Endangered Population: A Glimpse Inside the Over Glamorized Travel Nursing Profession

Since the 1970s, travel nursing was introduced as a temporary solution to understaffed hospitals to bridge the gap between the supply and demand of healthcare workers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, there was already a significant nation-wide nursing shortage and burnout among those in the profession because the demand outweighed the supply of travel nurses in various hotspots (metropolitan cities with a high number of COVID cases). Though, registered nurses make up a large majority of the healthcare sector, they are one of the most overworked segments in the healthcare industry. In this exploratory study, I am to answer my research questions which is as follows: How has the mindset or atmosphere of the hospital personnel altered as a result of the facts shown above regarding the overworked employees in the healthcare industry? Is there a supportive and encouraging environment in which nurses may carry out their jobs? Has the load placed on healthcare personnel by COVID-19 grown or decreased? To depict the change in demand occurred COVID-19, fifteen female travel nurses between the ages of 25 and 40 were interviewed about their experiences during and after the pandemic, as well as how these experiences affected their decisions to stay in their current jobs or change their career paths. In my results, the answers from the subjects showed how hard they were being pushed because they said they were tired, stressed, and close to breaking. The participants were conflicted about integrating into their new environments and required additional emotional support. Two of the participants from Canada and the United Kingdom experienced a cultural barrier of fitting in. My findings indicate that the pandemic workplaces affected the dispersion of the nursing workforce and widened gaps in the nurse supply. Along with this, they will explain the transferability of skills they have and their adaptations to the United States healthcare. My findings lead to a discussion regarding how their experiences has impacted the nurses' career trajectory resolutions. Future studies about the nurse burnout and rise of travel nurses during COVID-19 are needed to be studied long-term effects of this specific profession.Liberal Art