Cost Of Temporary Nursing

The ANA (2017) recognizes three main factors that contribute the nursing shortage. The ageing RN workforce has become a concern in recent years that is only likely to grow. There are a large amount of experienced nurses within the baby boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) who are reaching retirement. The cost of this will be an alarming loss of experienced nurses when the demand is likely the highest. The baby boom generation also revolves around the patient population. Not only is this generation at retirement age, they are also becoming the patient with more complex health problems in an ever growing healthcare world with an expanding life expectancy for patients with acute and chronic conditions. The third factor that come

Department managers need to be vigilant in the staffing appropriate experience and how this experience can effect supplies being utilized. Location can also play a large role in temporary nursing usage and hospital needs based on housing and cost of living. In their study, Hurst and Smith (2010), showed that “permanent staff only wards were better resourced, even though permanent staff only ward workloads were lower. They proportionally had more registered nurses compared to mixed permanent/temporary nursing wards. The difference in cost between permanent only wards, at £158 per hospital bed per day compared to permanent/temporary staffed wards which cost approximately £171 per hospital bed per day. This amount was seen as significant enough to question the cost effectiveness of hiring temporary nurses. Hurst and Smith go on to talk about the observation that part-time permanent rather than temporary staff significantly lowered running costs of these

One of their traditional travel nurses who makes $35 per hour costs the hospital $65 per hour after administrative costs are added in. AMN also quotes that this is a ‘traditional travel nurse’ wage versus the cost for a ‘rapid response travel nurse’ or a ‘strike breaker’ nurse, which would cost significantly more money for a quicker turn around.

Personal reflection I have found that most of the information collected agrees that with administrative costs, travel nurses can add an increased, although minimal, cost for the facility hiring them. Hiring travel nurses for short term nursing shortages can be viable option financially for organizations, but long term usage of travel agencies can certainly impact a budget in a negative