Why Travel Assignments Are a Win-Win for Healthcare Facilities

In healthcare today, nursing leaders and facility managers have seen many nurses and healthcare professionals leaving the industry since the pandemic because they’re exhausted and burnt out.

In fact, there is a projected nursing shortage in the U.S. of between 200K and 450K registered nurses (RNs) by 2025, according to McKinsey & Company.

Meanwhile, as the Baby Boomer generation begins to age and need care, patient demand is increasing as nursing staffing numbers are dropping. This leads to many facilities relying on overtime, which is expensive and exhausting for their permanent staff, causing burnout and churn.

Here’s where travel nursing assignments come in – and the answer is yes, they still make sense for hospitals and healthcare facilities and end up being a win-win. In the past several years, the travel nursing industry has actually grown by more than 600%. Learn more on our State of Travel Nursing 2024 blog.

Many leaders trying to fill their gaps in coverage are hesitant to book travel nurses because they are concerned about the high rates, however, while those rates skyrocketed during the pandemic, rates are actually normalizing. Plus, there is a younger generation of nurses and health professionals are coming into the workforce looking for flexibility and adventure. Travel nursing provides them with the opportunity to explore new places, tackle new challenges in new settings and specialties, and advance their careers. And, utilizing travel nurses for long-term assignments allows facilities to tap into this talent pool, decrease overtime spend, and prevent “nurse fatigue” and burnout from permanent staff.

Hear from Medely’s Rachele Jackson, VP of Assignment Operations on the 3 reasons why travel nursing assignments still make sense for healthcare facilities. She breaks down how travel assignments are economical, how they can help prevent burnout with long-term coverage, and how they can add to headcount without subtracting revenue. Learn how to tap into the diverse travel nursing talent pool in order to decrease spend and prevent nurse burnout at your facility. Watch below!

Here are 3 reasons why travel nursing is a win-win for healthcare facilities:

1.) Travel assignments are economical

Despite what many think after the surge in rates during the pandemic, travel assignment rates are coming back down and starting to stabilize. The average wage for travel nurses in 2022 was $50 per hour and has decreased by as much as 50-60% in recent months, according to Nurse.org.

The cost is enough to offer health professionals the incentive they need to travel or relocate, but affordable enough for facilities to get the coverage they need without hiring a permanent staff member or burning out their current team with overtime.

This is especially true when you book through Medely instead of relying on expensive, slow agencies that tend to lack transparency in their rates.

2.) Travel assignments prevent burnout with long-term coverage

Many facilities rely heavily on overtime for their full-time staff to ensure full coverage, which ends up causing burnout and turnover on their teams.

But with travel assignments, facility leaders can book someone for an extended period of time and ensure long-term coverage, helping them manage their workforce and get coverage in a sustainable way.

Facilities can easily book travel nurses and travel assignments with Medely. Learn more about how we help travel nurses work on their terms here.

3.) Travel assignments add to headcount without subtracting revenue

Leaders know that when they add headcount to their permanent staff, these team members support their staff, but that also adds costs and subtracts revenue as they also have to provide those staff members with benefits and total rewards packages.

However, when leaders add a traveler on their teams for a long-term assignment that’s not a part of permanent staff headcount, then they aren’t spending money on benefits packages or training. Instead, these traveling professionals are getting paid through a staffing solution like Medely, that’s helping them find the right facilities and keeps them coming back to places they love.

Conclusion:

Through Medely, thousands of unique pros have applied to get a travel assignment. You can book travel nurses on our platform in just a few clicks.

Check out this video featuring a Medely RN, a travel nurse named Lorelei Farabaugh who used Medely to travel, find shifts in between assignments, and ultimately, accomplish her dream of building a house. Watch here!

Learn more about Medely here, sign up as a facility, or apply to a travel assignment if you’re a nurse or health professional for your next great adventure!