When we talk about the future of travel nursing, we’re not talking about hovercrafts and teleportation. Rather, we’re talking about using current real-word trends to predict what the profession will look like in five, 10, or 20 years. So what’s in store when it comes to travel nursing jobs? Let’s take a closer look.
Rising Needs
Because nurses have been in such great demand for decades, news of a current shortfall is not exactly surprising. However, the need for these essential health care professionals is likely to reach critical levels in the years ahead.
A “perfect storm” of population growth, an aging workforce, the coming of (golden) age of the baby boom generation, along with a corresponding increase in chronic health conditions, and a heightened focus on preventive care is expected to tax the country’s hospitals in unprecedented ways. As nurses represent the largest segment of the healthcare system, a future in which nurses are a greater commodity than ever before is foreseeable.
The Role of Travel Nurses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 19 percent job growth for nurses between now and 2022. Simultaneously, the number of nurses per capita is expected to decline due to declining nursing school applications. Simply put: There will not be enough nurses to fill the demand.
And while nurses will be essential to keeping hospitals operational, travel nurses are a particularly significant resource. Why? Because as hospitals struggle to recruit and fill permanent staff vacancies, travel nurses are vital in filling these voids and ensuring the continuity of care. Without the versatility, flexibility and experience of qualified travel nurses, the health care system could face serious jeopardy in the near-immediate future.
Some research suggests that by the year 2025, as many as 260,000 nursing positions may be vacant. While this is beneficial to job security — nursing employment rates already hover around a very low 2.6 percent — it also bodes well for a society in which travel nurses are increasingly valued members of the healthcare sector.
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