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5/23/24: So I've been traveling back and forth the last few weeks for a contract to Cleveland. I've been meeting some incredible professionals along the way! It's not a giant hospital I've been working at, however its serves a pretty large area. I promised myself I would never name drop hospitals, so I'm not. However, the biggest thing I've learned from talking with staff is there is a high turn over of nurses in the hospital, especially on my unit, which saddens me. I've been working with patients through my shifts and have met some fantastic families through my shift. They know that what we are going through on the floor is difficult, they can see that the life of a bedside nurse is fast paced and stressful. The families have been patient and understanding in the care of their loved ones. But, it goes to show how badly nurses are needed in the hospitals. Talking with the few staff nurses that are on my unit (most of us are travelers) the COVID pandemic definitely took a toll on staff morale and led to a pretty big drop in staff numbers. Management on the unit are doing their best to recruit nurses in todays relentlessly competitive market, but financial restraints of the hospital only allow for so many new hires with the cost of travel staff piling up. Contrary to the general staff and public belief, hospital systems aren't made of money. To give hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget money to one hospital (in the same hospital) in need, the money would come from another hospital (in the same system) that would have to then take on the risk of sacrificing their budget for hiring of new nurses of their own. Therefore the calculations of risk to reward fiscally don't add up in the mind of a business guy. So the solution is to bring staff up very slowly over time and phase out travelers, which makes sense, but at the cost ultimately of more focused patient care during that transition period. In the meantime though I am more than happy to provide the best patient care that I can in the circumstances, it's a joyful thing to get a patient back home with their families. It's what a great Mursenary does. :)