Temp agencies “poach” nurses, worsen hospital staff shortages (video)

Taken from NJSpotlight

By BRENDA FLANAGAN

December 8, 2021

Nurses and other workers seek high salaries at staffing agencies

More fallout from The Great Resignation: New Jersey hospitals are fighting over new staffers — while struggling to pay temps hired at extremely high salaries from agencies. One healthcare union head reports an “exodus” of nurses and other workers seeking big money at staffing agencies. “Nurses early in their career are being poached by staffing agencies. And in some cases … they’re often sold right back to the hospitals they got poached from. Or a hospital down the road …” says University Hospital’s CEO Dr. Shereef Elnahal. That just exacerbates an ongoing hospital worker shortage that predated even the COVID-19 pandemic. The Murphy administration is working on the problem of nurses getting “bought out.” But staffing agencies claim, “It’s the market that determines the price.”