End Unfair Caps On Nurse Pay
5,997 signatures toward our 30,000 Goal
Sponsor: The Breast Cancer Site
Some states are considering capping nurses pay to help hospitals keep costs down. Take a stand for these critical workers!
Nearly 1 in 5 health-care workers has quit since the pandemic began1.
A survey by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses found that 92% felt that the pandemic had "depleted nurses in their hospital, and that their career would be shorter than they had intended as a result2."
Their capacities stretched to the breaking point, some hospitals have turned to the temporary fix of hiring short-term travel nurses, further alienating staff nurses, who are then incentivized to quit and take a travel contract themselves3. But compensation is not always the main reason nurses leave hospitals for these contracts4.
Working conditions for nurses, which suffer from lack of support staff and high patient-to-staff ratios, among other issues, have dramatically deteriorated5.
Many staff nurses work long, strenuous shifts, winding up anxious and burnt out from constant stress6. Travel contracts may present options limited to 8- or 13-week bursts that protect physical and mental health. Some opt into travel nursing for the pay, others as a way to transition out of the industry7.
In some parts of the country, there simply aren't enough nurses to hire, particularly in low-income rural areas8. Adding to the problem, the majority of nurses are older than age 50. As the baby boomer generation ages into needing more medical care, the demand for nursing has sharply risen while many nurses enter retirement9.
It's no help when hospitals keep their nursing staff as lean as possible to maximize profits10. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals furloughed or laid off nurses when lucrative elective procedures were suspended, only to frantically try to hire them back as COVID hospitalizations rose11.
Now that COVID has subsided and hospitals are returning to a permanent nursing model, travel nurses are in less demand but many have reservations about returning to their old jobs where they felt overworked and underpaid12.
Salary cap legislation has already passed in Massachusetts and Minnesota, and other state legislatures are advocating for limiting travel nurses' wages, too13.
Nurses go into this field with the desire to serve. They are too busy and tired to pay attention to anything other than patient care and their own basic human needs, and should not be punished with a salary cap for doing the work they are driven to do.
Sign the petition and end unfair pay caps on nurses salaries!
- Jonathan Wolfe, The New York Times (14 January 2022), "Coronavirus Briefing: A Burnout Crisis."
- American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (21 September 2021), "Hear Us Out Campaign Reports Nurses' COVID-19 Reality."
- Y. Tony Yang Diana J. Mason, Health Affairs (28 January 2022), "COVID-19's Impact On Nursing Shortages, The Rise Of Travel Nurses, And Price Gouging."
- Gabrielle Masson, Becker's Healthcare (30 August 2021), "Going back to staff job 'just not an option': High travel nurse pay — up to $8K a week — worsens staff shortages."
- Madison Muller, Bloomberg (13 January 2022), "'We're Overwhelmed:' Nurses Across the U.S. Protest Covid Working Conditions."
- Bonnie M. Jennings, Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses (April 2008), "Chapter 26Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses: Role of the Work Environment and Working Conditions."
- Astro Dev, medely (8 October 2020), "Five Ways to Make Your Travel Nurse Contract Work For You."
- Aallyah Wright, The Pew Charitable Trusts (1 September 2021), "Rural Hospitals Can't Find the Nurses They Need to Fight COVID."
- Simmons University (2022), "The Aging Nursing Workforce."
- Gooloo S. Wunderlich, Frank Sloan, Carolyne K. Davis, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Adequacy of Nursing Staff in Hospitals and Nursing Homes (1996), "Nursing Staff in Hospitals and Nursing Homes: Is It Adequate?."
- Leila Fadel, Will Stone, Meg Anderson, Robert Benincasa, NPR (8 May 2020), "As Hospitals Lose Revenue, More Than A Million Health Care Workers Lose Jobs."
- Pete Grieve, Spectrum News 1 (8 April 2022), "Pay drops for travel nursing, hospitals seeking permanent nurses."
- Chaunie Brusie, Nurse.org (3 February 2022), "This Legislation Could Cap Travel Nurse Pay, Staffing Agencies Accused of "Price Gouging."
The Petition:
To the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services,
,
It's a sad fact that nearly 1 in 5 health-care workers has quit since the pandemic began.
Many have turned to temporary travel nursing contracts that pay more and provide greater mental and physical security.
Hospitals added to the retention problem by keeping their nursing staff as lean as possible, treating the nursing workforce like a tap they can turn on and off to maximize profits. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals furloughed or laid off nurses when lucrative elective procedures were suspended, only to frantically try to hire them back as COVID hospitalizations rose.
Now that COVID has subsided and hospitals are returning to a permanent nursing model, travel nurses are in less demand but many have reservations about returning to their old jobs where they felt overworked and underpaid.
Another reality we must face: The majority of nurses are older than age 50. As the baby boomer generation ages into needing more medical care, the demand for nursing has sharply risen while many nurses enter retirement.
We need nurses now more than ever. Instead of spending our efforts, time and money fighting about capping travel nurses' pay, hospital staff nurses should be getting raises.
Nurses go into this field with the desire to serve. They are too busy and tired to pay attention to anything other than patient care and their own basic human needs, and should not be punished with a salary cap for doing the work they are driven to do.
I implore you to advocate against efforts to cap nurses pay on a nationwide scale, and ensure a brighter future for those who so selflessly care for others.
Sincerely,
