doubled in size to at least 100,000 as Covid spread, and he says the actual number at the peak of the pandemic may have far exceeded that estimate.

By 2021, travel nurses were earning an average of $124.96 an hour, according to the research firm — three times the hourly rate of staff nurses, according to federal statistics. 

That year, according to the 2022 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report from Nursing Solutions Inc., a nurse recruiting firm, the travel pay available to registered nurses contributed to 2.47% of them leaving hospital staff jobs.

But then, as the rate of deaths and hospitalizations from Covid waned, the demand for travel nurses fell hard, according to industry statistics, as did the pay.

Demand dropped 42 percent from January to July this year, according to Aya Healthcare, one of the largest staffing firms in the country. 

That doesn’t mean the travel nurses are going back to staff jobs.

Brown said she’s now thinking about leaving the nursing field altogether and has started her own business. Natalie Smith of Michigan, who became a travel nurse during the pandemic, says she intends to pursue an advanced degree in nursing but possibly outside of bedside nursing.

Pamela Esmond of northern Illinois, who also became a travel nurse during the pandemic, said she’ll keep working as a travel nurse, but only because she needs the money to retire by 65. She’s now 59. 

“The reality is they don’t pay staff nurses enough, and if they would pay staff nurses enough, we wouldn’t have this problem,” she said. “I would love to go back to staff nursing, but on my staff job, I would never be able to retire.” 

The coronavirus exacerbated issues that were already driving health care workers out of their professions, Landhuis said. “A nursing shortage was on the horizon before the pandemic,” he said.

According to this year’s Nursing Solutions staffing report, nurses are exiting the bedside at “an alarming rate” because of rising patient ratios, and their own fatigue and burnout. The average hospital has turned over 100.5% of its workforce in the past five years, according to the report, and the annual turnover rate has now hit 25.9%, exceeding every previous survey. 

There are now more than 203,000 open registered nurse positions nationwide, more than twice the number just before the pandemic in January 2020, according to Aya Healthcare.

An obvious short-term solution would be to keep using travel nurses. Even with salaries falling, however, the cost of hiring them is punishing.

LaNelle Weems, executive director of Mississippi Hospital Association’s Center for Quality and Workforce, said hospitals can’t keep spending like they did during the peak of the pandemic.

“Hospitals cannot sustain paying these exorbitant labor costs,” Weems said. “One nuance that I want to make sure you understand is that  what a travel agency charges the hospitals  is not what is paid to the nurse.”

Ultimately, it’s the patients who will suffer from the shortage of nurses, whether they are staff or gig workers. 

“Each patient added to a hospital nurse’s workload is associated with a 7%-12% increase in hospital mortality,” said Linda Aiken, founding director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research.

Nurses across the country told NBC News that they chose the profession because they cared about patient safety and wanted to be at the bedside in the first line of care. 

“People say it’s burnout but it’s not,” Esmond said about why nurses are quitting. “It’s the moral injury of watching patients not being taken care of on a day-to-day basis. You just can’t take it anymore.”

Jean Lee is an associate reporter with NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team in Los Angeles. She previously reported for the NBC News consumer investigative unit.

• Future Perfect

How the era of travel nursing has changed health care

Travel nursing is a short-term and unsustainable solution for medical understaffing.

by Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

In 2016, I was working as an ICU nurse in Reno, Nevada. But I didn’t live in Reno. In fact, I hadn’t trained as a nurse in the US at all; I’m from Canada and went to nursing school there. My initial contract was for just 13 weeks. I was what was called a travel nurse — someone who was brought in from a different city, and sometimes even from a different country — to meet a hospital’s temporary staffing needs.

At the start of my contract, we had a couple of days of onboarding and were then expected to hit the ground running. Every morning, I would report to the trauma ICU, one of four ICU units in the hospital, and only then find out where I was assigned, which was sometimes outside the ICU entirely.

Six years ago, travel nursing jobs like my Reno gig were a fringe part of the nursing landscape. But that’s changed. During the pandemic, the need for travel nurses has soared, and so have the wages paid them. Because I was a former ICU and travel nurse, I received frequent emails from travel nursing agencies when the pandemic first erupted, offering upward of $6,000 per week and occasionally as high as $10,000, if I were willing to relocate on as little as 48 hours notice to one of the cities experiencing a Covid-19 surge.

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This was a steep increase from the average US ICU travel nurse’s salary of $1,800 per week, per this 2019 report . (I didn’t accept any of them, but I have to admit it was tempting.)

The rise of the travel nurse in the time of Covid-19 isn’t that surprising. From the earliest days of the pandemic, registered nurses bore the brunt of the increased strain on the health care system. With ICUs across the country overflowing, hospitals were forced to open specialized Covid-19 wards and staffing was strained. Nurses were often required to work grueling hours with heavy patient loads, a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), and limited access to Covid-19 testing.

As we enter the third year of Covid-19, the staffing shortage is only getting worse . Many nurses are facing burnout, choosing less arduous roles in non-hospital settings, or retiring from the profession altogether. Others are staying in the profession, but leaving the hospitals that employ them for travel nursing agencies, which offer them better-paying, short-term contracts.

In travel nursing, rather than working directly for a hospital as permanent employees, nurses are hired by a staffing agency, which then arranges time-limited contracts with hospitals to meet temporary or seasonal staffing needs. Over the course of the pandemic, crisis demand for additional staff sent travel nursing wages skyrocketing, and thousands of nurses across the country accepted these offers. While travel nurses previously represented 3-4 percent of all nursing staff across the nation, the figure has risen to 8-10 percent.

Travel nurses are extremely valuable to hospitals, rapidly and flexibly providing critical staff during case surges. But relying so heavily on temporary staff brings disruption. With many of their permanent nurses leaving for lucrative travel gigs, hospitals are increasingly being forced to bring in travel nurses from elsewhere to make up the deficit, leaving teams fragmented. This is especially hard on small rural hospitals, which lack the resources to compete with larger hospital networks.

The massive pay discrepancy is likely a temporary side effect of the crisis and various economic and funding constraints, but the underlying situation is not about to disappear. Covid-19 has taken a nurse shortage that predated the pandemic and dramatically worsened it.

Relying on temporary staff weakens hospital teams, drawing away the best and most experienced nurses and making it that much harder to onboard new staff, train students, and provide high-quality care. With more and more nurses burning out and quitting by the day, hospitals and the federal and state governments have yet to address the factors that would help frontline health care workers stay in the profession. Travel nurses are at best a temporary fix, and the long-term cost is unsustainable.

How travel nursing works

Travel nursing didn’t begin with the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea originated in New Orleans in 1978, as a response to the annual influx of patients during Mardi Gras. The practice became more prevalent over the next decade; by the late 1980s, travel positions had become widely available.

Travel nurses are hired by a staffing agency, rather than a hospital; the agency then arranges contracts with hospitals to provide nurses during periods of temporarily high demand and usually arranges housing for the nurses in their destination city. The standard contract is 13 weeks long, though nurses can sometimes choose to extend it to six months or longer.

In the past, travel nursing wages varied widely by state and region and were often higher than permanent staff salaries (though some of that difference came from the free housing or housing stipend and other incidentals that were often included). Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, though, the pay for travel nurses has increased dramatically, and much faster than permanent salaries.

“When I worked as a travel nurse, there wasn’t that much of a discrepancy between my wage and permanent staff,” said Mary Jorgensen, an operating room nurse at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, and a former travel nurse. “We were more attracted to travel nursing for the lifestyle of going to different locations. But now that hospitals have this over-reliance on travel nurses to try to make up for the nursing shortage crisis, the amount they’re spending on travelers is astronomical.”

Over the past 18 months, it has become common for many nurses to double their paycheck by choosing the travel route. It’s not for everyone. It requires high levels of adaptability, independence, and tolerance for uncertainty, not to mention the personal freedom to pick up stakes and move temporarily, but for nurses who can take advantage of the opportunity, travel nursing can provide a financial windfall.

Lydia Mobley, a travel nurse with the major travel nursing agency Fastaff, believes that health care workers deserve more pay, and that travel nursing offers a route toward that end. “I know two amazing nurses who are some of my best friends, who are travel nurses and they are single mothers, but they still make travel work because they just want to give their kids the best life possible,” Mobley told me. Thirteen-week contracts also mean that nurses can choose to take breaks to recover in between periods of intense workload.

Mobley also sees the novelty with each contract as a perk, offering nurses (and by extension the hospitals they normally work for, and in the past at least, usually returned to) the chance to learn how other hospitals operate. “Even if a hospital happens to have maybe some older, outdated policies, at least you learned, ‘Hey, that’s a way that that probably should be done,’” she said.

In my case, the experience was very positive. It felt good to be where I was most needed, and to bring my own background and experience to an understaffed unit. By the end of my initial 13-week contract, which I chose to extend for a total of six months, I was familiar with the hospital’s processes, and actually able to provide support and mentoring to the many recently-graduated nurses on the permanent staff.

For hospitals, travel nurses provide a huge advantage in flexibility and response time in a crisis. It’s extremely difficult to hire and fully train a cohort of permanent nursing staff fast enough to respond to a surge in case numbers, which can happen in weeks or even days. Hiring travelers also means that when local case numbers begin to drop, a travel agency can send its nurses on to other states with the highest needs.

Bart Valdez, CEO of Ingenovis Health (which owns Fastaff as well as several other travel nursing agencies), told me how his company was among the first agencies to send nurses to early Covid-19 hotspots like Washington and New York. These staff became early “veterans of Covid,” he said, bringing their experience of the challenges of Covid-19 patients to other facilities.

“A less stable ecosystem”

But there are real downsides to taking this model too far, which are apparent to travel nurses as well as the permanent staff.

For one thing, hospitals end up paying far more in hourly wages for staff who are less familiar with local conditions, which can erode nurses’ teamwork and the quality of care for patients.

Kelly O’Connor, another registered nurse from UW Health, mentioned a colleague of hers left Madison, Wisconsin, for a travel position in Milwaukee the very same week that O’Connor’s unit resorted to hiring a travel nurse from Milwaukee to fill the vacancy at a much higher cost to her hospital. Travel nurses are not only paid a higher hourly wage, but the agencies generally mark up the bill by 32 to 65 percent to turn a profit. (Texas has recently resorted to banning nurses currently in permanent positions from accepting contracts in-state in an attempt to circumvent this dynamic.)

Increasingly relying on travel nurses more often can also warp the inner workings of a hospital. “There was a time when travel nurses were used appropriately, as a ‘Band-Aid,’ but this is beyond that,” O’Connor says. “There’s so much that goes into a hospital running smoothly, and historically if a travel nurse was needed, they were able to pop in, understand the ecosystem quickly, and everything would function as normal.”

But now, she notes, “we’re relying on them too much, and they’re thrown into a less stable ecosystem without the support to figure it out.”

The delicate “ecosystem” of a well-run hospital unit is made up of all the staff needed to keep a medical center running: doctors, pharmacists, lab techs, respiratory therapists, and of course, nurses. To mentor new staff and train travel nurses, the unit needs a certain base of experienced nurses, with years of commitment and investment in the local hospital and community. But with high levels of staff turnover — and many experienced nurses shifting away from bedside care or choosing early retirement due to burnout — this essential resource is in jeopardy.

When the nursing ranks are chronically understaffed and overstrained, even the best nurses can’t spare the time to properly mentor a new staff member, and instead have to tag-team just to cover all the basic tasks.

O’Connor described a revealing situation she found herself in: She realized only in the final few days of a new nurse’s multi-week orientation that she had never found time to show her trainee where the wheelchairs were kept. That’s a basic if important piece of information that would usually have been covered in week one.

“I used to feel that I helped the new nurse grow, and now more often than not we’re having to rely on each other just to get through the workload,” she says. “Nursing is already so hard. This is only making it harder than it needs to be.”

The cost of good care

If experienced, committed permanent nurses are so essential to a hospital’s functioning, providing value that no temporary travel nurse can replace, why aren’t they compensated accordingly?

One contributing factor may be that during the pandemic, crisis funding from government institutions such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) couldn’t easily be allocated to hiring more permanent staff, or toward efforts to retain existing experienced staff via retention bonuses, hazard pay, or other support.

But there are systemic issues at work as well. The National Nurses United is the largest professional association of registered nurses, with more than 175,000 members working at the bedside in nearly every state. Its latest report — titled “Protecting Our Front Line: Ending the Shortage of Good Nursing Jobs and the Industry-Created Unsafe Staffing Crisis” — explores the background of the nursing shortage and the worsening conditions during Covid-19. It lists a number of specific policy recommendations, such as mandated staffing ratios and better workplace safety regulations, that they believe will help create sustainable, rewarding jobs and keep nurses in the field. (On a more local level, Mary Jorgensen and Kelly O’Connor are working with other nurses to form a union with SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, in hopes of addressing the short-staffing and other challenges that have plagued UW Health during the pandemic.)

Such reforms were needed before the pandemic, and are even more necessary now. The spike in travel nursing demand and pay shows that the system as it exists now is not equipped to respond to a major crisis without significant disruptions that will have serious consequences down the line. The worsening personnel shortage, with many nurses retiring and leaving the profession entirely, is a symptom of a system that prioritizes the short term at the expense of sustainability.

Travel nurses have been a part of the nursing workforce for decades, and as a supplement for temporary needs, they are very valuable. But it’s not fair to either travel nurses, or the patients they care for, to ask them to take on so much of the ongoing essential duties of running a hospital unit.

A hospital relying too heavily on travel nurses will lose institutional knowledge, be less able to fit in new hires or provide nursing students with a strong education, and will end up being a frustrating and draining work environment, leading to more burned-out nurses and a worsening staff shortage at a time when the US can least afford it.

Clarification, March 3, 3:40 pm: This story has been updated to clarify the role of Mary Jorgensen and Kelly O’Connor in the effort to form a nurses union with SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin.

Correction, March 4, 3 pm: Due to a copy-paste error, an update to this article previously transposed the last names of Mary Jorgensen and Kelly O’Connor.

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Travel Nursing Trends: A Look Into the Future of Travel Nursing

by Trusted Nurse Staffing | Jan 4, 2023 | News

Staffing shortages have kept the need for travel nurses a hot topic since the pandemic in 2020.

With a high demand for nurses, we might expect the coming years to continue offering higher salaries and new opportunities for travel nurses to work short-term contracts around the country. 

Unfortunately, since 2020, burnout and lack of personnel have led many hospitals to seek more help. By staying on top of the many travel nursing trends — from salary to how to handle mental health to an increase in job opportunities and more — you can stay ahead of the game and better prepare for the future of an often challenging career. 

Learn what travel nurse statistics tell us about the future of travel nursing this year and beyond.

Table of Contents

Travel nursing statistics: where does the data come from, pay attention to these 3 big travel nursing trends, 7 additional trends we’re predicting for the travel nurse industry in the coming years, take advantage of future travel nursing trends with trusted nurse staffing.

Many resources work hard to gather data used to help healthcare professionals understand the trends of their jobs. For travel nursing, statistics are gathered from a variety of places.

Every two years, the National Council of States Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) partners with The National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers and conducts a survey focused on the nursing profession. The most recent National Nursing Workforce Survey was done in 2022 and generated information on the supply of nurses in the country. 

The findings included things like:

• The median age of RNs was 46
• Male RNs have steadily increased
• Most RNs (57.5%) work in a hospital setting
• The median pre-tax earnings for RNs is $80,000
• Over 60% of RNs reported an increase in their workload since the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 impacted many jobs throughout the United States, but nurses and other medical professionals saw a huge change that altered the way the profession would be in the years following the pandemic.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Travel Nursing

Demand for travel nurses soared in 2020 and 2021 due to the crisis caused by the pandemic. According to data from the American Hospital Association, the percentage of total hours worked by contract or travel nurses in hospitals grew from 3.9% in January 2019 to 23.4% in January 2022. 

Additionally, hospitals spent about 4.7% of their nurse labor expenses on travel nurses in January 2019, while in January 2022, that average reached 38.6%. This increase illustrates the boost the travel nurse profession has seen over the past couple of years. 

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Study represents the largest, most comprehensive, and most rigorous evaluation of the nursing workforce. This survey concluded that approximately 100,000 RNs and 34,000 licensed practical and vocational nurses have left the workforce since 2020. 

Although travel nurse statistics show that many things require change in the coming years, three big travel nursing trends jump out — demand for travel nurses, pay for travel nurses, and how the mental health of travel nurses is approached.

Demand Trends in Travel Nursing

Many travel nursing specialties are topping the charts for most demand by healthcare facilities between January and March 2023. 

According to report results , these travel nurse specialties are in demand:

• Med-Surg – 17% demand
• Emergency department – 8% demand
• Step-down – 7% demand
• Med-Surg/telemetry – 6% demand
• Medical ICU – 5% demand
• Telemetry – 5% demand
• Operating room – 5% demand
• Labor and delivery – 2% demand
• Rehabilitation – 2% demand
• Psychiatry – 2% demand

The analysis also notes that of all U.S. states, Texas has the most (7%) travel nursing jobs available, likely because it’s a compact state, which means it allows travel nurses to obtain a multi-state license and speeds up the credentialing and employment process for them.

These states followed with the most travel nursing jobs available in the United States:

• California – 6%
• New York – 6%
• Florida – 5%
• Massachusetts – 4%
• Pennsylvania – 4%
• Illinois – 4%
• North Carolina – 4%
• Maryland – 3%

With some percentage of travel nursing jobs still available in these states, it’s clear that healthcare facilities continue to struggle to fill their permanent positions . With this, a reliance on travel nurses will continue to grow.

Pay Trends in Travel Nursing

Before the pandemic, travel nurses made an average of between $1,800 to $2,600 a week. During the pandemic, this number grew to between $8,000 to $10,000 a week. 

In 2022, the average salary for new travel nurses was just under $84,000 a year . ZipRecruiter reports that in 2023, the national travel nurse salary is just over $105,000 a year. 

Yet, it’s also reported that travel nurse salaries can float around $200,000 a year as the need for nurses continues to grow. 

A 2022 report shows that as turnover rates for nurses continue to rise, and the fact that it takes roughly three months to fill a new nurse position, the need for travel nurses is even greater. With high demand comes higher pay.

Pay for travel nurses depends on many things, one being where in the United States you accept a travel nurse contract. ZipRecruiter reports that in 2023, the highest hourly paid states for travel nursing are:

• New York – $61.67
• New Jersey – $53.28
• Wisconsin – $52.95
• Nevada – $52.50
• Wyoming – $52.49
• Massachusetts – $52.40
• Indiana  – $51.79
• Arizona – $ 51.77
• New Hampshire – $51.73
• Pennsylvania – $51.58

And the lowest-paying states were reported as follows:

• Kansas – $43.09
• Michigan – $42.76
• Louisiana – $42.56
• Missouri – $42.47
• Texas – $42.23
• Nebraska – $41.24
• Idaho – $40.99
• Kentucky – $39.73
• North Carolina – $39.7
• Arkansas – $39.04

When compared to RNs with permanent positions , travel nurses are making more, and there are many travel nursing job opportunities available. 

If you’re hoping to take advantage of competitive salaries, Trusted Nurse Staffing can help you find a travel nurse contract that works for you. You can also utilize Pronto to search for current available positions.

Mental Health Trends in Travel Nursing

Amid the pandemic, the mental health of medical staff across the board suffered. Because the pandemic was intensified by a lack of personnel, the fact that many healthcare facilities were not crisis-ready, and inadequate emotional backing, healthcare professionals have been leaving their careers in droves. 

Many issues causing the drop in medical staff, including nurses, have been associated with:

• Lack of support

With the mass exodus in nursing, it became evident that something needed to change. For nurses to provide top-notch care to their patients around the clock, they need to be prioritized — especially their mental health. 

If you find yourself struggling with mental health as a travel nurse, consider some of these options that will become widely available in 2023 and beyond:

• Join a support group
• Attend therapy, in-person or virtual
• Utilize sleep relaxation apps
• Exercise regularly
• Practice gratitude daily
• Confide in family or friends
• Seek professional help
• Take breaks when necessary
• Share or talk about work traumas
• Join an employee assistance program (EAP)

There are many resources available to the nursing community — including the ANA and American Nurse Foundation’s Well-Being Initiative — to help avoid both mental and physical burnout. Once you recognize the triggers, you can help prevent it from happening time and time again.

As a travel nurse pondering the future of your career, there are many trending factors to consider. 

Remember, travel nursing statistics show that a career as a travel nurse is in demand. In 2020, travel nursing grew by 35% and it hit a 40% growth in 2021. Will this trend continue as permanent RN positions are still left open throughout many healthcare facilities? 

If you choose to take on a career as a travel nurse, what could you expect for the future?

#1: An Increase in Travel Nursing Within Hospitals

More hospitals and healthcare facilities are offering internal travel nurse programs as a way to help combat the staff nursing exodus they’ve been experiencing over recent years. 

As travel nursing has become increasingly more popular (thanks to its many benefits ), paired with the effects of the pandemic on healthcare professionals, many hospitals have begun to lose their staff nurses. 

Now, many large healthcare facilities are launching travel nurse programs, offering short-term and high-paying contracts to travel nurses. Some even offer limited benefits. 

For a nurse looking to try out a short-term contract or who wants more flexibility in your work schedule while still remaining local, an internal travel nurse program is a great option that benefits both you as a nurse and the healthcare facility.

#2: An Increase in Flexibility

With the pandemic also came telemedicine and travel nursing to the forefront of society —  and it looks like they’re both here to stay . These two nursing professions offer great flexibility to a nursing career.

Telenursing provides care through technology, allowing nurses to practice their careers remotely with much flexibility. 

Travel nurses get to choose (to an extent) where they want their next assignment to be, allowing them to spend time in different places, experience new locales, and get a feel for different areas of the country. They also can easily take time off between contracts or sometimes have the option to extend a contract if that works best for their lifestyle.

#3: A Steady Number of Opportunities in Nursing

As mentioned earlier, the demand for travel nurses is high . And many different nursing specialties need nurses. 

Between 2020 and 2030, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be around 194,500 annual openings for RNs — an 8% growth rate over the decade. 

But the demand for nurses doesn’t just come from RNs leaving their positions. 

With the median age of RNs in 2020 being 52 years old, many were/are on the brink of retirement. It’s estimated that one-fifth of the RN population will retire by the end of the decade.

Whether you’re a med-surg nurse, an ER nurse, or a labor and delivery nurse, there are and will continue to be many travel nurse contracts available for you to pursue.

#4: A Growing Demand for Home Health Care Travel Nurses

Today, there are around 46 million baby boomers — adults aged 59 to 77. An Aging in the United States report says that by 2060, this number is expected to be more than 98 million . That’s a dramatic increase!

Because of this increase, it’s expected that about 75% of Americans will need care in a nursing home, offering many opportunities for travel nurses to work outside of a traditional hospital.

#5: A Growing Demand for Behavioral Health Travel Nurses

As a behavioral health nurse, you typically care for patients with behavioral and mental health conditions or substance abuse disorders.

Unfortunately, opioid addictions and suicide rates are rising, and people need help. 

In 2023 , the percentage of adults in the United States with any mental illness is 21%. The percentage of adults with substance abuse disorder is 15%. Overall, 5% of adults have thoughts of suicide.

The U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services states that by 2025, the U.S. will be 250,000 professionals short of what the demand will require. 

#6: Technological Advancements in the Healthcare Profession

Technology is revolutionizing healthcare and the way that medical professionals practice medicine, treat patients, and conduct work regularly. 

Travel nurses will begin to see things like:

• Electronic medical record systems
• Telemedicine platforms
• Mobile health apps and devices
• Wearable technologies for patient monitoring

As travel nurses learn to adapt to these many technological advancements in healthcare, many things can change. 

#7: Consistency Across the Demographics of Travel Nurses

According to a July 2023 report by Zippia , there are over 1,733,502 travel nurses currently employed in the United States. 

• About 85% are women while 15% are men.
• The average travel nurse’s age is 43.
• Regarding ethnicity, nearly 70% are White, 12% are Black or African American, 9% are Asian, and 9% are Hispanic or Latino.

As for the future of travel nursing, these numbers are expected to remain consistent, just as they have over the last decade.

Does the future of travel nursing sound promising? With the many job opportunities available, the pay rates, and the chance to travel to new places, why pass up the chance to work as a travel nurse?

Trusted Nurse Staffing works to connect you with rewarding job opportunities that offer great benefits and competitive pay. We are dedicated to helping you achieve your goals which is why we encourage (and help with) continued education, reward success and accomplishments, and help you pursue your growth. 

With Pronto, you can search for available travel nursing contracts and work alongside your recruiter at Trusted Nurse Staffing to secure your desired contract with the pay and benefits that you deserve.

Contact us today.

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Is Travel Nursing Dead? A Look At Travel Nursing In 2024

Hospitals have been slowly phasing out travel nurses for the last year. Meanwhile, travelers are complaining that their contracts are being cut short or canceled before they even begin. Signs point to major challenges in the industry — but is travel nursing dead?

Travel nursing has long been a stellar opportunity for nurses to explore new areas and hospitals while gaining valuable experience. However, the pandemic caused a dramatic surge in demand for nurses willing to travel. As a result, many first-time contractors were attracted to the field. Now, many people are questioning what is going on in travel nursing as facilities return to pre-pandemic staffing levels. Here we’ll explore the current state of travel nursing and how travel nurses are affected.

Looking for open travel nurse assignments? Speak with a recruiter today!

The Demand For Travel Nurses in 2024

Source: Unsplash

According to Timothy Landhuis, vice president of research at Staffing Industry Analysts, there were approximately 50,000 US travel nurses pre-pandemic — approximately 1.5% of the country’s registered nurses. That pool doubled to at least 100,000 as COVID spread.

However, complex factors have contributed to a decline in travel nursing positions over the past year.

Most clearly, the cost for hospitals to bring in travel nurses is very expensive. Contract labor expenditures soared by more than 500% in 2022, as hospitals sought out travel nurses to help with pandemic staffing shortages.

Rather than depending on travel nurses for temporary solutions today, hospitals are increasingly looking for permanent, full-time nurses. Large health systems are developing new programs that allow employed nurses to travel to different facilities within their network. The drop in demand has meant there are fewer opportunities for travel nurses and lower pay rates.

One way to combat this trend is for hospitals to search for travel nurses directly instead of going through agencies, which helps reduce the hospital’s costs and increase the pay for travel nurses.

Despite the decline, there are still openings for all specialties , particularly in rural and underserved areas. These settings often lack permanent staff or rely on travel nurses to replace vacancies in their bare-bones workforce to meet the community’s needs.

Likewise, some medical facilities continue to lean on travel nurses for short-term staffing needs. Currently, some of the highest-paying jobs for travel nurses have been in intensive care units and medical surgery.

Find available, high-paying travel nurse opportunities.

Travel Nurse Salary Drops $2k Per Week

The coronavirus and successive variant waves exacerbated hospital staff shortages, resulting in exorbitant contract nursing fees.

As the average travel nurse salary rose across the country in 2020, so did the number of nurses who quit their full-time employment to travel . More nurses abandoned staff employment, and the turnover worsened shortages.

During the surge of COVID-19, national rates for travel nurses rose to $150 per hour . This was three times more than the national average for full-time staff nurses, which has now decreased back to an average of $44/hour nationally.

Source: Healthcare Dive

Three years later, many travelers are returning home for stable staff positions. Hospitals are now negotiating down contract rates with travel nurse agencies by as much as 50%, and some are even hiring travel nurses directly.

Though not what it once was, travel nursing is far from dead, and the pay is still above average. The average travel nurse income has stabilized at around $2k per week in 2024 . Given that compensation has fallen, so have the number of travel nurses, making jobs less competitive and evening back out to pre-pandemic levels.

Still, several factors, such as whether a hospital is dealing with a natural disaster or strike, as well as market demand in that region, can cause assignments to attract higher prices. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual travel nurse salary in the United States is $101,132 or $49/hr as of July 2024. This is still much higher than the national average for registered nurses, which is $86,070 per year or $41.38 per hour, according to the BLS .

Find open positions today for your specialty.

Source: Nurse.org

Internal Traveler Programs

Another attractive option for nurses who enjoy traveling is internal travel nurse programs . These are contract positions offered by health systems that allow nurses to travel on a short-term basis to associated hospitals. The pay is often higher, but in some cases, benefits may be limited.

“These positions are enticing for anyone interested in a higher base pay, while foregoing many traditional health and wellness benefits — perhaps nurses who are still eligible for health insurance under their parents or guardians, or those who already have coverage through a spouse’s employer,” said Denise Neely, BSN, Senior Vice President and COO for Bronson Methodist Hospital and Chief Nursing Officer for Bronson Healthcare.

Source: Facebook Travel Nurse Community

Other facilities offering similar internal travel programs include:

• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• Mercy Health System
• Advent Health
• UC Health Colorado

These arrangements also relieve some of the pain points that travel nurses experience, such as having to learn new policies and procedures, repeating new hire and HR orientation, and worrying that the hospital may cancel their contract.

Travel Nursing Is Still A Viable Option For Nurses

Travel nursing is still a viable employment choice for the nursing profession. Travelers can earn better salaries with stipends and bonuses than their counterparts, with benefits packages and affordable living arrangements. Another perk of travel nursing is schedule flexibility. Nurses enjoy the option to work 13-week assignments with breaks in between.

Another common attitude expressed by travel nurses is that contract work allows them to focus on patient care. They can avoid the bureaucracy of dealing with management and leadership that some face in staff roles.

Travelers also choose which hospitals they will work in. They can refuse facilities that they’ve heard have dangerous conditions or too many patients per nurse. California is currently the only state that regulates nurse-to-patient ratios. It requires one nurse for every five patients in most departments and intensive care units to have a 1:2 ratio.

Travel nursing is perfect for those who want the freedom to choose the assignment and department that fits their lifestyle and interests. It allows nurses to obtain experience in a variety of settings while having the freedom to travel. Despite the current economic downturn, travel nursing remains a feasible employment option for healthcare workers with the right mindset and skills.

What Does the Future Have In Store for Travel Nursing?

An industry analysis suggests that the US may face a shortage of up to 78,610 full-time registered nurses by 2025 . According to one nationwide assessment of the nursing workforce, nurses are retiring in greater numbers. The number of older nurses retiring, combined with the impending influx of elderly Baby Boomers who will require more care, is expected to exacerbate the situation. These facts suggest that there will always be choices for experienced nurses in all specialties who want to travel.

Technological advancements and virtual care will also continue to have an impact on the ever-changing world of travel nursing. While some features of travel nursing may evolve, traditional short-term assignments will remain a popular option to meet facility needs. Overall, travel nursing is very much alive and an attractive career choice for nurses with a promising outlook for the future.

Ready to start your adventure? Sign up today and start traveling next week.

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The Future of Healthcare Travelers in a Post-Pandemic World

The travel nursing industry made headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for these professionals exploded, as patients filled emergency rooms and ICUs. Many staff nurses took to the road, lured by skyrocketing travel pay rates and the opportunity to make a positive impact during a public health crisis.  

Now that the pandemic has settled to a simmer, has the travel nurse industry also cooled? What does the future hold for travel nurses? Will rates remain higher than pre-pandemic rates?  

We can confidently say that the travel nurse industry is still going strong. The future looks bright, an not just for nurses but for allied health professionals as well. Suffice to say the travel healthcare industry a lucrative choice for many healthcare professionals: opportunities are flooding the market, and flexible schedules and high rates remain perks of the job.

So, let’s look at how travel nurses fared during the pandemic, why travel healthcare professionals are still in demand, and the types of positions open to travelers for the first time.   

How Travel Nurses Coped During the Pandemic  

A travel nurse deal with a lot of stress – it’s part of the job. They enter a new situation with new personalities every two to three months.  

But travel nurses know that each assignment has an end date. If they love the assignment and the people they work with, they may decide to request a contract extension. If they don’t love the assignment, they have the option to take time off to regroup before their next contract begins.  

Travelers have the ability to maximize their take-home pay to help fund their time off, potentially allowing them to work for only 6 to 9 months out of the year. Travelers working more than 50 miles from home earn a non-taxed stipend to pay for housing, meals, and incidentals.   

Choosing lower-cost housing or staying with friends or family can help them deposit more of their non-taxed pay into their bank account. Even if they decide to accept a local assignment, their pay rate will still be higher rate than most staff nurses.  

It’s a Great Time to Be a Travel Nurse  

Many travel nurse positions require two years of experience, but you may be able to get started traveling earlier. Low-acuity facilities, such as vaccine clinics and urgent care centers, will often accept nurses who don’t yet have the experience required for hospital positions.   

A non-hospital travel assignment is still a travel assignment and can help build your resume. Having this varied experience gives you an advantage when your recruiter submits your resume for a hospital position down the road.  

 Let’s look at a few reasons why today a great time is to begin a career as a travel nurse. 

• Many travelers say they’ve discovered a better quality of life due to higher pay rates and the flexibility to take time off. We’ve spoken to travelers who said they will never return to staff nursing.  
• Travelers have negotiating power. The demand for nurses is so high right now that travelers have the upper hand in negotiating shifts and days off.   
• Career growth opportunities are readily available to travelers.   
• Travelers are typically chosen over staff nurses to float to other units, giving them a chance to gain experience in other areas.   
• A new trend in travel nurse jobs is management positions, a good choice for candidates with charge nurse experience.   
• Exposure to different facilities and units allows travelers to develop a broader range of knowledge. Due to the float requirements most travel and local contractors take on, they have the opportunity to gain experience in multiple units within a 2 or 3-month period.   

COVID Changed Travel Nursing, Maybe Forever  

Although healthcare facilities were chronically understaffed before the pandemic hit our shores, COVID-19 highlighted how essential healthcare professionals are to our nation’s infrastructure. Travel nurses kept many hospitals afloat through 2020 and beyond. Facilities now realize how much they depend on travelers to fill staffing gaps.  

Recruiters are seeing a rising demand for travel nurse supervisors in many specialty areas. Filling such an important role with a contract nurse may reflect the healthcare industry’s view of how travel nurses conducted themselves during a major healthcare crisis.   

The pandemic struck a heavy blow on the nation’s collective mental health status, resulting in an increased demand for psychiatric care. As a result, we see many open psychiatric nurse positions, including in management.   

And while registered nurse positions make up the bulk of travel nursing jobs, we are seeing an increased demand for Licensed Practical Nurses.   Allied Health Professionals: The New Kid on the Block  

While certified surgical technologist positions have long been part of the travel industry, recruiters are now noticing a surge in postings for other allied health professionals. Through the travel health industry, allied health professionals are recognized as valuable healthcare team members and are well compensated.  

  The range of open travel allied health positions is growing and includes:   

• Medical Assistants,  
• Mental Health Counselors/Technicians,  
• MRI Technologists,  
• Ultrasound Technologists,  
• CT Technologists,
• Phlebotomists, and
• Certified Nursing Assistants.  

The Recruiter – Traveler Relationship  

Travelers can help their recruiter find them the “right” job by building an open and honest relationship with their recruiter.   This relationship, built on trust and open communication, is the foundation of a continued working partnership. The future of travel nursing and allied health is recruiters and healthcare professionals playing on the same team, working toward the same goals, and navigating through different contracts together.  

By Maggie Litton, National Recruiter, Planet Healthcare

Photo Credit: Canva

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Travel nursing during a pandemic

The future must ensure physical and mental health safety for all nurses. .

Travel nurses and staff nurses can agree that we’ve all had to learn how to care for COVID-19 patients. As Maggie Han­sen, chief nursing officer at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, described it, “Learning how to care for COVID-19 patients has been stressful for every healthcare provider because there’s no clear roadmap for care.”

The pandemic has helped the world recognize the tremendous resilience and adaptability of nurses. Travel nurse veteran and author of the book Travel Nurses Bible , David Morrison, RN, said that his best pandemic experience as a travel nurse has been “the coming together of nurses.” ( See Morrison’s article on travel nursing .)

As a traveler (the insider’s term for travel nurses who work short gigs at hospitals around the country), Morrison has seen firsthand how nurses “rose to what might seem an impossible task” during the pandemic. However, for both travelers and staff nurses, experiences from inside the profession have included more than unity in the name of COVID.

The nursing shortage isn’t new

Nursing shortages and the use of travelers to fill those shortages aren’t new to nursing. The issues contributing to shortages—burnout, limited time off, long shifts without breaks, and little administrative attention to retention—existed pre-pandemic.

According to April Hansen, MSN, RN, group president of workforce solutions at Aya Health­care, in California, “the demand for travel nurses is at an all-time high across the country and is driven by a variety of factors.” Not only has the pandemic stressed the nursing workforce, she said, but also “an increase in permanent hospital vacancies nationwide from burnout and higher census.”

According to the American Nurses Association, more than 500,000 RNs will retire in 2022, leaving more jobs than nurses to fill them. Experts project that 1.1 million new nurses are needed to fill the upcoming vacancies. In a recent American Organization for Nursing Leadership survey, 90% of nurse leaders anticipate that nurse staffing shortages will persist long after a drop in patients with COVID-19.

The pandemic has taken a toll on nurses who care for affected patients. The results of a research study conducted by Aya Healthcare in May and June of 2021 confirmed that the physical and emotional traumas of COVID-19 drove nurses away from core staffing positions or, for some, out of the profession entirely, leaving rifts in an already expanding nursing shortage.

Maggie Hansen reported that Memorial Healthcare System, which had been an employer of choice and ranked among the “Best Places to Work in Healthcare” for 12 of the past 13 years, experienced a 20% nursing turnover rate in the fiscal year ending April 30, 2021, up from 13% before the pandemic. “The pandemic definitely impacted our nursing workforce as well as our overall employee base,” she said.

COVID-induced strains have challenged healthcare’s ability to maintain a stable and efficient nursing workforce. Also, staff nurses pursuing travel nursing presents challenges for the solidarity of the profession.

‘I should get paid a premium’

As COVID-19 pushed more patients into hospital beds, it simultaneously pushed core staff nurses further into long shifts, minimal res­pite, and painful burnout. Nurses already traveling picked up the pace to help, while staff nurses looking to save their mental health and careers turned to traveling.

Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, a nationally recognized leadership development expert, said “Every health system I’ve worked with is experiencing losses of staff to travel positions. Percentages range from a low of 5% to a high of 30%, and this trend has intensified over the past 6 months.” ( Read Sherman’s article on nurse recruitment .)

Nurses who are leaving staff positions tell administrators, “If I’m going to work this hard and take care of these complex patients, I should get paid a premium,” Sherman said.

In early fall 2021, staffing agencies such as Nomad Health were offering travel nurse positions weekly salaries ranging from $5,004 to $8,528. At the same time, Aya Healthcare reported a 20% increase (from August 2021 to October 2021) in open travel RN positions. According to April Hansen, the states with the highest demand for travel nurses in late 2021 were California, Texas, and Florida. Specialty, location, and demand have the most impact on traveler compensation.

In early October 2021, Aya Healthcare listed 59,156 travel nurse assignments. The positions in highest demand are “ICU, medical-surgical, telemetry/step down, and ER,” explained April Hansen. “We’re seeing strong demand for surgical services such as operating room nurses and labor and delivery nurses.”

Until COVID-19 stabilizes in the United States, the high demand for travel nurses will likely continue.

‘Nurses are in the driver’s seat’

Nurses find travel positions appealing for several reasons. Many travelers experience better work–life balance, frequently receive higher wages compared to staff nurses, and have the opportunity to travel to new places. According to Sherman, “Nursing leaders tell me that nurses choose to travel for the following reasons: to control their work and scheduling, to try out different geographic areas, and to pay down debt, especially student loan debt.”

Sherman has seen some healthcare systems offer staff nurses “battle pay” or retention bonuses. However, she said, “We have never had so much of the nursing workforce on contingent contracts.”

With more travelers than ever before and increasing numbers of open nursing positions, administrators’ staffing issues present more challenges. Sherman said, “At this point, nurse leaders are using every available resource to staff units and still are finding it extremely challenging. Most leaders would hire more travel or agency nurses to fill in the gaps if they could. The reality is that staffing agencies can’t fill most requests made, and travel nurses have the option to make decisions about which contracts to accept.”

Maggie Hansen, who has worked with many travelers, said that although learning how to care for patients with COVID-19 has been stressful for everyone at Memorial, “a much larger percentage of the nursing workforce was contract labor that had to hit the ground running with an expedited orientation. Travel nurses typically work 12-week contracts, so the investment in teaching ‘the Memorial way’ had to be re-designed to accommodate the turnover associated with travelers,” she said. Regardless, Maggie Hansen remains grateful for the many travelers who already had experience with COVID-19 surges because it aided their onboarding process.

“Because the supply and demand [for travel nurses] is at a huge imbalance, hospitals are having to compete for the limited talent available, and that is driving up pay. Travel nurses are in the driver’s seat,” April Hansen said.

Traveler challenges, staff nurse morale

Being a traveler isn’t always colossal paydays and remote waterfalls. Pandemic or no pandemic, Morrison explained, “The single biggest challenge is the new nursing staff you encounter on each assignment. You’ll be proving yourself over and over and having to make new friends in units that may already be very tight or even cliquey.”

“Working in a new environment; learning new processes, technologies, hospital layouts; and meeting new people are inherently stressful and have been amplified during a crisis like COVID-19,” said Morrison, who noted that issues like personality conflicts or less-than-inviting unit staff are among the top stressors for travelers because “everyone is being pushed to their max. Team nursing is mandatory, and if you can’t find a way to in­tegrate into the team, you’ll have a very hard travel assignment.”

During the pandemic, travelers have encountered dangerous staffing ratios and decreased time with patients. Morrison encourages travelers to be alert to these challenges. “Travelers should protect their licenses. It will be hard to defend a critical mistake if a nurse takes an assignment while knowing that it’s unsafe or way beyond a normal nurse–patient ratio,” he said.

As travelers work to fit in, their presence impacts current staff who are left behind and “work side-by-side with travelers who often make three to six times what they do,” Sherman said.

Andrea Davies, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, of Methodist Hospitals in Indiana works with more travelers than ever before since COVID-19 and feels it has decreased staff nurse morale. “For nurses who are already established as employees, many feel they should be offered incentive pay to bridge the gaps in staffing shortages before travel nurses are brought in.”

According to Davies, “If there is a day of low census, the staff nurse will be cancelled, and the travel nurse is guaranteed to work.” Davies explained that staff nurses “miss out on a day’s work” because hospitals must prioritize the travel nurses’ shifts to honor travel contracts. (See Advice for traveling and staff nurses. )

Advice for traveling and staff nurses

Heed this advice to ensure cohesive teamwork and quality patient care.

Advice for travelers 

• Be a patient advocate. Patients remain the priority for all nurses and working with your colleagues as a team ensures thorough patient support.
• Don’t take it personally. Be willing to prove yourself with each new assignment. Some units may be harder to crack than others, but you’ve got this.
• Speak up. Don’t be afraid to question assignments that fall outside of your scope of practice or threaten your license. This includes inadequate nurse–patient ratios or providing care for which you have no training or experience.
• Keep in touch. You may not always want to be a traveler. It’s a good idea to maintain positive relationships you’ve made with nursing managers or administrators in your hometown.
• It’s temporary. The current assignment might be challenging, but your assignment is short term.
• Seek out other travelers. With so many travelers these days, you’re probably not the only one. Ask around on your unit or ask your recruiter about other travelers in your area.

Advice for staff nurses 

• Welcome travelers. Embracing help during this pandemic is crucial for everyone. Travelers bring experiences, skillsets, and levels of adaptability that have the potential to make your job easier.
• Spread optimism. Working with travelers doesn’t have to be filled with anxiety and stress. Travelers are colleagues who realize that each unit and hospital is different. They expect to be a useful part of the team while overcoming bumps along the way. You should, too.
• Communicate. To help travelers quickly acclimate to your organization, communicate. Encourage asking for and seeking help to prevent or resolve problems. Provide clarity and direction with graciousness.
• Be inclusive. Including travelers in staff huddles, asking for their input, and inviting them to holiday staff parties will create a supportive atmosphere.
• Be a patient advocate. Patients remain the priority for all nurses.

The future of travel nursing

Travel nursing’s original intent was to fill workforce gaps and shortages until a hospital could hire more nurses. However, as a result of COVID-19, travel nursing has almost become a specialty with its own career path. Said April Hansen, “Travel nurses now make up almost 2% of the nursing workforce.”

The pandemic required staffing agencies to provide high numbers of travel nurses to various areas around the country quickly. Aya Healthcare developed a response to the growing number of nurses considering traveling as a permanent career. “We’ve created the Aya Scholars program,” said April Hansen. “It’s the industry’s first clinical ladder and professional recognition model for travel nurses to ensure their continued career growth.”

With more nurses discovering the benefits of traveling, many wonder what the future of this career path holds. Sherman has worked with organizations around the country. She predicts “there is likely to always be a need for travel nurses, and they will be used to supplement core staffing, especially in geographic areas with seasonal populations.”

However, the unprecedented mass exodus of nurses resulting from the pandemic has left enormous issues for hospitals. The most pressing are nursing shortages and inadequate nurse–patient ratios, which will remain as long as the pandemic continues. “The burden of COVID-19 care will continue to stress our hospitals for quite some time,” Maggie Hansen said.

Using travelers to help fill staffing gaps has been reasonable, but the current cost isn’t a long-term solution. “I know that some leaders are angry about the price gouging they’ve seen with travel contracts,” Sherman said. “As the need for travel nurses decreases, we’ll probably see tougher negotiations on these contracts. The money is likely to be far less in the future for the nurses themselves, and a significant percentage of those who are currently on travel assignments won’t travel in the future.”

The future of hiring and retention

Indirectly, COVID-19 has bolstered the travel nursing industry, and in turn, travel nurses have modified the nursing profession. Sherman said, “When nurses travel and gain control over their work, it will be hard to shut that door.”

As travelers take control of their careers by picking and choosing assignments and locations, staff nurses are taking note. “Nurse leaders tell me that a change they’ve seen in their staff since COVID is an intense desire for work–life accommodation,” Sherman said. “Most health systems have pretty rigid ‘work rules’ that require 12-hour tours and don’t accommodate part-time work.”

According to Sherman, “If health systems expect to recruit and retain younger generations of nurses, administrators will need to be more flexible in the future. Historically, some nurses have liked overtime, but this has changed with younger nurses.” The implication is that younger generations value time and work–life balance over compensation.

In addition, travel agencies have made it much easier for nurses to jump through hiring hoops. “Most staffing and travel agencies do the same background checks and licensure verification that health systems do themselves,” Sherman explained. “However, these agencies have more user-friendly technology for nurse applicants. In my discussions with nurse leaders, most understand that human resources practices need to change. Nurses won’t wait weeks to learn if they’re selected for a position. I think we’ll see changes in this area post-COVID.”

Sherman expects the competition for travel nurses to decrease over time. “The nurses themselves will make less money in the future in travel assignments,” she said. “I think we’ll see student loan repayment programs

in many health systems to help nurses pay down their debt.”

But right now, during the pandemic, as hospital administrators inch their way toward viable methods of recruiting and retaining staff nurses, hiring travel nurses remains the costly norm for filling vacant positions. As Maggie Hansen noted, “Paying travel nursing rates to fill the vacancies caused by the COVID-19 crisis isn’t sustainable. So, strategies for returning to a more stable, engaged, and cost-effective nursing workforce have to be a priority.”

The pandemic emphasized the wage gap between nurses working full time and travelers. To avoid losing trained staff or using costly third-party staffing agencies, many organizations began addressing staffing issues with internal travel programs. This solution allowed hospitals and health systems to pay nurses lucrative travel wages, enjoy flexible schedules, and remain local.

Protecting nurses

For both staff nurse and traveler, this pandem­ic has highlighted the nurse’s sense of duty and dedication to patient care while at the same time expanding concerns about personal safety and occupational risks. We’ve learned that opportunity and compensation aren’t enough to maintain a stable nursing workforce. COVID-19 may have changed how staff and travel nurses work in the U.S. healthcare system, but we must continue to ensure the physical and mental health of every single nurse.

Julie Nyhus is a nurse journalist and nurse practitioner at Community Healthcare System in Michigan City, Indiana. 

References:

American Nurses Association. Nurses in the workforce .

American Organization for Nursing Leadership. Nurse leaders’ top challenges, emotional health, and areas of needed support, July 2020 to August 2021 .

Aya Healthcare. The pandemic has dramatically impacted nurses .

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Home > Career Advice > Healthcare Talent > Are Travel Nurses in Demand? Future of Travel Nursing

Are Travel Nurses in Demand? Future of Travel Nursing

The demand for travel nurses is increasing day by day. Healthcare facilities face shortages of staff for several reasons and to fulfill that demand they turn to travelling nurses to fill these gaps. If you are a nurse with at least two yours of experience you can choose to become a travel nurse. Being a travel nurse has its advantages and rewards, but it has its challenges too.

Reasons why travel nurses are in demand

During covid 19 there was a shortage of staff. The number of people who needed care was increasing day by day resulting in a shortage of staff. During this pandemic, healthcare facilities asked for the help of travel nurses to fill the gaps and provide patient care. Some of the other reasons for the increased demand for travel nurses are as follows:

• Seasonal emergency needs such as earthquakes, floods, etc.
• Shortage of availability of nurses with specialized skills.
• Permanent staff nurses leaving jobs or taking breaks.

Is travel nursing going away?

The demand for travel nurses fluctuates due to many reasons. During covid19 the demand for travel nurses increased due to the shortages of staff. Many nurses were attracted to travel nursing because of its advantages. No doubt the demand for travel nurses is slowing down because many hospitals and healthcare facilities now want to settle for permanent nurses. The reasons the demand for travel nurses slowing down are as follows:

Lower pay rates: During a pandemic, healthcare facilities offered higher pay rates and bonuses to travel nurses so they could collaborate with them. But now the pandemic is gone, and everything is back to normal, hospitals want more permanent nurses. The decrease in travel nurse’s pay is one of the reasons travel nursing is slowing down.

Increase demand for permanent staffing: Healthcare facilities are now looking for nurses who will work full-time or part-time with them to ensure stability. This is also one of the reasons why the demand for travel nursing is decreasing.

Tight hospital budget: with inflation the healthcare facilities are looking for ways to stay financially stable. Their focus is more on permanent staff rather than on travel nurses which is a temporary solution.

Burnouts and travel fatigue: travel nursing has a lot of benefits like discovering new places and high pay. However, nurses might feel burned out with too much traveling. Therefore, they opt for permanent positions.

Increased competition: the perks of traveling nurses have made many nurses think of travel nursing. The competition has increased and due to this, it is difficult for nurses to find the jobs they want.

How many travel nurses are there in the US?

Even though the demand for travel nurses has decreased after the pandemic, there are still over 1.7 million travel nurses in the US. Even now if healthcare facilities are facing a shortage of staff due to some reason, they opt for travel nurses to fill the gaps. Therefore, the demand for travel nurses is still there.

Is Travel nursing still worth it?

Yes! Travel nurses are still worth it due to its advantages and benefits. The reason many nurses choose to become travel nurses is because they want to explore novel places. They are bored working with only one facility. To be adventurous and experience new things they go for the option of travel nursing which comes with high pay and many benefits.

Travel nursing in 2024

Although the demand for travel nursing is stabilizing, it is still one of the most important solutions to the shortage of nurses. So, to answer the question, are travel nurses in demand? Well yes, travel nursing continues to evolve for many reasons such as the following:

• Telehealth integrations.
• Increased demand for flexibility in work.
• Increased focus on mental health and wellbeing.
• Freedom of choosing assignment of choice.
• Increased benefits and compensation.
• Better opportunities for nurses with specialized skills.
• Compact state nursing licenses make it easy for nurses to work in multiple states. with ease.
• Integration of technology.
• Evolving work environments.

Do travel nurses go out of the country?

Yes! International travel nurses go out of the country to provide their services where needed. Although it is less common than domestic traveling, it is still there.

Travel nursing continues to be evolving, although the demand for travel nurses is not as high as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is still one of the evolving industries. Many healthcare facilities still face a shortage of nurses because of several reasons so they opt for travel nurses to fill the gaps. Travel nursing has its advantages and challenges. To know more about travel nursing read our blog.

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10 Major Nursing Industry Predictions For 2023

• More Homecare Nurses
• Concierge Nursing Growth
• Hospital Nursing Changes
• Addressing Burnout
• Reduced Patient Shaming
• Increased Education
• More NPs in Primary Care
• More Nurse Educators
• Internal Travel Nurse Programs

It’s no secret that the nursing industry has undergone some challenges in the past couple of years. (Understatement of the century, perhaps?) Nurse.org’s State of Nursing Survey from 2021 revealed some hard facts from nurses themselves, such as the fact that:

87% of nurses surveyed were experiencing burnout 

58% of nurses felt unsafe at work in the past year 

84% believed they were underpaid

83% reported that their mental health suffered

77% felt unsupported, while 61% feel unappreciated at work

The American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) also reported that 29% of nurses in all license types also were considering leaving the nursing profession altogether by the end of 2021. Clearly, some things need to change for the nursing industry to not only survive, but for nurses to thrive once again in a career that can—and should be—an important, fulfilling, and rewarding one that benefits both those who choose it and the patients they serve. The future of nursing doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom, so let’s take a closer look at some of the top 10 predictions for what the nursing industry might hold. 

1. Homecare Nursing is Going to Continue to Boom

Obviously, the pandemic brought out a lot of home-focused care again, primarily through telehealth, but one of the major predictions for healthcare, in general, is a big return to home care nursing services. 

For instance, some healthcare companies are catering to parents to provide home care for sick kids with at-home kits and virtual care so they don’t have to be dragged out to the doctors and others are moving to the very real need for elder care services, such as foot care, in the home as well. Virtual care —different from telemedicine—also falls under this category, as more nurse-focused virtual care will be offered in the future. This includes everything from patient education to wellness programs like weight loss coaching or diabetes management or nutrition improvement to mental health care to chronic disease management.

Patients want care that is customized and accessible from home, and nurses will definitely be part of that revolution. 

2. Concierge Nursing Will Be a Big Business

Speaking of home care, concierge nursing is also a rather new specialty that we predict will only continue to grow in popularity. From IV hydration to aesthetic services to health and wellness coaching to weight loss, concierge nursing has benefits for both patients, because it allows for individualized, on-demand care that comes to you. 

And for nurses, it allows them to experiment with part-time or full-time side businesses that can be tailored to their specialties, passions, and skills. There are even businesses specifically designed to help nurses work on the side or full-time that take care of all of the legal aspects, so it’s as simple as using an app to offer your services directly to patients in your area. 

3. Hospital Nursing Will Evolve

This is a prediction that sadly, we don’t have firm data for, but it’s one made out of necessity: the need for hospital nursing and well-trained, experienced nurses to serve in the hospital setting is not only never going to go away, but it’s also only going to grow even more in an aging and increasingly sick society. And it’s no secret that hospital nursing has been incredibly hard in the past two years. 

So our prediction is that at a very practical level, hospital nursing is going to get a lot better because it has to. That will translate into increased pay, more support from an administrative level, better work-life balance (no guilt for not picking up those extra shifts), and manageable patient-nurse care ratios. One of the hardest parts for me as a former floor nurse myself is knowing how necessary and needed the job is and how downright miserable it can be to actually do it, so this is a problem that needs addressing ASAP for the health of our entire country. 

4. Nurse Burnout Will Be Addressed (Finally)

On a related note, Forbes is predicting that nurse burnout will finally be addressed in a very real way. Obviously, it’s not just hospital nurses that are burned out, but many nurses working in different aspects of healthcare are overworked, overstressed, overstretched, and simply burned out. And addressing that burnout—which has significant impacts on both patient care, healthcare costs and delivery, and nurses’ own health—needs to be done in a systemic way, starting from a leadership level. It’s time.

5. Technology in Nursing Will Be Huge

In news that will probably surprise no one, Forbes also predicted that technology is going to continue to be the “big prize” in healthcare and that will certainly translate into nursing. If you’re a nurse with any interest in the intersection of healthcare and technology, your future is bright. This could mean everything from getting involved with start-ups to big players in the healthcare tech space like Amazon ( they quit their own big plans recently , but they’ll be back, rest assured) and Walmart. Additionally, nursing with hands-on tech skills are very needed too. 

6. No More Shaming of Patients Using Google

This is an interesting trend prediction that I think deserves some recognition because there has been a stigma in the healthcare world for a long time of patients using “Dr. Google” with a dismissive eye roll. 

However, the truth is, credible, well-researched medical information is readily available at patients’ fingertips these days, and dismissing patient concerns and attempts to advocate for their own health in an increasingly difficult healthcare space—especially for marginalized individuals—is just downright ignorant and worse, dangerous. Nurses are already more attuned to this, but working with patients on their health journeys, not against them, will only help strengthen the patient-nurse bond and help create healthier societies as well. 

7. Increased Education for Nurses as the Norm

Speaking of better-educated patients, the norm for nurses is more education as well. That’s not to say there isn’t extreme value in nurses who learn from associate or diploma programs, but that the trend is moving towards nurses being more educated overall. BSN , MSN , and DNP programs are all more accessible than ever with online programs and hospitals favoring more educated nurses. There are also benefits to nurses, with tuition reimbursement being offered in some places and more education = more opportunity to specialize in an area that you feel passionate about. 

8. Nurse Practitioners as Primary and Speciality Care Providers Will Increase

Already, Nurse Practitioners (NPs) as accepted practitioners for both primary and specialty care providers is the norm in many areas, with benefits from both the business aspect of healthcare—NPs are cheaper and can fill necessary gaps—and the patient end—NPs often are more accessible, but NPs as a mainstay of healthcare is only predicted to grow over the next coming years. For instance, many states are battling to either newly allow or continue to allow CRNAs to practice independently . And NPs continue to offer specialty care, like this NP who started a trans-centered care clinic , as well as necessary primary care in rural areas. 

9. Nursing Educator Jobs Will Increase

All of that nursing education means that there will be a huge need for nurse educators right now. In fact, the AACN notes that nursing schools across the country have actually turned down nursing students in some states due to a lack of qualified nursing educators. That, coupled with the increased demand for higher levels of education for nurses means that colleges and universities will need to attract qualified nursing educator candidates more competitively. If you’re a nurse who’s interested in teaching, keep your eye peeled for even more education jobs. 

10. Travel Nursing Will Happen Within Hospitals

Yes, you read that right. Travel nursing became hugely popular (and profitable) during the pandemic and many hospitals lost core staff nurses as a result. To help recruitment and staffing levels, some hospitals have taken to experimenting with internal travel nurse programs within their own facilities instead. That looks like a structure similar to travel nursing: short-term contracts, higher base pay, and usually, limited benefits like health insurance. Nurses looking to try short-term contracts, those who want flexibility in work but wish to remain local, or those who don’t need benefits may see the most reward from such programs. 

>> Take Nurse.org's NEW 2022 "State of Nursing Survey" and let your voice be heard about issues in nursing that matter most. 

Chaunie Brusie , BSN, RN is a nurse-turned-writer with experience in critical care, long-term care, and labor and delivery. Her work has appeared everywhere from Glamor to The New York Times to The Washington Post. Chaunie lives with her husband and five kids in the middle of a hay field in Michigan and you can find more of her work here . 

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