Prior to 2020, travel nursing was not the buzzword-niche sector of nursing that it is today. At most, nurses would periodically find headhunter emails in their inboxes, promoting contracts in desirable locations, generous salaries and the promise of IG-worthy travel adventures.

Whenever the unit census ran high, or nurses were out on medical or maternity leave, a traveler or two would pop up, fielding questions from staff nurses curious about what it was like to be a traveler.

COVID-19 has entered the chat

NYC was the first major metropolitan area hit with surging COVID-19 cases, and in no time hospitals were inundated with acutely ill patients. Each day brought more and more worrisome updates about the devastating and unpredictable behavior of this novel coronavirus.

The medical community—bless their hearts—responded in kind. Practitioners came out of retirement, unlicensed students were thrown into the medical deep end, and travel nurses began to arrive in droves to lend a hand. 

More and more departments got flipped into COVID-care units. Staff nurses were reassigned to meet the demand, but large gaps in staffing persisted. In areas suffering the latest outbreaks, hospitals began offering large bonuses designed to entice travelers their way—this, on top of rapidly increasing weekly stipends, caused many nurses to consider leaving their full-time jobs to take on traveler contracts instead. In doing so, these nurses discovered they had the potential to bring home a year’s salary in a few months’ time.  

Working as a traveler in early COVID days was not for the faint of heart. Constantly changing treatment protocols, absurdly low levels of PPE, and limited COVID testing were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the challenges these nurses faced; yet, they answered the call of duty like never before.

It was only a matter of time before wave-after-wave of COVID moved around the country. Agencies tracking the need for nurses and scrambling to accommodate rapidly increasing demand fueled the pay scale surge. 

Now we are in year three of COVID. After so many cycles of being overworked to the point of complete burnout, staff nurses continue to leave the bedside in a steady stream, and in some cases, the profession altogether. While hospitals undoubtedly feel the budgeting strain of using travelers on a near constant basis to stay operational, many nurses feel little is being done to address the root causes of staffing shortages.

What’s worse, after coming under pressure from hospital lobbying groups, legislative moves are in play to cap travel nurse salaries. This—a solution that largely benefits the hospital system—only adds to nursing frustration. 

You may be wondering if all the high-paying travel assignments are drying up. Or, if traveler salary caps and other restrictions to wage increases are forthcoming. Before you jump ship and become a travel nurse—or, if you currently work as a traveler—you need to consider the future of travel nursing.

Innovation may be the answer to traveler demand

Travel nurses are a valuable asset to hospitals. Whether staffing needs come from predictable census shifts or from crises, the solution is the same—fill the spots in order to stay open and functional. Demand for travelers has increased dramatically over the past several years, rising from 3% to 8%. Interestingly, many travel nurses are staying relatively close to home when picking assignments. 

Some hospitals have devised a work-around strategy as an alternative to paying for travelers through agencies. Known as Internal, Direct-Hire, Travel Nurse Programs, these short-term, contract-based positions are beginning to pop up as pilot programs in various hospital systems. Like traditional travel nurse assignments, they offer higher-than-average wages (the trade-off being limited benefits) and 3-4 month contracts. Check out this list of verified travel nurse programs for more info. 

In many ways, the security of the travel nursing industry is ensured by the systemic failures of the healthcare system at present. Until nurses are paid fairly for the work they do, until working conditions are improved—essentially, until nurses are recognized for the vital contributions they make to an organization—they will continue to shop around. Travel nursing provides a convenient means to do so.