09/02/2026
Nurses, this is bigger than “they have the money.”
A hospital may pay an enormous temporary rate for a traveler while refusing to give every staff nurse a substantial permanent raise.
It looks insane.
But the math is different.
A traveler can be a temporary expense used to plug an urgent staffing hole.
A permanent raise becomes a recurring expense across hundreds—or thousands—of nurses. Every year.
So yes, nurses need to understand the economics.
But here’s the question I think healthcare needs to answer:
Why is emergency agency labor often treated as an unavoidable operational expense…
while better staffing, scheduling, clinical authority, leadership development, recovery, professional growth and retention have to fight for budget approval?
Because nurses don’t leave over money alone.
They leave when the work becomes unsustainable.
They leave when they cannot recover.
They leave when they don’t feel heard.
They leave when responsibility keeps increasing while authority does not.
Maybe the smartest investment isn’t figuring out how to replace nurses faster.
Maybe it’s creating hospitals nurses don’t have to recover from leaving.
We cannot change nursing culture without changing nursing consciousness.
— Annette Tersigni, RN
YogaNurse®
👉 Nurses,What do YOU think would actually make more nurses stay?
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