TThe thing about being a hero is that you’re not well compensated. 

Selflessness and altruism being the defining character traits of heroes, that is. But, unlike your typical martyr, the nurses who have collectively been cast as heroes over the past 2+ years can’t be expected to keep calm and carry on forever; for one, we never asked for that title, and for two, selflessly giving, giving, giving, as it turns out, is not sustainable. And now, the rumble of capping travel nursing salaries has left a lot of nurses feeling some kind of way.

In a word: “BYEEEEEE.”

Taxi’ing

If you’re a bedside nurse currently working, well…anywhere, right now, undoubtedly you’ve worked alongside a traveler. This is largely due to the fact that the nursing shortage—already having reached crisis proportions when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived at our doorstep—is now entirely out of control. 

Hospitals need nurses to operate. That’s demand. Travel nurse agencies provide nurses on an urgent basis. That’s supply. And even the most casual economist knows this equation: when demand exceeds supply, costs increase to meet the need. Free Market 101. 

The controversy now is that hospitals are crying foul over “price gouging.” Simply put, in their eyes, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place and nursing agencies know it. Claims that agencies are keeping large portions of jacked-up traveler compensation rates do deserve to be investigated. But, the real problem? Hospital staffing systems have been stuck in a “just enough to get by” mode for quiiiiiiiite some time. 

Nurses are sick of it.

Take off

One of the interesting things about the evolution of a Pandemic is its ability to shine a spotlight on areas that were quietly failing prior to its onset. Case in point: staffing shortages are not a new phenomenon in nursing. In fact, many nurses cite unsafe staffing as the primary reason they have left their most recent positions, or the field entirely. 

Nurses are willing to put up with a lot, mostly because we prioritize a solidified urgency to provide care to those in need over our own well-being. At certain times of the year—say “regular” flu season—when patient census levels would peak, hospitals would meet this demand of their services by supplying travelers to fill staffing gaps. 

Staff nurses would work with the knowledge that the traveler working beside them was making more per hour. Most staff nurses didn’t give this a second thought. They understand that travelers make sacrifices in traveling away from their established mailing address lives; furthermore, staff nurses appreciate that the traveler is willing to go at a moment’s notice, thus making the life of the staff nurse better in real time. To pay them more for these hardships seems fair. 

Then along came social media, and travel nurse influencers, with their sexy pictures of salt flat-roaming jeeps, jet wings over sunsets, and—inexplicably—amazing chill feline traveling companions. Suddenly this role seemed a helluva lot more glamorous than your standard bedside role at the hospital down the street. Consequently, the travel nurse industry had already  begun to entice young and unattached nurses away from their long-term hospital positions in order to serve their hashtag wanderlust long before COVID.

In-flight

If we already thought travel nurses were cool, their status was elevated to off-the-charts sainthood when COVID first hit like a sledgehammer in places like Washington state and NYC. In they came, bravely facing the viral trajectory unknowns, and with ridiculously non-existent  PPE at that. And staff nurses were beyond grateful. Even the public’s attention shone with absolute gratitude from quarantine lockdowns; remember all those photos of nurses on planes that people shared from early 2020 days? Wouldn’t you have done anything to support them? Wouldn’t we all have?

Well, it seems the gratitude is up. 

Those are the same travel nurses that are now being accused of “price gouging.” Being greedy, essentially. Or maybe that judgement is reserved only for those travelers who weren’t part of the early COVID-gap-filler squads. While some may only see the traveler newbies as opportunists who have now realized that they can make an entire year’s salary in a few months as a traveler, consider the fact that many only leave their staff roles when denied any sort of livable wage increase. 

To the outsiders who sing out—“But you signed up for this!”—we chorus back, “Thousands of nurses are now being paid what they are worth, and it’s about time!” 

Unfortunately, this has come as a shock to the hospital administrator. It’s not easy to rework a budget in times of crisis, especially when most hospitals are run for-profit. It must be sooooo hard for the hospital C-suites to realize they, in fact, cannot run their hospitals in the current pay structure without nurses. (Our hearts break for them, just not our backs.)

Thus, an idea was put forth. Cap traveler nurse salaries! Aha! Surely that will usher in a return to our previous system of shift-to-shift scrambling….ahem…staffing. 

But, it’s too late.  And also, who said change wasn’t messy?

Landing

Here’s where we’re at. Nurses have begun to realize the power they hold. While we still feel a desperate loyalty to our patients and each other, most of us realize that the tide is shifting. What was dredged up in the surf at high tide may not be what goes back out to sea at low. And while that will be supremely uncomfortable for the Powers That Be, it might be the only way forward. 

Hospitals cannot run without nurses. Long-term care facilities cannot run without nurses. Homecare, and ambulatory care, and urgent care, and, and, and CANNOT RUN WITHOUT NURSES. 

We know our worth. 

We are transforming knowledge into action. 

We are connecting action and power. 

To us, “cut off our salaries to save your system” sounds a lot like “cut off your nose to spite your face.”

And just in case you haven’t logged on to social media in a while, nurses are having one, overwhelmingly large response to that idea (and it may have an impact on that whole supply/demand thang).

POOF.