In the earlier months of 2022, travel nurses were paid around $150 per hour. The rather lucrative pay package tempted nurses to leave staff jobs. Naturally, this led to significant staff shortages and increased turnover.
The shortage of staff was more evident during the pandemic. Further, the surge in Omicron cases also led to a significant deficiency. The demand for qualified nurses was exorbitantly high. Consequently, the pay also increased. They were paid more than the national average.
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“There continues to be significant volatility in hourly wages paid to registered nurses, which represent a significant share of overall labor costs,” informs Flint Brenton, CEO of Syntellis Performance Solutions.
Several hospitals are starting their internal staffing initiatives to reduce the cost of labor for agency contracts.
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According to a recent survey by the American Nurses Association, better pay and staffing conditions remain the top concerns for most nurses. Still, flexibility is also essential to more than half of them.
Hospitals have become unusually reliant on contract nurses. The direct impact is that expenditures on travel nurses have increased. The statistics indicate a rise of around 250% since the beginning of the corona virus pandemic.