Is travel healthcare worth it? There are many perspectives to this question. You have the perspective of a traveling healthcare worker, the hospitals and clinics, the full time staff, and the patients. Do you remember when Covid hit our country in a mass wave? Who can forget it? Healthcare professionals struggled to stay afloat. How many retired nurses and doctors come out of retirement just to pull their sleeves up to help assist in saving lives? Think about how many people died during that pandemic. Healthcare workers met their fate too. We still today have a shortage of medical professionals. As a healthcare worker traveling today, I can say without a shadow of doubt it is absolutely worth it. I couldn’t imagine not having it. Let’s dive into this.
The Traveling Healthcare Worker.
Working in healthcare is the most important job to care for the community, city, state, and/or country. Without healthcare, needs of the human being would not be met. Sickness derives from many sources and avenues with more and more on the rise. Every day is a learning experience for the healthcare worker. We never stop learning. There is always a new unique challenge in our everyday life that we must figure out how to overcome. Covid tested all of us. With the pandemic, we all learned how to adapt and how to come out strong. Traveling healthcare workers woke to mass numbers during covid because there was a significant need for us to all pull together to try to save as many lives as we could. Yes, it is imperative to have the traveling healthcare workers. Whether it is a virus, pandemic, or just a staff walk out, …without traveling healthcare workers there would be no one to help your local hospital. Sometimes the job can be dangerous. However, I don’t think you will hear too many healthcare workers say no when it is time to step in and help.
Hospitals and Clinics…
Hospitals and clinics tend to wait until the last resort before hiring travel healthcare workers. By the time they are hired the staff is usually worn down and ready to walk out themselves. It is all a budget thing and they have to make sure the budget will suffice a traveler because they have to pay them more for relocation. Their perspective is that if it is necessary, then we have to get the travelers to save their hospital staffing needs and to care for the community needs.
Full-time Staff…
Full-time staff are typically asking for help before it gets too bad. They are usually eager to find help because they know they will have to pick up all the extra shifts. Working that hard on minuscule pay compared to a travelers pay usually causes resentment toward the travelers. However, they are glad they have the help. Sometimes staff will take a step back and let the travelers do most of the work because they resent the pay practices. Most of the time, they are short-staffed due to the patient load and pay practices anyway.
The Patient…
The patient doesn’t care who is caring for them as long as they are getting their care. Sometimes, they complain about long waiting times and poor treatment. A hospital can only do so much with the staff they have. So they typically welcome travelers without regard to any other perspective. Most patients do not understand why travelers are there. Hopefully, some patients will recognize travelers are there to fill a need so they may be cared for in a timely manner.
Wrap Up…
Even though there are many perspectives on traveling healthcare, I am sure you can see that it is definitely worth it. It is worth having someone there to treat you, it is worth hospitals providing care to the community, it is worth a healthcare worker having help, and it is definitely worth taking care of you as a patient. Traveling healthcare fills the void when things get a little separated in staffing situations to provide care to everyone that needs it. Without the traveler to fill that void… Well, let’s just say, there will be no care or you will be waiting a long time. So definitely remember the next time you see a traveling healthcare provider taking care of you, remember that your local hospital is struggling to find you that professional care you deserve. Empathy is key.
Warmest Regards!
I used to be a lab assistant at a small county hospital. We relied on at least 3 traveling nurses to cover our ER night shift. Most nights were pretty routine and not too crazy. But on the nights that weren’t routine, we were thankful to have them.
Why is there such a staffing problem for these hospitals and clinics anyway?
Hi Matt. This is a great question. There has been a shortage routinely for a long time. However, when covid hit us like a brick wall, all the colleges shut down postponing a few classes of new graduates and preventing new classes to start. So we are delayed with graduating healthcare professionals. We also lost many to the pandemic via sickness from the virus and/or being scared to catch the virus and taking it home to their families. Some healthcare professionals even refused to get vaccinated which their hospitals ended up terminating them because it was mandatory. So we have lost many to the virus even though we were already short to begin with. I hope this is a good explanation for you. Warmest regards.
Thank you for writing this article. I would like some more clarity on when you say travel healthcare, it is not insurance, right? You are referring to healthcare workers who travel to work in different regions? I did not actually know that it was an option like I understand transfers between facilities, but I did not know that it was a profession. Or am I understanding wrong? I appreciate your expertise on the subject.
Yes, you are understanding this correctly. Travel healthcare is a profession with many umbrellas under the term. You have nurses, radiologic technologists, and respiratory therapists, just to name a few, that travel to different regions to help hospitals meet a staffing need. It is a bit more risk for the traveling healthcare provider than it is for the regular staff personal due to traveling demands.
I think this is a noble professions. Offering one’s skills and experience where ever it is needed. The lack of last work relationships, new surroundings, new working conditions all make things really difficult. But, it is done to help where help is needed. I think we must have this kind of medical assistance or thousands would suffer in different areas at different times.
It sure would make others suffer if we didn’t have travel healthcare as a solution. It is important that we can meet the needs of the communities around us. Thank you for your insight.
I can’t imagine us not having traveling healthcare workers. The hospitals are so short on staff and tight on budgets, that there is definitely a serious need for this type of work. As you mention, patients don’t care as long as they are being treated. There may be some concerns within a hospital setting for various reasons. But when there is an urgent situation (such as covid was), then all hands are needed on deck in my opinion.
Many rural areas are underserved for healthcare as it is, and these people can provide critically, valuable services. More should be done to recognize their efforts, especially in a time where the population is aging out and we have more and more problems in general. This field is definitely one that should be welcomed and encouraged. Thanks for the great read!
You’re welcome. I am pleased you enjoyed it. You really gave some insight on how important travel healthcare professionals are. All too many times, we are over looked and just expected to perform our duties during critical events. We have grown to accept that. Thank you for your recognition.