Travel Nurses Meet National Staffing Demand at What Cost?

Travel agencies that staff nurses around the country are reportedly paying as much as twice nurses’ regular salaries to those willing to travel to areas with a staffing need during the pandemic. But these high paying positions came at a great cost to travel nurses; being away from kids for weeks at a time while managing huge patient workloads during a pandemic. Nurses employed at hospitals where travel nurses are contracted, however, are experiencing a different concern. UW CHWS Director, Bianca Frogner, PhD, was highlighted in 19thnews.org questioning whether staff nurses’ sense of value has been compromised when compared to travel nurses who received higher pay: “…where I think nurses may have felt undervalued before…it’s becoming much more front and center as they’re watching their peers come back after earning higher wages doing the same work.”

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