The COVID-19 pandemic expanded the popularity of "traveling" healthcare jobs, with 73 percent having worked as travelers for less than five years.
A survey from AMN Healthcare highlighted the benefits and the drawbacks of working as a traveling healthcare professional.
The study surveyed 1,161 allied healthcare professionals who have worked on temporary, short-term contracts as travelers sometime within the last 12 months.
The benefits of working as a traveling healthcare professional:
Freedom/flexibility: 84 percent
Pay rate: 83 percent
Travel: 77 percent
Reduced feelings of burnout: 61 percent
Professional development: 44 percent
Reduced paperwork/bureaucracy: 32 percent
Ways to find a permanent position: 15 percent
Other: 7 percent
The challenges of working as a traveling healthcare professional:
Uncertainty of assignments: 60 percent
Being away from home: 53 percent
Credentialing process: 39 percent
Lack of benefits: 36 percent
Quality of assignments: 35 percent
Learning new equipment: 27 percent
Pay rate: 16 percent
Other: 15 percent