Many travel nurses opt for temporary assignments because of the autonomy and opportunities − not just the big boost in pay

Two travel nurses talk on FaceTime with their 4-year-old son while working far from home at a field hospital set up to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients in 2021.& AP Photo/David Goldman by Ivan Gan, University of Houston-Downtown Travel nurses take short-term contracts that can require long commutes or temporarily living away from home. Time and again, they have to get used to new co-workers, new protocols and new workplaces. So why would staff nurses quit their stable jobs to become travel nurses? Well, for one, they get bigger paychecks. But U.S. nurses have other rationales besides making more money, according to a study I conducted. To do this research, I interviewed 27 registered nurses based in different places. Many of the people I interviewed disclosed that they left permanent positions to combat burnout. Although they welcomed the bump in pay, travel nursing also gave them the autonomy to decide when and where to work. That autonomy allowed them to pursue personal and professional interests that were meaningful to them, and it made some of the other hassles, such as long commutes, worth it. On top of earning more money, travel nursing “gives you an opportunity to explore different...