Nearly 1 in 5 staff nurses want to transition to travel nursing positions, a survey of 7,117 RNs found.
The survey, which was independently conducted by travel healthcare staffing agency Medical Solutions, also revealed that among the more than 7,000 respondents, 84% have taken at least one travel assignment during their career. Of that same group, 58% allocate a majority of work hours to travel nursing still.
Higher salaries and better benefits are the reason 97% of permanent, per-diem and travel nurses seek to leave the profession.
Specifically, the top five reasons permanent staff nurses listed as what prompted their desire to leave includes:
- Seeking better salary and benefits
- Job-related mental health issues, stress, or burnout
- Feel undervalued or unsupported by organization
- Unsafe work conditions
- Unmanageable workloads
Per-diem nurses listed the same top five reasons, but feeling "undervalued or unsupported by the organization" was fifth for that group. Unmanageable workloads followed by unsafe work conditions were cited as their third and fourth reasons to want to depart.