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How Much Do Travel Nurses Make?

Average Pay for Travel Nurses

Travel nursing pay explained, highest and lowest paying states for travel nurses.

• Highest Paying Travel Nurse Specialties
• Ways to Increase Pay

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Travel nursing offers a unique work experience with the opportunity to earn above-average hourly wages. These wages may even exceed those of other registered nurses (RNs) with the same education and credentials.

Travel nurses are typically employed by travel nursing agencies and work assignments across the country wherever nurses are needed. Because each assignment is different, the total annual income for travel nurses can vary significantly. Factors include the details of the pay package, where the assignment is located, and nursing specialty.

On this page you will find the most recent information about travel RN salaries, benefits, specialties, and the states with a high demand for travel nurses.

Fast Facts About Travel Nurses

• Travel nurses generally earn as much or more than staff nurses with the same experience and qualifications.
• Lodging reimbursement and tax advantages impact travel nursing salaries.
• The most in-demand travel nursing specialties include labor and delivery, emergency room, and medical-surgical/telemetry.

The average travel nurse salary varies greatly depending on the work assignment. Depending on travel location, these practitioners can earn between $3,000 and $7,000 per week, averaging a 36-hour work week. According to Vivian , a healthcare jobs marketplace, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), travel nurses earn jan average of $2,183 per week, while RNs earn a mean hourly wage of $42.80. However, aspiring travel nurses should note that living on the road leads to additional personal expenses, so the increase in pay accounts for living accommodations.

Max Weekly Pay

Average Total Weekly Pay

Source: Vivian , September 2023

Travel nurse pay differs from full-time nursing positions because agencies offer hourly rates for each assignment, meaning RNs can shop around and find opportunities with ideal pay. In contrast, RNs working full time at hospitals, physicians’ offices, and other facilities usually rely on raises or additional education to increase their earning potential.

Practitioners considering this role also need to explore what take-home pay looks like for travel nurses . Nursing agencies set their own conditions, so pay packages vary. For instance, organizations may offer an hourly base pay with additional stipends to cover housing or meals, while other companies may offer a higher hourly rate to account for additional expenses.

Travel nurse salaries vary by state and region. Locations in need of RNs typically offer more competitive wages. In fact, the popularity of a particular region can influence travel nurses’ earning potential. Less popular locations may pay more, while desirable locations may pay less. Likewise, states with a higher cost of living offer higher wages relative to living costs.

According to 2023 data from Vivian, the top-paying states for travel RNs included New Jersey , California, and Alaska. Practitioners also want to consider the highest-paying specialties to determine earning potential which may vary by state. The following section includes the top specialties in demand.

Highest Paying Travel Nurse Specialities

Typically, nursing specialties that lack licensed practitioners offer more pay than other specialties, which further increases earning potential for travel nurses. Higher acuity facilities also offer higher pay, as they need skilled practitioners who can meet their patients’ needs. Here are five in-demand specialties for travel nurses.

Labor and Delivery

Emergency room, medical-surgical/telemetry, critical care – intensive care unit, operating room registered nurse, 4 ways to increase pay as a travel nurse.

While travel nurse pay may exceed traditional full-time RN salaries, travel nurses can additionally increase their earning potential by considering factors like demand for specialties, understaffed or unpopular shifts, and locations in need of skilled RNs.

Travel nurses should examine the full benefits package to determine if jobs can provide sufficient take-home pay. For instance, regions with a high cost of living may impact how much practitioners actually earn if stipends do not cover all costs.

Frequently Asked Questions: Travel Nursing Salaries

How much does a traveling nurse make per year.

Travel nurse salaries vary significantly, especially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Factors that can influence earning potential include geographic location and specialty. However, travel RNs should anticipate working 46 weeks a year and earning about $2,183 on a weekly basis .

Do travel nurses get paid more?

Travel nurses typically earn more than full-time salaried RNs because they often take job assignments where there is a nursing shortage. Travel nurse agencies also pay practitioners by the hour and offer additional benefits, including housing and meal stipends.

Is travel nursing worth the money?

Travel nurses generally earn more than salaried RNs. However, practitioners should consider their lifestyle as well. For instance, an RN with a family may not feel the additional pay outweighs time at home, while another practitioner may find the pay suitable and enjoy the travel opportunities.

Do travel nurses get time off?

Travel nurses often do not receive time off since they work hourly and take temporary job assignments. While assignments vary, travel nurses should plan to work for 8-26 weeks at a time. Most travel nurses schedule time off between job assignments.

Learn More About Travel Nurses

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Travel Nursing | Average Salary + Benefits 2023

If you’re looking to become a travel nurse, you probably have many factors driving your decision, from a desire to help people, expand your skills, or to simply take on a new adventure. But no matter what your motivation for becoming a travel nurse, your total compensation will vary from that of a staff nurse.

There are a lot of different factors with travel nursing that affect your salary and overall pay , like the length of the contract, and your specialty. Because there are so many different factors, there is a lot of conflicting information about travel nurses’ salaries. We’ve broken things down to make it easy for you to get the facts, including what an average travel nurse’s salary is and how much you can expect to make as a travel nurse.

Speak with a recruiter about available travel nursing assignments today!

Travel Nurse Salary

A good starting place to base your travel nursing salary on is the median salary figure for a Registered Nurse in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average salary for a Registered Nurse as of 2021 was $77,600 per year. However, because of the in-demand and transient nature of the job of a travel nurse, travel nurses can expect to make, in general, more than the average staff nurse.

For example, one survey of nurses who had found travel nursing positions using a popular employment site found that the average weekly wage of a travel nurse is $2,253 per week, which is approximately $123,198 per year. However, travel nurse salaries ranged from as low as $83,028 to as high as $182,802.

Keep in mind, though, that many travel nurses work different travel positions over the course of the year, so that figure can fluctuate based on the job’s conditions, any overtime, and the flexibility of the nurse’s schedule. Not to mention those non-taxable stipends. Your nursing specialty can also affect your total compensation as some hospitals may pay a premium for specific high-demand specialties.

Additional Travel Nursing Benefits

A travel nurse can expect some additional compensation that a staff nurse might not have access to.

1. Many travel nurses earn sign-on bonuses when signing with a travel staffing agency . 2. Travel nurses may also get referrals if they bring other nurses onto the agency to work, and receive housing and meal allotments. 3. A typical travel nursing position includes a compensation package for the nurse, which lists the base salary, as well as additional stipends, bonuses, and payments the nurse will receive for a total value that can be considerably higher than a staff nurse. That compensation may include the following:

• Housing , meal, and incidental stipends, which could cover a majority of your bills
• Travel expense reimbursement for getting to your new nursing assignment
• Reimbursement for things like your scrubs, books, or nursing supplies
• Bonuses (signing, referral, stay-on, or longevity)
• Health insurance, including dental, vision, and medical
• 401(k) benefits or other retirement options
• Life insurance options
• Certification and licensure reimbursement

In some cases, your stipends as a travel nurse will be just that — stipends, which means that you receive them no matter what. So, if you’re able to find cheaper housing, or decide to make a diet of Ramen noodles your go-to, you have the potential to pocket the extra money as well. Most of the time, these stipends are non-taxable, which means you don’t have to report them as additional income come April. You can also get tax breaks for maintaining your full-time home , which equates to extra money in your pocket overall too.

Perks of Travel Nursing You May Not Know

But it’s important to remember that although travel nursing offers a wide range of financial perks, there are so many incredible non-monetary benefits to bravely taking on a travel position!

For example, travel nursing can make you an even better nurse by exposing you to various new learning experiences in and out of the hospital. Not only are you moving to a new city or state, but you are also gaining exposure to diverse patient populations and unique hospital environments. While many career nurses work within the same unit and specialty throughout their careers, travel nurses gain exposure to as many different environments as they desire!

New clinical experiences allow travel nurses increased opportunities to learn new skills and techniques. Travel nursing may even help you better understand how to provide the highest-quality patient care more efficiently.

Here are other travel nursing perks you may not know about yet:

• Exposure to different hospital procedures and protocols
• Meet new like-minded travel nurse friends
• Build professional relationships in different hospitals and other medical facilities
• Build a more diverse resume
• Gain independence and confidence in your abilities
• Learn how to be a better team player and problem-solver
• See new places and experience different cultures
• Move to a new area without the long-term commitment
• Get out of your comfort zone and avoid career stagnation

Travel nurses get to see the nursing profession through many lenses. Who knows — maybe after your next travel assignment, you’ll take your enhanced knowledge to other healthcare facilities and wow them with your nursing prowess!

Highest Paying Cities For Travel Nursing In 2023

Some of the highest-paying cities in the country for travel nursing include the “big” cities that might pop up in your mind immediately, such as San Jose and Oakland. But there are other high-paying cities that might surprise you! According to ZipRecruiter , the top 10 highest-paid cities for travel nursing in the U.S. are:

• San Jose, CA | Annual salary: $127,092
• Jackson, WY | Annual salary: $126,283
• Oakland, CA | Annual salary: $125,751
• Vallejo, CA | Annual salary: $123,565
• Hayward, CA | Annual salary: $123,059
• Seattle, WA | Annual salary: $122,916
• Truckee, CA | Annual salary: $122,222
• Santa Barbara, CA | Annual salary: $122,180
• Sunnyvale, CA | Annual salary: $121,535
• Vail, CO | Annual salary: $121,520

See what positions are available for your specialties.

Highest Paying States For Travel Nurses 2023

You should also be aware that there are many high-paying travel nursing states as well. It is important to remember that travel nurse pay often depends on the current demand for nurses in that area, and that can change from year to year. According to ZipRecruiter , the top 10 highest-paid states for travel nursing in the U.S. this year are:

• New York | Annual salary: $105,059
• Idaho | Annual salary: $102,108
• California | Annual salary: $100,282
• New Hampshire | Annual salary: $97,185
• Vermont | Annual salary: $96,117
• Maine | Annual salary: $94,805
• Hawaii | Annual salary: $93,457
• Massachusetts | Annual salary: $93,440
• Tennessee | Annual salary: $92,503
• Wyoming | Annual salary: $91,822

How You Can Make More Money As A Travel Nurse

In addition to choosing an assignment in a high-paying location and signing with a travel agency that offers competitive rates and extra-compensation packages, there are other ways that you can earn even higher pay. For example, you could take any of the following strategies to earn an even higher travel nursing salary:

• Get additional training for an in-demand specialty. The easiest way to get training for an in-demand specialty is to seek training at the hospital where you work as a career nurse before becoming a travel nurse. Once you start traveling, it may be harder to switch specialties.
• Sign up for rapid response posting. This is when a travel nursing agency will post a position that requires a very fast turnaround to begin work, similar to being “on-call” at a staffing position.
• Work in less popular places. A lot of travel nurses like to travel to the beach in summer, but there are other areas that need help, and facilities are often willing to incentivize.
• Consider working in a strike zone. It may not be a popular choice, but hospitals that are in the middle of a strike need staffing agencies to temporarily fill nursing positions, carrying a higher wage potential for you.

Travel Nurse Salary Examples

Your total travel nurse salary will include your base pay as a nurse (the hourly wage you receive for actually working as a nurse) as well as any additional stipend pay, which may be broken down hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly for a grand total of a “blended” pay.

As an example of how the blended pay might look, you can consider the following breakdown:

The specific compensation that you’ll receive as a travel nurse will be unique to you and will vary from contract to contract. If you have any questions regarding the pay for your contract, then ask your recruiter — you should have a complete understanding of your compensation before committing to a contract.

Travel Nurse Salary FAQs

The amount of money a travel nurse can make varies depending on several factors, including the specialty, location, part-time or full-time status, and years of experience. According to ZipRecruiter , as of February 2023, travel nurses earn a median salary of $105,818 annually or $51 an hour. However, they also report that some of the highest-earning travel nurses make as much as $185,000 every year!

Travel nursing is worth the money as long as your situation aligns with your needs, desires, and priorities. There are many perks to travel nursing, including higher pay, the opportunity to learn and grow in diverse healthcare environments, and the freedom to travel to new locations. However, some travel nurses may find travel nursing difficult. Travel nursing requires a level of bravery to move into the unknown, often alone. If you find that you have difficulty adapting to new environments or don’t want to live far from family and friends, travel nursing may not be the right choice for you.

Some nursing specialties, such as intensive care, emergency room, or operating room nursing, may have higher pay rates than others. ZipRecruiter reports that as of February 2023, some of the highest-paying travel nursing specialties include: – ICU nurse : $143,715 annually or $69/hr – Emergency room nurse : $148,531 annually or $71/hr – Operating room nurse : $181,783 annually or $87/hr Also, states and regions may offer higher pay rates if they have a greater demand for nurses at that time.

Yes! According to ZipRecruiter , as of February 2023, the median annual salary for travel nurses in the US is $118,400 or $57 per hour. The highest-paying travel nurses earn as much as $189,500 per year!

Travel nurses typically receive a base salary along with other benefits, which may include: – Stipends for housing, meal, and incidentals – Travel expense reimbursement to your new location – Reimbursement for scrubs, books, or nursing supplies – Bonuses (signing, referral, stay-on, or longevity) – Health, dental, vision, and medical insurance – 401k or other retirement options – Life insurance

Overall, travel nurse pay depends on the terms of their employment agreement. However, travel nurses can typically expect to receive various benefits and compensation packages, including housing accommodation , travel expenses, retirement benefits, medical insurance, and sometimes even certification and licensure reimbursements. In some cases, travel nurses may have to cover some of their own expenses. Or they may receive a stipend to offset their living expenses.

Travel nurses often get paid more than career nurses because they help healthcare facilities fill urgent staffing needs and maintain safe staffing levels to ensure the highest level of patient care. They’re also flexible and willing to work in a variety of locations and positions that staff nurses may not be willing to work. Hiring managers use higher pay rates, sign-on bonuses, and other incentives to attract more experienced nurses to travel to their location for a specified period of time.

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TravelNursing

Travel Nurse Salary: How Much Do They Make?

By Aaron Moore, MSN, RN-BC, travel nurse blogger

Money can be a huge driver for many to enter the field of travel nursing. Personally, I was more driven by the adventure of seeing new places, but I’ll admit that the money ain’t bad either! 

But what can you really expect as far as a travel nurse’s salary and overall compensation?

Dispelling 4 myths about your travel nurse salary

Here are some common misconceptions and myths about the salaries of travel nurses:

“I’m gonna get rich in travel nursing.”

You can earn a lot of money, certainly! But there truly is no average travel nurse pay.  Travel nursing jobs and salaries really vary. Most of my travel assignments did pay higher than most of my staff positions, especially when you include the free housing, daily allowances and reimbursements.

Your financial gains will depend on things like:

• Location of your travel nursing jobs, since salary rates vary by region
• Your nursing specialty
• Type of assignment; for instance, rapid response/critical staffing jobs often pay more
• Your flexibility regarding available assignments
• Your personal situation, such as if you travel alone, if you maintain a tax home, etc.

“This assignment pay is low; it won’t be worth it.”

Not necessarily, my friend. Many factors go into how much a travel nursing assignment pays and whether you might deem it worthwhile. 

Some places pay a lower travel nurse salary, but also have a lower cost of living, so you’ll be able to live well during your assignment and possibly stash money away for the future. (Remember: free housing, reimbursements, etc.)

RELATED : Where Do RNs Earn Top Dollar ?

You may also gain important skills for future nursing jobs that will raise your earning potential.

There may be other reasons to take a lower travel nurse salary, too, such as for a dream location. For years I wanted to get a travel job in Hawaii, hoping for a crazy island adventure.  I even interviewed for a few positions on the islands but thought the pay was too low. Now I wish I would have gone for it!  

“This travel nursing pay is super high, it must be a horrible place to work.”

Again, this one is a myth. I’ve had several high-paying travel RN jobs and most of them were great. 

Pay is often a result of demand/need, cost of living and some of the other factors mentioned above. 

My best paying travel nurse job was in Southern California working night shift. Off shifts, holiday seasons and weekend jobs typically offer a differential in pay, so be aware of this when shopping for your next travel gig.  

“Travel nurse contracts really limit your pay.”

Travel nurse salaries are set by contract, but there are several ways to earn more than just your hourly rate. Certain travel jobs offer sign-on bonuses, completion bonuses and extra money if you work a certain shift or days (such as every holiday during your assignment). Overtime pay is also a possibility. 

How much travel nurses make is usually a combination of taxable pay and nontaxable reimbursements, as well, so be sure you understand the ins and outs.

In fact, be sure to go over all the details about pay and benefits with your recruiter before accepting any travel nursing job. There are usually specifics that need to be followed to earn bonuses and such, so I’d hate to see anyone lose out on money because you didn’t understand the fine print. 

Again, there’s a lot of variation when it comes to travel nursing salaries, and factors like location, housing and career opportunity can all trump money in my book. 

You’ll need to weigh all these factors for yourself.  

READ MORE of Aaron’s travel nursing blogs or FIND ANSWERS to travel nursing questions with TravelNursing.com.

What is a Travel Nurse? Everything You Need to Know

How to become a travel nurse.

• State Licensing
• Agencies & Recruiters
• Certifications
• A Travel Nurse's Journey
• Final Thoughts

The world of nursing is not confined to traditional hospital settings. For those seeking excitement, flexibility, and diversity in their nursing careers, travel nursing presents a unique and rewarding opportunity.

This guide will discuss  travel nurse requirements , essential steps, qualities, and perks of becoming a travel nurse, offering valuable insights into this exhilarating profession.

Want to learn how to become a travel nurse ? The first step is obtaining the necessary education and licensure.

Aspiring nurses can choose to pursue an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited institution. Opting for a BSN opens doors to a broader range of job prospects, including prestigious healthcare systems and trauma centers.

After completing their nursing education, nurses must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to obtain their state nursing license, laying the foundation for their travel nursing journey.

As a travel nurse, certain certifications are commonly required and highly recommended to ensure the nurse’s readiness to handle various clinical situations and emergencies. The two critical certifications that travel nurses typically need are:

Basic Life Support (BLS): BLS certification by the American Heart Association is a fundamental requirement for all healthcare professionals. BLS training equips nurses with the skills to recognize and respond to life threatening emergencies such as cardiac arrest, choking, and respiratory distress.

Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS): ACLS certification by the American Heart Association is essential for nurses working in settings where they may encounter patients with cardiac issues or in critical care situations. ACLS skills build upon BLS skills and provide additional knowledge and techniques to manage cardiac arrest, stroke and other cardiovascular emergencies. 

Depending on your specialty and the requirements from the facility you wish to travel to, other certifications such as PALS, NRP, and Stable may be required, so be sure to ask your recruiter before applying to travel nursing positions. Additionally, it's important for nurses to keep their certifications up to date, as they typically require renewal every few years.

>> Related: What do Travel Nurses Do?

The most important element to becoming a travel nurse is experience. Most travel agencies and hospitals require nurses to have a minimum of two years of nursing experience prior to applying for travel nursing contracts.

>> Click here to see available high-paying travel nurse opportunities!

Navigating State Licensing as a Travel Nurse

Travel nurses frequently move between states, requiring them to research and understand each state's licensing requirements. Some states offer temporary "walk-through" licenses, enabling nurses to obtain short-term licenses swiftly. Familiarity with individual state licensing procedures and timelines is crucial for successful travel assignments.

Compact state licensure for travel nurses is a game-changer in the healthcare industry, streamlining the licensing process and making it easier for nurses to practice across state lines. By participating in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), qualified nurses can hold a single multi-state license, granting them the privilege to work in any other NLC state without the need for additional licenses. 

This simplification not only reduces bureaucratic barriers but also addresses the growing demand for healthcare professionals in various regions. Travel nurses can now embark on new assignments swiftly, providing crucial medical support where it's needed most, and ultimately enhancing patient care across the nation.

Key Attributes of a Travel Nurse

Effective travel nurses possess a unique set of qualities that enable them to excel in diverse healthcare settings. These attributes include:

Adaptability and flexibility : The ability to quickly adjust to new environments and handle various patient populations and healthcare systems

Strong communication skills: Effective communication is essential for collaborating with different healthcare teams, patients, and families

Problem-solving and critical thinking : Travel nurses encounter new challenges regularly, necessitating strong problem-solving skills and critical-thinking abilities

Compassion and empathy: A genuine love for patient care and empathy are vital in providing exceptional nursing services as a travel nurse.

Leadership abilities: Travel nurses should be comfortable assuming leadership roles when needed and confidently handling responsibilities

• Love for adventure: A spirit of adventure and a curiosity to explore new places and cultures is essential.

Benefits of Travel Nursing

Apart from competitive pay, travel nurses often enjoy an array of benefits:

Non-taxed stipends: Additional stipends for housing and living expenses on top of hourly rates if you qualify

Healthcare insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.

Retirement plans: 401K investment options for long-term financial planning

Bonuses: Sign-on, completion, and referral bonuses as incentives

Continuing education: Access to free courses for continuous professional development

License reimbursement: Support for renewing and maintaining licenses

Reliable pay: Weekly or bi-weekly pay schedules

Tax advantage plans: Tax-saving options for travel-related expenses

Insurance coverage: Coverage for life, liability, disability, and worker's compensation

Travel reimbursement to and from your assignment

Support: 24/7 support from the staffing agency. 

Travel Nurse Salary

The compensation for travel nurses varies significantly based on location, specialty, experience, and the chosen agency ZipRecruiter.com reports the national average for travel nurses is $118,400 per year.  While the pandemic and nursing shortage temporarily drove higher wages due to increased demand, these exceptional rates have not since been sustained post-pandemic. 

​​Travel Nurse Salary by State

Source: ZipRecruiter

Wages for travel nurses involve more than a straight hourly rate. They can receive non-taxed stipends for travel nurse housing and living expenses. Stipends are paid on top of the nurse’s hourly rate.  Other benefits for travel nurses, depending on the staffing agency,  include, 

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401K investment options
• Sign-on, completion, and referral bonuses
• Free continuing education courses
• License Reimbursement 
• Weekly/Bi-weekly Pay
• Tax Advantage Plan
• Life Insurance
• Liability Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Worker’s Compensation
• 24/7 Support

Additionally, you can increase your travel nurse salary through specialization or advancing your education. The average travel nurse practitioner salary is significantly higher than that of travel RNs.

What Are The Best Travel Nurse Agencies and How Do You Pick One?

Your travel nurse company and recruiter can make or break your experience, so this question should not be taken lightly. 

When you’re starting your travel nurse journey, one of the first steps you need to take is finding a travel nurse company and recruiter. This process might feel overwhelming because there are so many options out there. How do you know if you’ve found a good travel nurse company and a recruiter who has your best interest at heart?

When looking into travel nurse agencies, you should first make sure that they have these non-negotiables:

• A dedicated housing department of experts to help you find housing or do they give you a stipend to find your own housing
• Day 1 health, dental and vision insurance, and premium cost
• 401K that you can start contributing to immediately
• Travel reimbursement
• 24-hour customer support. Make sure to choose one with a clinical department that is available as a resource for you. 
• Have a variety and abundance of travel nursing jobs all over the country for your specialty.

Make sure to ask if they are Joint Commission credentialed. Agencies that obtain this certification must complete a strict qualification process, and it helps ensure that the company is upheld to the highest standards in the industry.

What to Look Out for When Working With Travel Nurse Recruiters

Travel nurse recruiters play a vital role in connecting nurses with suitable assignments. A skilled and honest recruiter advocates for the nurse's best interests, secures desirable contracts, and provides transparent and accurate information in a timely manner. 

Conversely, nurses should be cautious of unprofessional recruiters who submit them to assignments without consent or make false promises. In many cases, travel nurses build long-time friendships with their recruiters! You want to find a recruiter with whom you can connect quickly and establish a bond. They should be someone who helps put your mind at ease, has your back, and actively listens to what you want instead of pushing their agenda.

Don’t be scared to interview recruiters to find the right one. Working with a recruiter whose personality, values, and humor complement yours will make your travel nurse experience even more worthwhile.

We encourage you to work with travel nurse recruiters who have been vetted and highly recommended by fellow travel nurses or with our trusted partner, travelnursing.org.

Certifications for Travel Nurses

While there are no specific national nursing certifications for a Travel Nurse, having advanced RN certifications can make an individual look more desirable to hospitals. There are a plethora of nationally recognized certifications including, 

• CCCTM - Certified in Care, Coordination, and Transition Management
• CDN - Certified Dialysis Nurse
• CMSRN - Certified Medical Surgical Registered Nurse
• CNN - Certified Nephrology Nurse
• CNOR - Certified Nurse Operating Room
• CPAN - Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse

The most common certifications for travel nurses are,

• CPN - Certified Pediatric Nurse 
• CCRN - Certified Critical Care Nurse
• CEN - Certified Emergency Nurse

What Are the CEU Requirements for Travel Nurses?

Continuing education is essential for all registered nurses, including travel nurses, to maintain their active licenses. Each state has specific continuing education requirements that nurses must fulfill to remain compliant.

Examples of continuing education requirements for RNs are as follows: 

• Washington - 8 contact hours every year
• Texas - 20 contact hours every 2 years
• Florida - 24 contact hours every 2 years
• California - 30 hours every 2 years
• Hawaii - 30 contact hours every 2 years 
• Arkansas -20 contact hours every 2 years
• Florida -24 contact hours every 2 years
• Illinois - 20 contact hours every 2 years
• Iowa -36 contact hours every 2 years
• Pennsylvania -20 contact hours every 2 years

Some states do not require CEUs to maintain an RN license. Examples include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, and Maryland. Several states also require HIV/AIDS education such as New York, Minnesota, and Kentucky. It is important for nurses to check their state’s RN credentialing body for exact CEU requirements. 

Nurse.org has a comprehensive list of CEUs by state for RNs here .

Brandy Pinkerton's Journey to Becoming a Travel Nurse

Brandy Pinkerton shared with us why she decided to become a travel nurse and what her journey was like.

Why did I decide to become a travel nurse ? I was burned out in my staff job and needed to renew my passion for nursing. After finding a great company and a trustworthy recruiter, I embarked on my first assignment solo with my two doggies in tow and never looked back! 

Since pursuing a career as a travel nurse and completing over 15 assignments, I’ve had adventures in Florida , Colorado , Nevada , South Carolina , Texas , and Montana . Becoming a travel nurse was the best decision I could have made for myself! While I’m grateful I made the decision to become a travel nurse, I also know that there are a lot of logistics involved in getting started. I’ll tell you all there is to know about travel nursing, so that you can feel prepared to take the leap into this exciting, rewarding profession!

Here are a few things travel nursing has given me:

• A better compensation package with benefits. Because of this, I could pay most of my debt, and I no longer had to work two jobs. 
• More time off and flexibility with my schedule. You can imagine all the wonderful things that can happen when you have more time back.
• Experiences that I would never usually get to have. Through these experiences, I discovered what I like and some new hobbies.
• Less burnout – this is HUGE!
• New relationships and friendships all over the U.S.
• More confidence. I have grown both professionally & personally.
• The ability to build my resume. I’ve been able to try out so many hospitals and have great takeaways from them. Who knows? There are some I may go back to one day.

Final Thoughts on Travel Nursing

Becoming a travel nurse is a thrilling journey that promises adventure, personal growth, and unique experiences. From education and licensure to acquiring experience and embracing essential attributes, travel nurses embark on a profession that combines professionalism with exploration. With competitive salaries, a range of benefits, and the potential to make a meaningful impact on patients across various locations, travel nursing offers a gratifying and fulfilling career path like no other! 

Kathleen Gaines (nee Colduvell) is a nationally published writer turned Pediatric ICU nurse from Philadelphia with over 13 years of ICU experience. She has an extensive ICU background having formerly worked in the CICU and NICU at several major hospitals in the Philadelphia region. After earning her MSN in Education from Loyola University of New Orleans, she currently also teaches for several prominent Universities making sure the next generation is ready for the bedside. As a certified breastfeeding counselor and trauma certified nurse, she is always ready for the next nursing challenge.

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13 Pros and Cons of Being a Travel Nurse

So, if you have found yourself here, then you must be considering a career as a travel nurse. For starters, having a job as a travel nurse will enable you to see the country and all that it has to offer. This may sound like a dream to some people, but as with any job, you will find pros and cons, and travel nursing is no different. Mapping out the pros and cons of being a travel nurse can be a tedious endeavor, but rest assured I am here to help you out with that feat. If you keep reading below, you will find the top 13 pros and cons of being a travel nurse. This article will surely help you decide if this is the right career choice for you.

TOP CONS OF BEING A TRAVEL NURSE

1. you will always find yourself in an unfamiliar environment., 2. you will always be the new guy., 3. varying pay rates, 4. what do you do when your contract has ended, 5. not the best work assignments, 6. license issues, 7. floating, 8. your contract can be canceled., 9. you may not have your dream schedule., 10. you may become homesick., 11. where are you going to live, 12. your taxes could be a nightmare., 13. you may not have paid time off., top pros of being a travel nurse, 1. great pay., 2. you will have a tax-free living stipend., 3. you get the chance to travel., 4. you will make new friends., 5. you can avoid all the politics at work., 6. you will gain experience., 7. flexibility, 8. you can try before you dive all in., 9. travel nursing can be a networking event., 10. you can choose your adventure., 11. you will learn life skills., 12. job security, 13. reimbursement, the bottomline.

How to Calculate Travel Nursing Net Pay

Calculating net pay is an important step in comparing competing travel nursing pay packages and ultimately deciding whether or not to accept a particular travel nursing job. The importance of net pay is relatively unique to travel nursing. This is due largely to the fact that levels of tax-free compensation vary so greatly. However, there are other important factors to consider. Here we’ll discuss the factors that affect net pay and provide a strategy for calculating it.

What is net pay and how should it be calculated?

It’s important to define net pay because we want to make sure that we’re making apples-to-apples comparisons when comparing compensation packages. The standard and perhaps best approach is to focus on weekly net pay . Weekly net pay is the estimated net amount that will be deposited to the travel nurse’s account for working the contracted weekly hours. While this might seem really straightforward, you must be careful to clearly define the parameters.

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Remember, the pay package can be comprised of many variables. As a result, you may run in to some recruiters who factor in variables like travel stipends or medical benefit costs to their weekly net pay quotes. However, these variables are most likely not going to be paid on a weekly basis. Recruiters do this because they’re intent on portraying the full value of their compensation package.

While this may seem disingenuous, this approach is not without merit. Recruiters are concerned that a centralized focus on weekly net pay might overshadow some of the other compensation variables they’re offering. For example, they might be offering a much higher travel stipend than other agencies, or they might provide top-notch medical benefits that are more expensive than others, or they might be offering a completion bonus. This is why it’s so important to get your compensation quotes in writing. In doing so, you’ll be able to run equal calculations and make your own comparisons.

For our purposes here, we’re defining weekly net pay as only the amount of money that will be deposited to the travel nurse’s bank account for working the contracted hours. However, you must remember to consider all of the other variables when comparing the total value of competing pay packages.

Now that we’ve defined net pay, let’s take a basic look at how it’s calculated. First, we’re going to calculate the gross taxable wage per week. Next, we’re going to calculate the weekly taxes that will be paid on the gross taxable weekly wage and subtract the taxes from the gross weekly taxable wage. Finally, we’re going to add the remainder to the tax-free stipends to arrive at the final weekly net pay figure.

Sample Travel Nursing Pay Packages

Let’s begin with two sample pay packages so that we have something to refer to throughout our discussion.

The assignment is for 13 weeks at 36 regular hours per week for a total of 468 anticipated hours. The agency offers the following:

Taxable base rate: $20/hour

Tax-free housing stipend: $1900/month (paid weekly)

Tax-free M&IE stipend: $250/week

Taxable base rate: $15/hour

Tax-free housing stipend: $2100/month (paid weekly)

Tax-free M&IE stipend: $300/week

For the purpose of calculating weekly net pay, the first thing we have to do is breakdown the monthly housing stipend to a weekly figure. It’s highly recommended that you require your recruiter to perform this calculation for you in order to avoid any miscommunication. However, If the agency is portraying this figure properly, then you should be able to multiply the monthly figure by three and divide by 13 in order to arrive at the weekly calculation. Remember, three months is 13 weeks and there are 4.33 weeks in a month.  So we’re looking at $438.46 for Sample #1 and $484.62 for Sample #2.

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Our next step is to calculate the total weekly dollar for the tax-stipends. Essentially, we need to add the housing stipend to the M&IE stipend. For Sample #1 we’re looking at $438.46 (housing) + $250 (M&IE) for a total of $688.46 per week. For Sample #2 we’re looking at $484.62 (housing) + $300 (M&IE) for a total of $784.62 per week.

How to calculate the estimated taxes for travel nursing pay

Now we’re ready to calculate the taxes that will be taken out of the weekly pay check. We need two things to accomplish this. First, we need the gross weekly taxable wage. To calculate the gross weekly taxable wage we simply multiply the taxable base rate by the number of contracted weekly hours. For Sample #1 we’re looking at $20 * 36 hours for a total of $720 per week. For Sample #1 we’re looking at $15 * 36 hours for a total of $540 per week.

Next, we need to calculate the estimated taxes that will be paid on the weekly taxable income. To accomplish this, many recruiters and travel nurses will rely on a ball-park tax rate figure. For example, they might estimate that the tax burden will be 20%. They will then multiply the gross weekly taxable wage by 20% to determine the estimated tax burden. So for Sample #1 we’re looking at .2 * $720 = $144.

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This approach is not recommended for two reasons. First, taxes are progressive. This means that the more money you make, the higher your tax rate is and vice-versa. Second, states have substantially different state tax rates. Both of these issues can throw your calculations off significantly.

Using an online paycheck calculator is a much better alternative. The most popular online paycheck calculator is found at paycheckcity.com . From their homepage menu you can select Calculator, then Standard, then Hourly Paycheck. Enter the information as applicable and select Calculate at the bottom of the calculator. It will provide a much more accurate estimate of your tax burden.

Below are images of our results for Sample #1 and Sample #2. You can see that we’ve selected Arizona as the state and you can also see the other parameters we used for our tax status. Yours maybe different than what we’ve selected so be sure to enter parameters that are unique to your situation. This is part of the beauty of paycheck calculators.

Paycheck Calculation for Sample #1

Paycheck Calculation for Sample #2

Calculating net pay

As mentioned above, we simply subtract the estimated weekly taxes from the weekly taxable wage and add the remainder to the total weekly tax-free stipends to calculate weekly net pay for a contract. For Sample #1 we’re looking at $720 – $167.59 = $552.41 + $688.46 = $1240.87 net weekly pay. For Sample #2 we’re looking at $540 – $121.96 = $418.04 + $784.62 = $1202.66 net weekly pay.

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As you can see, Sample #1 offers the higher net pay. However, you must still remember to account for the all of the remaining compensation variables when determining which contract offers the better deal.

Related posts:

• Travel Nursing Pay – Qualifying for Tax-Free Stipends and Tax Deductions: Part 2: Maintaining Temporary Status In our previous blog post we laid out the criteria under...
• Travel Nursing Pay: Flexible vs. Rigid If you’ve discussed travel nursing pay with multiple agencies, then...
• 5 Reasons Travel Nursing Pay Quotes Can Be Wrong Pay is among the most important variables that travel nurses...

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How Much Money Can a Traveling Nurse Anesthetist Make? A CRNA Travel Nurse Salary Breakdown

by Trusted Nurse Staffing | Jan 22, 2024 | News

Are you a nurse anesthetist and curious about what a travel nurse anesthetist’s salary looks like? 

Maybe you’ve been in the field for a while and are looking for a change of scenery but aren’t sure if it’s worth it. How much do travel CRNAs make?

We understand that although enjoying your job is a significant concern, so is your salary — and searching the internet for the information you need can feel redundant and time-consuming. 

In this article, you’ll find everything from:

• Information about how to negotiate your salary
• Factors that may affect your paycheck; and 
• Where nurse anesthetists make the highest salary

Once you’re armed with these facts, you’ll be able to search for the best possible travel nursing positions and hit the road for the adventure of a lifetime.

Table of Contents

Crna travel nurse salary: do travel crnas make more than staff crnas, negotiating your crna travel nurse salary.

• How Much Does a Travel Nurse Anesthetist Make?

Does Experience Affect a Travel Nurse Anesthetist’s Salary?

Stipends that can increase your crna travel nurse salary, 5 factors that can affect travel nurse anesthetist salaries, interested in a traveling crna position trusted nurse staffing can place you in an amazing assignment.

Nurse anesthetists often make some of the highest wages in the industry — averaging six figures per year for an entry-level position — due to the specialized nature of the job and the specialized education required. But travel Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) can make even more than an average staff CRNA since they: 

• Are used in high-demand situations
• Cover short-staffed shifts; and
• Are utilized during busy seasons

Because CRNAs are in such high demand throughout the country, you may be able to have more flexibility and negotiate your contract and salary as a traveling CRNA. 

Did you know that failing to negotiate your salary could cost you up to $750,000 over the course of your career? 

Many CRNAs don’t realize, especially starting out as a travel nurse, that they can negotiate the pay they receive with the hospital or organization they will be with. 

At Trusted Nurse Staffing, we pride ourselves on providing our nurses with the highest wages in the industry — and it’s because our team knows the ins and outs of negotiating salaries. 

But what should be taken into consideration when negotiating wages? 

In the following sections, we’ll look at a few vital considerations that each of our staff members use to help boost your travel nurse wages.

Know Your Value

Negotiating your salary starts with knowing your value as a CRNA and as an employee . 

When working with one of our experienced recruiters, you’ll be asked about your: 

• Certifications 

At Trusted Nurse Staffing, our recruiters want to help you make sure your resume is properly set up so that what you have to offer is put on display during interviews, including your:

• Qualifications
• Skills; and

Cover Your Real Travel Expenses

Oftentimes, agencies have a maximum amount they can spend to help cover your travel expenses — but they may not be offering that maximum amount .

Do your research and don’t be afraid to come to your agency with an explanation of how much you’ll be paying to take on the contracted position. 

When determining your travel costs, don’t forget to consider: 

If you know your travel will cost more out-of-pocket than that maximum number, you can try to negotiate for more so you’re not paying out of pocket to take a job. 

A quality travel nursing agency like Trusted Nurse Staffing will provide you with a multitude of stipends to help cover these costs. 

We’ll touch on these stipends later, but it’s important to know that these do exist when looking into how much traveling nurse anesthetists make. 

How Much Does a Travel CRNA Make?

A travel CRNA in the United States makes an average of $203,090 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics   — but the average travel CRNA pay varies greatly. 

This variation in pay could be due to several things, including:  

• Skill level
• Years of experience 
• Opportunities for advancement

What Is the Highest Pay for a Travel CRNA?

According to ZipRecruiter , the highest-paid travel CRNAs currently make around $399,000 per year. You can assume these salaries go to individuals with the highest education levels and most experience in the field.

Remember that travel nursing also involves stipends, bonuses, and loyalty programs — so you could end up earning even more than your reported salary when you take a travel CRNA job.

Yes, experience does play a role in a CRNA travel nurse’s salary. 

This may fall under both educational and professional experience. 

If you are new to the field and looking for professional experience, you may be able to see a salary increase by gaining experience in an anesthesia department and taking on an administrative role. 

Education plays a major part not only in the job offers you receive but in your salary, too.

The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists recently changed the degree requirements for this job from a master’s degree to a doctorate. 

This means that by 2025, to practice in healthcare systems, nurse anesthetists must hold a:

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
• Doctor of Education (EdD); or
• Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

But that’s good news for CRNAs looking for a pay increase!  

CRNAs (and other advanced practice nurses) who already hold a doctorate can earn up to $10,000 more annually than those with a master’s degree.

Stipends are considered reimbursements, not income.

This means they are not taxable income and must be used toward your: 

• Housing; and 
• Incidentals 

Stipends are something that CRNAs should keep in mind when looking at the salary they may receive since they play a large role in how comfortably you’ll be able to live during your contract. 

Often tied together as “travel stipends,” these include two major things: 

• Meal and Incidental Stipends

Travel CRNAs working for an agency may be paid a set amount for meals every day as well as incidental costs (i.e. baggage fees, rideshare/taxi fares, etc.).

• Housing Stipends

There are typically two ways travel nurses pay for housing:

• Agency-provided housing – This is where the agency will find short-term accommodations or long-term leases for you. 
• Housing stipends – You receive a specific amount of money to pay for housing based on your contract but are responsible for finding your own lodging. 

#1: Location

Location plays a major role in a travel nurse anesthetist’s salary — where there is more demand, there tends to be more money. 

According to ZipRecruiter , the following states have the highest average travel nurse anesthetist salaries:

• Washington – $299,404
• Colorado – $298,597
• Delaware – $279,208
• Virginia – $274,564
• New York – $272,487
• Maryland – $270, 254
• Vermont – $266,696
• Nebraska – $264,051
• Missouri – $263,560
• South Carolina – $261,519

Just keep in mind that although the salary may be high, the location may not be the best travel nursing assignment for your specific wants or needs. Or the cost of living may be more than you’re used to in a particular area.

Do your research and find the best balance of high pay and overall amenities to earn the CRNA travel nurse salary you’re looking for. 

#2: Type of Shift

Generally, CRNAs who choose a shift that may be considered inconvenient may see higher salaries — these inconvenient shifts usually involve nights, weekends, or holidays. 

Nurses who are willing to work overtime, holidays, or when a facility is short-staffed may even receive incentive pay from their employer on top of overtime and their hourly rate.

#3: Crisis Assignments

Crisis assignments are known to increase CRNA travel nurse salaries because of the nature of the contracted assignment. 

Typically, if an agency is looking for a crisis CRNA, the pay will be higher due to: 

• Quick arrival
• Little to no training at the new facility
• No choice in location; and 
• Shorter contract lengths 

If you are offered a travel CRNA crisis position, be sure to talk with your recruiter about how the job will affect your salary and what stipends will be available. 

#4: Continuing Education

As we mentioned earlier, education can play a very large role in the salary you receive. Aside from minimum education requirements, additional certifications and licenses may help you increase your salary as a CRNA. 

Oftentimes, CRNAs who have training in certain sub-specialties are more likely to see an increase in their annual salary. These include:

• Plastic surgery
• Cardiovascular; and
• Neurosurgical anesthesia

Generally speaking, the more qualifications and education you have as a traveling CRNA, the more desirable you are to medical facilities. 

#5: Workplace

When you begin your travel CRNA job search, if your CRNA travel nurse salary is a top concern, be sure to carefully consider the types of workplaces you’re willing to work for. 

The kind of facility you choose can greatly affect your salary. For instance, the following types of facilities tend to have the highest potential salaries for travel CRNAs:

• Outpatient care facilities
• Home health care services
• Government-contracted CRNA workplaces; and 
• Medical-surgical hospitals 

Searching for the perfect travel CRNA position? 

Unsure of how to negotiate a contract, or what steps to take after you’ve applied to a position?

The steps to finding the position you want most can be overwhelming and exhausting. This is why Trusted Nurse Staffing is here to help. 

Our experienced recruiters will do all the hard work for you — so you can keep doing what you were born to do: helping your patients. 

Trusted Nurse Staffing makes it easy to find CRNA travel nursing jobs wherever you want to go with our Pronto job search. You’ll be able to upload your credentials, set your preferred job filters, and start applying for jobs all in one place!

When you create a profile on Pronto, our team will be able to help by: 

• Analyzing your education and experience to help you create a resume that is tailored specifically to the position you want 
• Connecting you with your top facility choices  
• Arranging interviews
• Consulting with you on all offer details, so you understand exactly what you are signing up for
• Negotiating contracts and assignments
• Helping choose and plan your next adventure — or assisting in extending your current assignment
• Becoming your go-to 24/7 team for any questions or concerns you have during every contract — even if you just need some moral support

But the benefits don’t stop there. 

Our travel nurses receive: 

• The highest pay rates in the industry
• Stellar 401(k) plans
• Flexible contracts 
• Overtime/Double time 
• License, Certifications, and CEU reimbursements
• Customized benefits packages 
• Sign-on and completion bonuses

Are you ready to start your journey while earning a top CRNA travel nurse salary? 

Contact Trusted Nurse Staffing today! 

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Travel nurses took high-paying jobs during Covid. But then their pay was slashed, sometimes in half.

In early 2022, Jordyn Bashford thought things were as good as they could be for a nurse amid the Covid pandemic.

A few months earlier, she had signed an agreement with a travel nurse agency called Aya Healthcare and left Canada to work at a hospital in Vancouver, Washington.

Before the end of her first shift at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, she said she realized other travel nurses there were earning even more than she was and asked for more money. Aya quickly amended her agreement and raised her hourly pay from $57 to $96. 

In January, her rate increased again to $105 as part of a new agreement. She thought that the high pay — and a generous living stipend of nearly $1,300 per month — meant she and her fiancé could finally make plans to buy a house. 

But two months later, when her assignment was renewed, Aya slashed her hourly pay back down to $56, and then cut it still more to $43.80 — less than her initial rate.

“I do know that travel nursing is fluid, and you can lose your job at any time, but I wasn’t expecting [my hourly pay] to fall 50%,” Bashford said.

The boom in travel nursing during Covid exposed a practice that has existed since the industry’s birth 50 years ago, according to experts. Nurses attracted by talk of high wages found themselves far from home with their salaries slashed at renewal time, and only then grasped the wiggle room in their signed contracts, which were really “at-will” work agreements. But the sheer number of nurses working travel jobs, and the difference between what they thought was promised and what they pocketed, has led to a substantial legal pushback by travel nurses around the country on the issue. 

This summer, Stueve Siegel Hanson, a Kansas City, Missouri, law firm, filed class-action lawsuits against four travel nurse agencies: Aya, Maxim, NuWest and Cross Country. As of Dec. 27, all were still pending. Austin Moore, the lead attorney, said the suits allege the companies pulled a “bait-and-switch,” offering nurses agreements at high rates and then slashing their pay after they’ve signed. Many of the alleged incidents occurred in March and April when, as NBC News has previously reported, the demand for travel nurses, which soared during the pandemic, began to drop.

“To go take a travel assignment is a really big deal, and to get there to have the rug pulled out from under you, for someone to collapse your pay, I just think it’s unconscionable,” Moore said. “They’re on the hook for a lease, and they’re scrambling trying to find another job, and it’s a really terrible set of circumstances.”

Maxim, Cross Country and NuWest said they could not comment on pending litigation.

In a statement, Aya said allegations of bait-and-switch “are demonstrably false. ”

“ Travel nurse companies contract with hospitals to provide temporary staffing to help them support their communities. Nurses are the heart of healthcare and we value the nurses who work for Aya, and go above and beyond to ensure they have an exceptional experience with us.”

“As is evidenced by Ms. Bashford’s employment with Aya," the statement said, "nurses also received mid-assignment pay increases at various times during the pandemic. Further, we understand when the government reduced subsidies to hospitals following the height of the pandemic, they in turn reduced pay to travel nurses.” 

$5,000 per week

Even in the industry’s earliest days, the 1970s, nurses could find themselves earning less than they expected. Advertisements touted an hourly rate of $8 to $11, but many nurses wound up making less than $6, according to Pan Travelers, a professional association of travel nurses.

Back then, there were no written agreements for the travel nurses, according to Pan Travelers. That began to change in the mid-1980s. At the same time, the number of agencies multiplied, fed by the hefty commissions that hospitals paid them.

Travel nursing became even more prevalent during Covid. Prior to the pandemic, there had already been a growing shortage of nurses nationwide, and the virus made the shortage worse. Agencies started offering nurses work agreements and renewals that extended far beyond the typical 13 weeks, according to six nurses who spoke to NBC News.

In January 2020, right before the pandemic, there were about 50,000 travel nurses nationwide, or about 1.5% of the nation’s registered nurses, according to Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), an industry research firm. That number doubled to at least 100,000 as Covid spread, but according to SIA, the actual number at the peak of the pandemic may have been much higher. 

When the pandemic was at its worst, some travel nurses were earning $5,000 or more weekly,  as NBC News previously reported .

Erin Detzel never earned that much. But in November 2021, at $78 per hour, she said the money was enough to get her to move with her husband and two kids to Florida for her first-ever travel assignment.

Detzel’s 4-month-old daughter had respiratory distress syndrome and had also been hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. That Detzel’s mother-in-law was in Florida was another inducement to move.

“We needed help,” Detzel said. “I didn’t want to put my baby in day care, so that’s kind of why we did this. My mother-in-law’s the only family member that could watch them.”

Detzel rented a house. But by February, after her first 13-week contract, Covid hospitalizations had waned and the demand for travel nurses had fallen. Her hourly pay was decreased to $62. Then it dropped again, to $32.50.

Travel nurses are typically hired by recruiters via phone calls or posts on social media and in online forums, and according to the 11 nurses NBC News spoke to around the country, the recruiters often use words like “contract.” All but one said it’s the norm for the recruiter to name a price.

Bashford said she found her recruiter through an online travel nursing forum. She said she sought out Aya’s job postings, with advertised payment amounts, on its website after a recruiter started corresponding with her.

Detzel said she agreed to go on an initial 13-week assignment from AB Staffing, an agency that is not named in the lawsuits, after a recruiter cold-called her and told her what she’d be making.

In a sample of four recruiting posts in a nursing Facebook group from 2022 from three of the agencies that are being sued, two from Maxim and Cross Country used the word contract, while two from Maxim and NuWest didn’t. The posts gave specific terms for how long the nurses were needed, as well as pay, hours, and room-and-board stipend. The two that mentioned contracts, however, used that word generally or in connection with the duration of the job, not the rate of pay. There were no Aya recruiting posts in the forum in the timespan sampled.

In the travel nurse industry, hospitals have the leverage to push the agencies for pay cuts when their demand dips, said Robert Longyear, vice president of digital health and innovation at Wanderly, a health care technology firm for staffing.

Hospitals and agencies have written agreements that allow for fluctuation, Longyear said. On top of the nurse’s agreed salary, the hospitals are also paying the agencies commissions that can reach  40% , according to a spokesperson for the  American Health Care Association , which represents long-term care providers.

Given the costs, when there are fewer patients, or less demand, hospitals will go back to travel agencies and tell them they’re exercising their option to decrease nurses’ pay, and then agencies will tell the nurses their pay has been reduced. 

The recruiters were the first to deliver the news about pay cuts to Bashford and Detzel. 

Bashford said she got the news about her second cut the same way. “I received a text from my recruiter saying, you know, your rate got decreased even lower,” she recalled.

If a nurse balks, Longyear said, “The agency can say, ‘Hey, look, I’m going to cancel this job. If you want to keep working, this is the new rate.’”  

He said this is a long-established practice, but that the pay cuts are just more noticeable now that travel nurses are promised more and paid more. And he said that because so many nurses are pursuing more lucrative assignments, it might be more common for agencies to start someone off high and then slash their pay mid-assignment.

When a travel nurse takes a job, the contract the nurse signs is an “at-will” work agreement.

NBC News reviewed Detzel’s AB Staffing work agreement, Aya agreements for three nurses, including Bashford’s, as well as versions of Cross Country and NuWest work agreements and the August 2021 Cross Country terms and conditions handbook. All mention the adjustable nature of work conditions. Cross Country and Aya explicitly mention “at-will” employment, which means an employer may terminate, and an employee may leave, a position at any time. The NuWest agreement explains the employee can be terminated at any time without saying “at-will.”

Bashford received emails saying, “Congratulations! Your contract was extended” from her recruiter each time she was approved for another 13 weeks, but she also had to sign new agreements with changed rates, including the cut to $43.80.

Moore, who is representing the nurses, said, “I doubt a nurse has ever successfully negotiated [the at-will provisions of] one of these contracts. They are form agreements and the agencies don’t change their terms.”

Richard Brooks, a visiting professor at Yale Law School, said some courts might view a company presenting the option ​between a sudden pay decrease or termination as within the realm of legality ​for at-will employment, depending on state contract laws. 

Brooks and other legal experts said the nurses still have some avenues of redress to pursue, however.

Sachin Pandya, a law professor at University of Connecticut School of Law, said that an at-will clause affects “the probability that the employer can change terms and conditions without violating state contract law.” He said the clause might not matter for legal claims that, by their change in pay, the employer violated some other source of law like fraud or wage-and-hour statutes. 

Avery Katz, a professor at Columbia Law School, adds that the language in a contract “is not the end of the story.”

“Even if there’s a contract, even if the contract says I have no right to recover, you made me these promises,” Katz said. “And then I relied on them by picking up and moving to another state and renting an apartment.”

Aya said that Bashford’s experience shows that nurses are able to negotiate the terms of their employment, and that “the harmful gist of [Bashford’s] accusations — that the company greatly lowered her pay below what she reasonably expected from the outset — is simply not true.” 

‘You can’t afford to lose me’

Jordyn Bashford and Erin Detzel are both former travel nurses now.

Detzel moved her family back to Ohio. She said the hospital and travel agency treated her like the equipment in hospital stockrooms. “It’s almost like I was a supply,” she said.

AB Staffing did not respond to a request for comment.

Bashford, now a staff nurse at a different hospital in Washington, recalls bonding with her teammates during the most challenging days of the pandemic, but also the long hours and how she was effectively training newcomers on the job. With six years of nursing experience, two of them in the ICU, she said she was one of the most experienced nurses on her floor some days, which she found shocking. 

But what most bothered her, like Detzel, was being made to feel disposable.

“The part that really just blew me away was like, ‘You can’t afford to lose me,’” Bashford said, referring to the ongoing national shortage of nurses. “That just felt very, very true. And somehow they thought that they could just dispose of us, and I don’t understand.”

Jean Lee is an associate reporter with NBC News’ Social Newsgathering team in Los Angeles. She previously reported for the NBC News consumer investigative unit.

Are school nurse jobs in jeopardy? As pandemic relief expires, some are worried

The american academy of pediatrics says every school should have a full-time nurse. districts still have a long way to go, and now crucial federal funding is expiring..

School nurses are increasingly anxious their workloads might expand – or their jobs may disappear entirely – when federal pandemic relief funds for U.S. schools expire by the end of the year.

School districts have until the end of September to allocate what remains of the billions of dollars in coronavirus relief Congress sent their way in separate tranches during the pandemic, the Education Department has said. 

That deadline has prompted warnings from education advocates about looming budget shortfalls nationwide. The imminent fiscal cliff could have “ severe implications ” for students, including teacher layoffs and school closures, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

Though U.S. schools have long faced a shortage of nurses, the disparity eased slightly when the federal government approved Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funding, which many districts used to hire nurses. With access to those federal coffers closing, some school leaders are scrambling to find the money elsewhere to retain nurses. Districts in Oregon and Oklahoma have reportedly considered layoffs. At a city budget hearing last week, New York City education department officials warned that roughly $65 million in federal funding for about 400 school nurses is set to expire.

“We’re grateful to the stimulus funding that has allowed us to ensure every school has a school nurse on site,” Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for NYC public schools, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “And we will continue to advocate for and prioritize this need through the budget process.”

Kate King, a school nurse in Ohio and the president of the National Association of School Nurses, said that while it’s tough to pin down how many nurse salaries come from pandemic relief money, she has been hearing from nurses in districts across the country who are worried about what’s to come. 

“When districts started hiring during the pandemic, what they realized is how valuable school nurses are in a school building,” she said. “Unfortunately, when they hired nurses with ESSER funds, there was no thought of sustainability in those positions.” 

Nursing shortage, explained: The school nurse is often still out as kids' health problems like suicide, allergies soar

Pandemic eased the school nurse shortage 

About two-thirds of public schools have a full-time nurse, according to the latest survey data from the school nurses’ association. While that number is higher than some estimates of pre-pandemic staffing, it’s still below national standards. In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics officially recommended schools have at least one full-time nurse.

“Every school should have a full-time nurse,” said Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst with the nonprofit group Advocates for Children of New York. “That was true before the pandemic. It’s still true.” Part's group has urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to find money elsewhere in the budget to keep the nurses being paid with federal dollars.

The fact that federal funding is running out doesn't mean students' health needs have lessened. If anything, they have expanded in recent years, said Robin Cogan, who has worked as a New Jersey school nurse for more than two decades .

"It is very disheartening for school nurses who have spent years and years devoted to school health to be losing their jobs in this way," Cogan said. "It is so preventable.”

In rural areas, public school districts are disproportionately underresourced – only about 56% employ full-time nurses, compared to approximately 70% of urban schools, the school nurses' association says. Roughly 6% of schools nationwide don’t have any nurses on campus.

Read more: School districts address nurse shortage in creative ways

Chronic absenteeism and school nurses

The threat to school nursing jobs comes as chronic absenteeism – a problem nurses may be uniquely positioned to address – continues to grip American schools.

Research shows the number of students who miss at least 10% of the school year jumped by about 6.5 million between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years. Last week, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona acknowledged the problem and said the Biden administration is working on new resources to reduce absences. 

Chronic absenteeism has run rampant. Here's what the Biden administration is doing about it.

A study published last year in The Journal of School Nursing suggests school nurses often play a crucial role in keeping students at school. According to the study, students who routinely miss part of the school day often interact regularly with their nurse. Those close relationships give nurses the opportunity to intervene and curb absenteeism before it becomes chronic.

Leaders in districts like New York City should keep those findings in mind when they consider budget cuts, said Knoo Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri’s nursing school and one of the authors of the research. 

“School nurses can really help out,” he said. “A lot of schools are just missing that.” 

Zachary Schermele covers education and breaking news for   USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele .

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SF public-sector nurses reach tentative deal, averting strike

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Public sector nurses across San Francisco reached a tentative agreement with the city’s Department of Public Health today, avoiding the possibility of a strike in the summer. That came just days after members of the union representing the nurses, SEIU 1021, voted 99.5 percent to authorize a strike if their demands were not met.

Nurses have been protesting short staffing and security concerns for months, and were seeking salary guarantees and assurances from the city that it would prioritize hiring full-time positions, instead of filling gaps with travel nurses. The nurses’ contract was set to expire at the end of June. 

Jennifer Esteen, president of San Francisco’s SEIU 1021 registered nurse chapter, said that the lack of personnel had created both a poor working environment for the nurses and unsafe conditions for patients.

“Some of the patients who walk into our clinics are waiting weeks to see a doctor,” said Esteen. She said some nurses are required to work up to 16-hour mandatory overtime to address short-staffing. “Every single patient who walks in our doors is at risk.” 

Esteen said the long hours create a dangerous environment; nurses do not even have time to take a bathroom break, she said. “It is pretty bad. We don’t have enough nurses to assure everyone is safe.”

Esteen said that contract negotiations, which started in February, began moving more quickly after the strike vote. The nurses’ union had earlier said that the city was not coming to the table to begin talks, and had rejected the union’s measures out of hand.

In a statement shared to Mission Local on Thursday May 23, the mayor’s office celebrated the agreement.

“ We’re pleased that we’ve reached tentative agreements with all the labor unions that had open contracts. A lot of hard work has gone into these negotiations, particularly over the last several weeks, and we look forward to these agreements being fully ratified. These agreements will ensure our workforce can continue to deliver the critical City services our residents rely on.” 

The tentative agreement will guarantee 47 new full-time registered nurse positions at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital and community clinics, more opportunities for part-time nurses to become full-time, and a 17.5 percent raise for every nurse who works for the city to be applied over the next three years. Esteen said the union will also receive raw data from the city that will allow it to analyze how many hours nurses are working to better address staffing needs in the future.

Esteen said the raises will help bridge the gap between city-employed nurses and those in the private sector.

“In the region, we were, on average, underpaid by 13 percent,” she said. “By being able to compete with private companies like Kaiser, the city will be able to retain staff.” 

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Oscar palma.

Oscar is a reporter with interest in environmental and community journalism, and how these may intersect. Some of his personal interests are bicycles, film, and both Latin American literature and punk. Oscar's work has previously appeared in KQED, The Frisc, El Tecolote, and Golden Gate Xpress.

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Been protesting short staffing for months? For years! As a retired RN for the SFGH for thirty five years safe staffing has been the core problem. Stacks and stacks of documented ‘assignment despite objection’ (taking unsafe assignments mostly due to short staffing) forms filled out and presented to BOS prior to covid just from one department. Years of threatening to strike not for money but for safe staffing levels as the main motivator. It’s a patient safety problem and a nurse mental heath problem and I’m convinced that the bean counters at the County are constantly weighing the amount of medical lawsuit payouts vs salary payouts. No regard for patient safety, patient satisfaction, mandatory overtime, nurse burnout, poor morale, recruitment ( that systematically takes many, many months) and retention. The City and County of SF has always bargained in bad faith. Always. Hero healthcare workers during COVID who risked their lives….empty words. National Nurses Week gets you a scoop of ice cream if your lucky enough to run off with coverage for five minutes to get one.

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• Mon. May 27th, 2024

Singaporeans debate the choice of being unmarried and childless in Singapore

By Yoko Nicole

SINGAPORE: A group of middle-aged Singaporeans recently engaged in a lively debate on Reddit about being childless and unmarried in today’s society.

The discussion began after a woman in her 40s bravely admitted that she still doesn’t have a husband or child at her age. “I always thought I’d have a future with someone special by now. But things didn’t turn out as planned,” she expressed.

While she had come to terms with this reality, she said it was still hard not to feel pressured by societal expectations.

“I’m of Indian and Eurasian ancestry, and our communities here [in Singapore] are quite small. This makes the peer pressure even more intense.

It feels like everyone knows everyone else’s business, and there’s this unspoken expectation to hit certain life milestones,” she wrote. “….it’s tough being surrounded by people who think that getting married and having kids is the epitome of success.”

She also noticed that some of her friends, who are also single and unmarried like her, seemed to be living unexciting lives, making her question whether starting a family was the norm.

Some middle-aged Singaporeans say they’re happy to be single and free

In the comments section, a diverse group of Singaporeans, from individuals in their late 30s to those in their 50s, told the woman that they’re perfectly “happy to be single and free.” 

They stated that this path was far better than going through divorce or staying in unhappy marriages with abusive or insensitive partners.

They advised her not to worry about society’s thoughts and reminded her that being single can be just as awesome as being in a committed relationship.

They also cautioned against spending too much time comparing oneself to others on social media, as it can lead to feelings of envy and disappointment.

They emphasized that social media often presents a filtered version of reality and is not an accurate reflection of life.

Moreover, some married individuals even shared their own experiences, confirming that they, too, sometimes feel trapped in mundane and repetitive routines, solely focused on taking care of their children and spouse.

Instead of getting caught up in all the noise, they suggested that she should focus on what truly matters: herself and her freedom to pursue anything she desires. 

“You only have one life, live it in your own terms and live it to your fullest. Go pick up a hobby. Learn new things. Travel solo. Read. Do volunteer work,” said one individual.

“The pros of being single mean you don’t have to take care of other people, can control your own finances, and can do what you want e.g. go on sabbatical, take up a random hobby without anyone’s opinion,” said another.

Other Singaporeans fear growing old and lonely in the future

Still, others went against the grain and expressed their desire to conform to society and build a family. 

They stated that they fear growing old and lonely in the future. One individual even posed a question to the majority who wished to remain single:

“What if an accident happens and you’re incapacitated in old age? How do you deal with such thoughts and fears?”

Another added, “What happens if you’re sick and there’s no one to take care of you—no family, no friends, no one to come see you… What do you all do? Rely on hospitals and old folks homes?”

A few also said that without a family, they felt like their lives were meaningless. As such, even though they’re now in their 40s, they still haven’t given up on dating.

Similarly, a man took to social media earlier this year to share that his well-paying job and flexibility to work anywhere are meaningless without a partner or family.

“I don’t feel like I’m working towards anything purposeful in life. Promotion? Salaries? So what? After a certain point everything feels so meaningless.”

Read more: Man says his well-paying job and flexibility to work anywhere are meaningless without a partner or family

Featured image by Depositphotos

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Lilley: shooting at jewish school and hamas propaganda in the streets, lilley: trudeau liberals making moves to cheapen canadian citizenship, pro-palestinian protesters say don't expect cops to clear u of t encampment monday, ontario ltc nurses get 11.5 per cent pay increase over two years.

Their union calls it the most significant wage increase in more than 30 years

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Nurses in the majority of long-term care homes in Ontario are set to get what their union is calling the most significant wage increase in more than 30 years.

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Ontario LTC nurses get 11.5 per cent pay increase over two years Back to video

An arbitration decision released this week gives pay bumps to the Ontario Nurses’ Association members that work out to about 11.5 per cent over two years.

The arbitrator awarded three-per-cent increases in each of the two years, and set the salary grid amounts about 5.5 per cent higher, taking effect on July 1.

The starting wage for registered nurses in the long-term care homes goes from $32.22 per hour to $33.99, while the top, eight-year rate goes from $48.78 to $51.46.

ONA also represents nurse practitioners, registered practical nurses, personal support workers, health-care aides and guest attendants in some of the homes.

President Erin Ariss says the decision is a first step toward recognizing the highly skilled work performed by nurses and health professionals in the sector.

“While the decision does not eliminate the wage gap between public- and private-sector nurses, it significantly reduces the disparity between them and brings us closer to equal wages,” she wrote in a statement.

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