Travel nurses are not returning to former jobs as demand decreases

Editor's Note

Some travel nurses are choosing to leave nursing instead of returning to their former hospital jobs “as demand for travel nurses comes back down from unprecedented highs during the pandemic,” Becker’s Hospital Review September 6 reports.

According to Becker’s, there were about 50,000 travel nurses in the US before the onset of COVID-19; that number “doubled to at least 100,000” with the staffing pressures and challenges seen during the pandemic. The industry is now seeing that peak dwindle, with “travel nurse demand [dropping] 42% from January to July of this year,” noted the article.

Citing an NBC News story from September 3, Becker’s highlighted how some nurses capitalized on the travel nursing premium rates and lucrative pay to leave nursing all together once the demand for travel nurses started to drop. According to the news outlet, other factors that are contributing to nurses not returning to their old hospital jobs include patient safety concerns, growing workloads, and retirement.