Old news to many nurses, however increased nurse to patient ratios is strongly correlated to reduced mortality and morbidity (less likely to die or have serious side effects at better staffed hospitals) in many studies. What may surprise travelers is that hospitals with higher levels of temporary nurses with the same staffing ratios also had improved numbers.

After controlling for adequacy of staffing and resources, higher levels of temporary nurses were associated with lower levels of adverse events. Aiken LH, et al, Supplemental nurse staffing in hospitals and quality of care. Journal of Nursing Administration, July/August 2007.

There is a strong implication here that travelers bring stronger skill sets to hospitals.

There has been lots of news about hospital strikes recently. On June 10, the largest nursing strike in history, involving 12,000 nurses, occurred in Minneapolis/St Paul for 24 hours. Perhaps saying something about patient safety and care, those 12,000 nurses were replaced by only 2,800 strike nurses. Emotions ran hot after the strike and an open ended strike was narrowly averted on July first.

Travelers are understandably curious about strikes and so PanTravelers has published this comprehensive article About strikes. This article shares what it is like to work a strike, what it pays, what healthcare unions are all about, and why nurses strike. There is companion editorial about Working Strikes here. Both are available publicly without having to log in first.

It is great to hear feedback from readers. Recently a recruiter for a large agency raved to us about our Nursing Board resource. He finds it easy to navigate with good organization of pertinent information. He uses it daily and finds it more accurate and useful than any other sources, including his own agency's resource and even the state board website! He had a good story: A traveler needed a fast license for an assignment from a state - no luck getting through to the board. An unpublished back office number listed on our Nursing Board resource got her through to a supervisor who helpfully expedited her application and had everything ready when she walked in (it was not supposed to be a walk through state).

By the way, both Florida and Georgia have made significant changes in getting a nursing license by endorsement this year, potentially taking longer to get a license. California's walk through policy changed last year - more info on this page below. All three states are up to date on the Nursing Board resource.

Another PanTravelers member was canceled in the middle of her assignment in February, apparently for low census. The hospital (an HCA hospital unsurprisingly) cited some clinical reasons, but clearly the agency did not find them credible either, for they offered the traveler another assignment. When she was unable to take that assignment, they issued her an invoice for $4,407.16 for breach of the first contract! Much of it was for housing, even though they gave her only 48 hours to vacate, so she could not use the housing even if she had paid the amount demanded in the invoice.

Fortunately, as a Full member, this traveler was eligible for legal assistance from PanTravelers. Our legal counsel has backed the agency down from pursuing these claims. This was a huge legal victory, overcoming very unfavorable language in the contract.

For what it's worth, about one in ten contracts cancels industry wide. Sooner or later it happens to every traveler who travels long enough. So it is good advice to have a financial reserve of several months living expenses for unseen career or personal events. And having a Full membership in PanTravelers is cheap legal insurance for contract disputes.