Travel nurses have been instrumental in filling the staffing needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. While most hospitals admit they couldn’t have made it without them, it has been a mixed blessing. Animosity has grown between core nursing staff and traveling nurses who are contracted to do the same work for much higher pay. Thousands of nurses quit their jobs to work for travel agencies, accumulating funds to pay off student loans, make a house down payments, etc. Most hospitals leaders with staffing shortages understand this and welcome them back at the end of their traveler’s contract.
Contention between core staff and contract labor is a growing problem, especially as travel nurse rates continue at record levels.
Core staff says they regard travelers as outsiders, and many travel nurses say they don’t feel accepted by the team. Half of the travel nurses surveyed said they received poor treatment from core staff nurses and were being assigned the heaviest caseloads. Disharmony increases when travel nurses are not mandated to work beyond the hours designated in their contracts while core staff works mandatory overtime.
Both core staff and traveling nurses suffer from nurse burnout, further stressing shortages and spurring some to consider leaving their jobs altogether. A report from McKinsey found that thirty-two percent of registered nurses surveyed in the United States in November said they may leave their current direct-patient-care role, an increase of ten percent in less than ten months.
The average bedside RN turnover in 2020 rose to an all-time high of 18.6%.
This jump, up nearly 2% from before the pandemic, represented the largest annual increase in seven years. With the highest Covid-19 peaks behind, healthcare leaders and frontline nurses now have the breathing room to reevaluate their employment and seek new jobs. Combined with a tighter labor market, skyrocketing sign-on bonuses, and fierce recruitment tactics, nurses that are feeling disengaged or ambivalent in their current roles now, have powerful motivation to leave.
Hospitals are struggling to find enough staff as stress, and nurse burnout runs rampant.
In response, systems have ramped up hiring efforts, boosted their benefits packages, and offered substantial sign-on bonuses. But that is not the only answer. Employers looking to recruit and retain nurses, both in the short-term and long-term, need to move beyond sign-on bonuses and create cultures where nurses feel engaged and want to stay. They must begin to focus on self-care for nurses and other healthcare workers. SelfCare for HealthCare clients has noted a 20% increase in engagement. Our program is specially designed to help prevent nurse burnout and prioritize self-care for nurses. It is more important now than ever to help healthcare professionals prioritize their mental health. Learn more about our SelfCare for HealthCare program and let us help you create an environment that nurses will be happy to work in.
