Navigating nursing paths: Comparing travel nurses and staff nurses
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Navigating nursing paths: Comparing travel nurses and staff nurses
Two nurses comparing notes
The COVID-19 pandemic presented the U.S. healthcare system with several unprecedented challenges. One such challenge was and continues to be a severe shortage of qualified nurses, according to the American Hospital Association.
The COVID-19 Impact Assessment Survey, conducted by the American Nurses Foundation and American Nurses Association in 2022, found that 52% of nurses were considering leaving their jobs due to insufficient staffing. The American College of Healthcare Executives found that the most pressing issue for 90% of CEOs at community hospitals was keeping nurses on staff.
Many hospitals are turning to travel nurses to address this shortage. CNBC found that during the winter of 2022, travel nurse rates spiked to an average of $150 an hour, three times the national average for full-time staff nurses.
While one might think that the potential to work fewer days and earn three times what the average staff nurse makes is a compelling reason to become a travel nurse, only 6% of registered nurses identified as travel nurses in 2022.
Study.com analyzed the most comprehensive demographic data on travel clinicians, released in May 2022 by Aya Healthcare, the leading healthcare staffing provider in the United States. This data was complemented by salary figures from the Center for Economic Policy and Research and the age demographics of Registered Nurses provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. A review of the data and various news sources revealed the differences between travel and staff nurses and why some might choose one path over the other.
Alina Lehtinen-Vela for Study.com
Let’s dive into some of the key demographic differences
[infographic] Comparing the data demographic of travel nurses and staff nurses
Gender
Although the field of nursing is heavily female-dominated, there is a smaller gap in gender representation among travel nurses. According to Aya Healthcare, the percentage of males in travel nursing is nearly double that in staff nursing roles, standing at 18% as opposed to 9%. In staff nursing positions, females constitute an overwhelming majority, comprising 91%. However, the percentage of females in travel nursing is slightly lower, at 82%, marking a 9-percentage point decrease. This dataset did not consider dimensions of gender other than male and female.
Family status
Family status stands out as the area with the most considerable distinction between travel nurses and staff nurses. Aya Healthcare data shows that only 29% of staff nurses are single, with the other 71% being married. In stark contrast, only 30% of travel nurses are married, while 70% are single. In this case, staff nurses and travel nurses are nearly exact opposites of each other.
Race
There are more significant differences between staff nurses and travel nurses when examining the dimension of race. 80% of all staff nurses in the U.S. identify as white, while 20% identify as a race other than white. In contrast, 37% of travel nurses identify as a race other than white and 63% identify as white.
Age
Staff nurses tend to be quite a bit older than travel nurses. The median age for staff nurses is 52. The median age for travel nurses is 35.
Salary
Travel nurses can make significantly more than staff nurses. The average travel nurse earned $2,589 per week in January 2023. During the same period, the average staff nurse earned $1,375 per week.
Putting things into perspective
Based on the data from Aya Healthcare, travel nurses tend to be younger and more diverse in terms of both race and gender than staff nurses. Additionally, travel nurses are far less likely to be married than staff nurses. All this data points to what may be one of the factors that contributes the most to the difference in who chooses to be a travel nurse or staff nurse lifestyle.
While the average travel nurse makes over $1000 more per week than the average staff nurse, this is done to ‘compensate them for the disadvantages of the experience” according to NurseJournal.org. Every time a travel nurse takes a new contract, they must ‘learn the new facility’s policies and procedures.”
Additionally, because travel nurses work on contracts and do not receive salary pay, they are solely responsible for things like their retirement savings and health insurance.
Speaking of contracts, travel nurses can take new contracts every 4 to 26 weeks, according to CNBC and NurseJournal.org. For many travel nurses, this means being away from home for extended and unpredictable periods of time. This also means that travel nurses are frequently relocating. While this may be attractive to some, others might prefer the stability afforded by a career in staff nursing.
Travel nursing is a more financially lucrative career path than staff nursing, but it comes with its own associated costs – time away from home, less job security than staff nursing, and more frequent adaptation to a new setting.
As Health Carousel puts it, staff nursing presents more opportunities for professional growth and stability, while travel nursing presents more opportunities to explore different parts of the country, experience diverse cultures, and work in various healthcare settings.
This story was produced by Study.com and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
