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How to Use a Compact Nursing License in Washington State

Washington takes a step towards growing the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (ENLC), as the state has officially set a date that they will start allowing nurses with multistate licenses to start practicing.

Where Did All the Travel Nursing Jobs Go?

If you are a travel nurse who recently entered the job market, rest assured – the jobs are not gone! The travel nursing job market has been more volatile in the last three years than any other time. Between the pandemic, mass shifting within internal jobs, and hospital systems scrambling to recuperate from increased costs associated with market fluctuations, the travel nursing workforce is in a state of trying to rebalance. […]

What’s Happening With Travel Nursing Pay Packages?

What’s Happening With Travel Nursing Pay Packages? StaffDNA provided this article. In the last three and a half years, bill rate fluctuations have sometimes felt a bit like whiplash. Travel nursing changed fast when the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, and the ripple effect caused by the pandemic kept making waves well into two and three years later. Now, the healthcare industry is shifting again. Masks are coming off, visitor restrictions are being lifted, and in some ways, it feels like we are headed back to a true “normal.” But is the normal of the pre-pandemic travel nursing industry truly what we can expect to see in the coming months? The short answer: no. The Start of It All Back in 2016-2019, typical travel nurse pay packages averaged around $1,500-1,700 per week gross pay. If you were licensed in California, you may have been able to find pay above $2,000 gross due to union requirements and overtime laws. Once the pandemic hit in 2020, the whole hospital system was thrust into shock as hospitals tried to figure out how to take care of higher volumes of super sick patients seemingly instantly. At that point, there were significant drops in certain travel specialties while others saw an incredible spike in both rates and needs. Areas like allied health and pediatrics basically hit a standstill. Kids were staying home from school and not being exposed to illnesses as frequently, and thousands of surgeries were canceled, drastically reducing the need for therapists to help rehab post-surgical patients. Sky High Pandemic Rates Between government aid and pure need for survival, hospitals were able to pay huge amounts to travel nurses. Gross rates for adult nurses skyrocketed to over $10,000 a week, and there were jobs in every location you could imagine. The key thing to remember about this time is these nurses also had to deal with significant safety concerns. Vaccinations were not an option, PPE was in critically low supply, and in some places, you were lucky to have an N95 available unless you brought your own. Front-line workers were getting sick no matter their age, and there were a lot of big, scary unknowns. So yes, the money was great, but a lot of people were not willing to put their health and well-being on the line to work in those conditions, no matter what they paid. The Second Wave of Covid Travelers Fast forward a couple of years, and while the five-figure rates had started to dwindle, travel nurses could still expect to make close to $4,000 per week gross fairly easily, and more if you got lucky and found a place that was willing to pay for a crisis contract. Here, we saw a second wave of Covid travelers start to enter the workforce. A lot of these nurses were people who were feeling burnt out and frustrated after working in pandemic conditions for two years, often understaffed and short on supplies. Now, however, the risk of getting sick was much lower with vaccination available, and the country had finally gotten on top of the PPE shortage, so you knew you wouldn’t be expected to take care of the sickest of the sick without proper protection. In the last year, this has caused somewhat of a flooded market. We aren’t seeing the volume of sick patients that we had in 2020 or even a year ago, so hospitals simply aren’t willing to pay exorbitant rates to keep staffing numbers up. The “threat” of horribly short staffing simply doesn’t seem as threatening anymore. Leveling Out As a result, basic economics has taken over. The supply of travel nurses is much higher than before the pandemic, but contracts have taken a dip. Not only are we not dealing with pandemic-level patient numbers, but we are going into summer and coming out of respiratory season. Hospital systems have realized that they currently have the upper hand in the market and that the supply outweighs the demand for nurses in the travel sector. This happens every year during the spring, but it simply seems more pronounced this year because rates had been so incredibly high for so long. If you were a travel nurse before 2020, you probably know most of this already. Generally, during the summer, you would expect a dip in pay and opportunity and aim to extend if you had the opportunity at a decent location. Then, when fall rolls around and more people are sick with influenza and other illnesses, you can strategically pick an assignment that pays a premium rate if that is your goal. How This Affects Pay Rates So, let’s get to rates. Obviously, supply and demand have a direct effect on rates and what hospitals are willing to pay. If managers are struggling to get job applicants, they are more willing to offer a little extra money to entice you to work for them. If they are getting 50 applicants per open position, they realize they can save some money and still hire a quality candidate. Is it fair to get paid less for doing the same job? Many could argue either way, but unfortunately, travel nursing rates have always varied based on a variety of factors, and this is where we are right now. What the Future Holds Going forward, a few things will likely happen to the travel market. Travel nurses who were only traveling for the sake of very good rates or only for crisis rates will likely reconsider their plans for the future. For those who were traveling and returning home regularly, lower rates might mean it’s not worth it to keep traveling away from home. A large number may decide to return home to staff jobs rather than trying to make travel nursing work with a lower rate. For those travelers that are looking to keep working as travel nurses regardless of rate changes, this could be beneficial. As some travelers leave the workforce, jobs will once again be more difficult to fill, and hospitals will have to adjust rates accordingly. It is impossible

My most memorable travel nurse destination

By Bob Goldnetz Alaska: The last frontier. Although certainly not what the people in Alaska think. In a way, it is wild, jaw-droppingly awe-inspiring, and another world. But to others, it’s home. Some of the locals I met there, although extremely patriotic, felt apart from the lower 48. I found a togetherness and tight-knit community in Palmer, outside Anchorage, where I spent several months. The people had a healthy respect for the environment, and I felt much of the comradery that comes from surviving the frigid cold and minimal hours of sunlight in the winter. I also came to appreciate that Alaskans make up for any lost time in the summer. Never before, or since, have I been asked to go fishing at 2 a.m. in daylight. I did not realize it at the time, but Alaska was a culmination of all my previous travel nursing experiences. By no means an expert in any field, I had honed many skills that helped prepare me for the adventure of a lifetime. Over the years I became proficient in skiing, snowboarding, and backpacking on several previous assignments which gave me the confidence to explore Alaska. Networking had become second nature and making fast friends was easy with so many people looking to embark on similar endeavors. I spent the early months of March backcountry snowboarding, trying to earn my turns in some of the most picturesque scenery imaginable. I was fortunate enough to have an old hang-gliding instructor acquaintance at Alyeska, a local ski resort, and would also meet him at the resort often. I have found many of my best memories come from knowing good people in many places. All you have to do is put yourself out there. Once break-up (when all the ice and snow starts to melt) was over, I was out backpacking every chance I could get. I took my minimally converted Astro van out whenever I could. Normally I would get off night shift, drive somewhere, take a nap, and spend the next couple days sleeping under the stars. Again, I was fortunate enough to have some travel nurse acquaintances from a previous Oregon assignment, and I was assimilated into their friend group. It’s always responsible to explore as a pack in the great outdoors. The highlights: Introduction backpacking trip with my now fiancé Backcountry skiing with a couple in their 60s I met on my first day out in Hatcher Pass Portage Canoe trip through the Kenai Tail Gate Alaska backcountry ski and snowboard festival Having a guy at work show his appreciation for a shift swap with fresh halibut, several kinds of salmon, and caribou sausage (P.S. Carl, you’re the man). Slalom skiing at Big Lake, with snow-capped mountains in the background Fire weeds in full bloom in Hatch Pass Bike packing Denali National Park All in all, considering Alaska is a bucket list destination for so many people, I consider myself exceptionally lucky that the timing worked out for me to make the trip. Another thing I’ve always found amazing about travel nursing is that people wait all year to go on a vacation, or a lifetime to go on a trip, and I get to go do it at a moment’s notice: visit a place I’ve always dreamed of, work there, experience it all, then on to the next one. In the words of Trooper, we’re here for a good time, not a long time. So have a good time. Bob Goldnetz is an ICU travel nurse who has worked at various levels of hospitals across the country. When he’s not learning how to be a new dad or taking care of patients, you may find him backpacking, snowboarding, skiing, surfing, mountain biking, paragliding, or rock climbing.

Should you take a 36-hour contract or a 48-hour contract?

The holidays are approaching—a time when you’re looking for more flexibility, especially if you don’t have PTO scheduled. Burnout is real, so you’re probably steering clear from working 48-60 hours a week, which has been more common over the past couple of years. These are key reasons to lean toward 36-hour shifts. But another consideration might be the financial side of things. When it comes to how you’re paid, there’s a difference between working overtime on a 36-hour contract vs. a 48-hour contract. Simply put, you have a higher potential for overtime (payable after you hit the 40-hour mark) on a 36-hour contract. Here’s how it breaks down: Most hospitals don’t allow agencies to bill an overtime rate on a 48-hour contract until more than 48 hours have been worked in a week. However, agencies still pay those on contract for overtime after 40 hours, whether it’s a 36-hour contract or a 48-hour contract. Essentially, there’s more flexibility for agencies like LiquidAgents Healthcare to increase the overtime rate on a 36-hour contract because they can bill the facilities for the overtime rate starting after the 40-hour mark, versus a 48-hour contract where most hospitals only accept billing at the regular rate after the 48-hour mark (when billing at the overtime rate begins). Keep in mind: On a 36-hour contract, agencies usually have flexibility to increase the overtime rate after 40 hours. However, on a 48-hour contract, overtime is a standard 1.5x the regular hourly rate, with no flexibility. Here’s an example: 36-hour contract Your regular taxable rate is $40/hr. Your OT rate is $100 Your stipends are $1350 You pick up an extra shift and work 48 hours that week: $40/hr times 40 hours = $1600 $100/hr times 8 hours = $800 Plus stipends = $1350 Total = $3,750 gross weekly 48-hour contract Your regular taxable rate is $40/hr. Your OT rate is $60 Your stipends are $1350 You work your regularly scheduled shifts: $40/hr times 40 hours = $1600 $60/hr times 8 hours = $480 Plus stipends = $1350 Total = $3,430 gross weekly Hope this helps, and happy traveling!

Quality Assurance of the Call Regarding “Additional” Votes

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