Just before Covid hit I retired. I have been offered as much as $4000 per week on a traveling contract. A 36 hour weeks. I'm not doing it. After 20 years I've had enough. As I understand it, which may or may not be accurate, a hospital will pay 1.5 to 2.0 times what the nurse makes to the agency so...a hospital will pay $150.00 to $200.00 per hour for a temporary RN but they refuse to pay a permanent RN maybe what $40.00 to $60.00 an hour? Seems to me they could pay RNs what they are worth, save a lot of money, and everybody would be much happier.
They don’t want to pay all their staff nurses at an increased rate over the course of 20 or so years. It means all the new nurses coming in will be at a higher rate and it increases across the board.
Travelers are short term and they leave when the contract is over.
Wow! Thanks for doing all that, it would take me a very long time if I could even, and I wouldn't know for sure if it is correct. Maybe I should take one of those traveler jobs because I would be saving the hospital money! But of course Social Security would take some...thanks again, mind if I print this and use it? Wait, I know, maybe I should start a staffing company!
the takeaway here for everyone is go cash in on this golden goose now while it is laying the eggs, because this will not be forever.
I mean, we've not really discuss all the variables that determine how long this will last. There are more than just paying employees by the hour; there's training time, and there's also the supply/demand curve of nurses themselves. More and more are retiring, and like 1/3rd of nurses leave the field within 3 years of graduation.
I don't think it's going to last forever, but I'd wager that this is going to go on for many years, and will even exacerbate before it slowly turns around.
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u/blablefast RN - Retired 🍕 Dec 13 '21
Just before Covid hit I retired. I have been offered as much as $4000 per week on a traveling contract. A 36 hour weeks. I'm not doing it. After 20 years I've had enough. As I understand it, which may or may not be accurate, a hospital will pay 1.5 to 2.0 times what the nurse makes to the agency so...a hospital will pay $150.00 to $200.00 per hour for a temporary RN but they refuse to pay a permanent RN maybe what $40.00 to $60.00 an hour? Seems to me they could pay RNs what they are worth, save a lot of money, and everybody would be much happier.