Describing the Experience of Acute Care Travel Registered Nurses in the United States Since the COVID-19 Pandemic

This Naturalistic Inquiry described the lives of travel nurses who worked in the acute care hospital setting within the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020. Study participants were recruited through groups dedicated to travel nurses on Facebook. Eight participants were included in the study. Data collection sessions occurred via Zoom and data consisted of demographic and interview data. Data analysis was guided by the processes described by Lincoln and Guba (1985) and Erlandson et al. (1993), with the goal of extrapolating common themes related to the experiences of travel nurses. Data was constantly compared following the methods described by Glaser & Strauss (1967) until saturation was reached, which occurred after data analysis of eight interviews was completed. Analysis of the data revealed four themes: 1) Reasons to be a travel nurse, 2) The logistics of being a travel nurse, 3) Social connections, and 4) Culture and attitude. The first theme, reasons to be a travel nurse, identified the reasons participants became travel nurses and explained why they will continue to work as travel nurses or not. The second theme, the logistics of being a travel nurse, discussed securing a contract and housing, reportedly the two most challenging aspects of being a travel nurse. The third theme, social connections, described how travel nurses maintained and built relationships while on assignments. Finally, the fourth theme, culture and attitude, described how culture within a unit or healthcare organization and the attitude of the travel nurse impacted the experience of the travel nurse. Study findings supported the extant literature and expanded knowledge about travel nurses. This study reveals implications for healthcare organizations, travel nurse agencies, nurse educators, policy makers, and nursing practice. The biggest limitation for this study is that, by design, it did not look at the experience of travel nurses who began traveling prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research that includes those travel nurses is suggested as it could provide a more robust understanding of the experience of travel nurses and may better capture the evolution of travel nursing.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD in Nursing (Doctoral)

Grantor

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Swenson, Pamela Paige 1988-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Surname, Given Name (emailaddress@utmb.edu)

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2152.3/12848

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utmb-ir.tdl.org:2152.3/12848