Shifting to a New Equilibrium? (a change in nursing)

Watching the news the other day and again, I hear this “nursing shortage” claim being thrown around, it got me thinking. So, Pre Covid, at best I knew three nurses who had or were travel nursing. I am a nurse, so I know quite a few. Fast forward to today and now half of the nurses I know are on what I will call “contracts”. I say this because some didn’t even need to travel, they are just finding travel jobs in the same county they live in. With the current rates being offered who can blame them? On some of these contracts you can multiply your salary 2-4 times (historically distance from home equates to a better rate).

This is a great thing for nurses, right? I enjoy the work most days, but it is a high-stress job. After getting attacked physically and verbally at work it's nice to find respite by increasing our salary, it’s long overdue for many nurses. The problem here is its eradicating staff nurses nationwide.

So what we have is staff nurse A leaving hospital 1 for a contract at hospital 2 a few states away, which then creates a void at hospital 1. Nurses want better rates so they can’t fill the position. Hospital 1 then offers a contract, attracting staff nurse B from hospital 2 or 3. The issue here is staff nurses are the heart and soul of a healthcare facility. They go through a robust orientation of 1-3 months, live in the community, know how to work the equipment, etc. Then nurse A shows up gets one shift of non-structured orientation and half the time they work they need the staff nurses to show them where things are. Who probably suffers from this?-the staff nurses, which inevitably affects the patients (the ones many in healthcare seem to forget about).

In the climate of this current trend in nursing, I want to do things:

1) Ask "how we think this change is going to affect the healthcare system?"

and maybe more importantly

2) Try to underline how important the staff nurses are

because I feel like it is not mentioned enough

How will this affect healthcare? I’m going to hope that nurses all around the country can finally get paid for the stress we bear daily on the job, being a nurse isn’t easy. It really should bolster us emotionally further equipping us to improve patient care being that we are a bit happier. I’m curious about the hospital cash flow though, where is the money coming from they are paying their most abundant employee with? Travel contracts have always been here, but it’s never been as sought after they are now, not even close.

Hospitals are businesses so the question is what expense of theirs are they going to cut to fix this? With a shift in money out I feel like there must be a shift the other way, hence my curiosity for finding the new equilibrium. Again, nothing is more important than a good staff nurse, I’m curious to see what incentives they will see. Skills gap: I can handle any assignment the ICU throws my way and I live for the challenge of a difficult assignment. I am this way, because of what I learned at my staff job. At that hospital, I was trained on all equipment, had a high degree of autonomy, and rotated as charge. I spent two full years in that 18-bed MICU before I even considered traveling. On a contract, I do not get assignments like that often, and I don’t learn like that. Nurses are allowed to travel now with much less experience, and I hope it doesn’t begin to cause a skills gap in the profession.

Importance of staff nurses: I realized this full force when I heard that a travel nurse cried in a manager’s office because they “might” have to float. I see this often where travel nurses have it added to their contract where they don’t have to float with all these other hilarious stipulations. I respect their ability to negotiate but it's sort of a dick move towards the staff nurses, the ones who are holding it all together. I'm not bashing all travelers, by the way, I have met some truly epic travelers who were wise beyond my capacity. Still, I often see the ones getting paid massive amounts saying “I'm not doing that” multiple times a shift. The last time I checked it is a team effort guys. I feel like if we are going to make a higher salary (granted I am also paying tons in extra living and travel costs) we are obligated to actually help the staff nurses, it’s an etiquette we need to adhere to.

Halfway done with my second travel contract and as always the experience is dope. I'm writing this while eating at a Cuban café looking out at Florida Palms. But nothing is sweeter than returning home to my staff job where I feel like an integral part of the hospital. Curious how this new trend will affect staff nursing jobs and what will be the new equilibrium.