Traveling Respiratory Therapists being offered $140 an hour to work at hospitals

These $175/hr positions aren't as glorious as one might expect, I'm sure.

10-14 day stints doing 12 hours per day. You're going to be dead tired at 10-14 days.
You'll most likely be living in a hotel, not fun. Unless you snag a nice suite with a kitchen, you'll be eating out every meal. Not healthy.
You'll need to do 30-45 minutes of hard cardio work 4-5 days a week.
You will be renting a car unless the location is 2-3 hours from your home.
You will be paying the 7.65% FICA payroll tax
You need to buy your own health, dental and life insurance
You need to acquire the services of a CPA or good bookkeeper and you'll need to incorporate as an LLC and pay quarterly taxes
You really need to have the services of a financial advisor/planner and have them managing your money. While you are making this kind of money, they need to be putting away money for retirement, a second account for new cars/etc., and a third account for major household expenditures.
This is a young, single person's game. Much like traveling welding/pipe fitting jobs.
 
I guess it depends on if you like the free market or not...
I believe most nurses work far harder then say, a computer programmer like me.
Probably worked far harder in college as well...
And they just might save your life!
Who do you think makes more money?

IMO, there is no such thing as fair.
I have never seen an easy job when someone is responsible for their out put and quality of work.
 
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I have never seen an easy job whe someone is responsible for their out put and quality of work.
I see your point, but...
I have done tons of manual labor, getting yelled at by the boss, making peanuts, just to get a 12 pack after work.
I have been responsible for the corporate forecast for a multi billion dollar Silicon Valley company and been rewarded handsomely.
Yes, it was because of what I was responsible for.
But no, there is no comparison of which was harder.

That's my experience and my opinion.
All good.
 
I see your point, but...
I have done tons of manual labor, getting yelled at by the boss, making peanuts, just to get a 12 pack after work.
I have been responsible for the corporate forecast for a multi billion dollar Silicon Valley company and been rewarded handsomely.
Yes, it was because of what I was responsible for.
But no, there is no comparison of which was harder.

That's my experience and my opinion.
All good.
Difficult is difficult to express. I just look at suicide and ptsd prevalence as well as attrition rate of a profession. These three factors usually explain and quantify "difficult" while summarizing all of the intangibles.

The easiest job I have done is city maintenance.
 
These $175/hr positions aren't as glorious as one might expect, I'm sure.

10-14 day stints doing 12 hours per day. You're going to be dead tired at 10-14 days.
You'll most likely be living in a hotel, not fun. Unless you snag a nice suite with a kitchen, you'll be eating out every meal. Not healthy.
You'll need to do 30-45 minutes of hard cardio work 4-5 days a week.
You will be renting a car unless the location is 2-3 hours from your home.
You will be paying the 7.65% FICA payroll tax
You need to buy your own health, dental and life insurance
You need to acquire the services of a CPA or good bookkeeper and you'll need to incorporate as an LLC and pay quarterly taxes
You really need to have the services of a financial advisor/planner and have them managing your money. While you are making this kind of money, they need to be putting away money for retirement, a second account for new cars/etc., and a third account for major household expenditures.
This is a young, single person's game. Much like traveling welding/pipe fitting jobs.

I agree 100% with your thinking.

But young folks today realize there is no loyalty in the workplace, it’s just a paycheck. Many adults in their mid 20’s are single and still living at home with parents so they can easily follow the big $$$. They don’t have a mortgage or kids to keep them tied down.

Many of these travelers stay at an Airbnb.

Besides traveling nurses and RTs.... there’s also folks that work in Central Sterile cleaning and processing surgical trays / instruments that are travelers.
 
I agree 100% with your thinking.

But young folks today realize there is no loyalty in the workplace, it’s just a paycheck. Many adults in their mid 20’s are single and still living at home with parents so they can easily follow the big $$$. They don’t have a mortgage or kids to keep them tied down.

Many of these travelers stay at an Airbnb.

Besides traveling nurses and RTs.... there’s also folks that work in Central Sterile cleaning and processing surgical trays / instruments that are travelers.
Plenty of people have mortgages, kids, families, and follow the paychecks. Also, yes, people have wised up. They go to work, make the money, and clock out.
 
No desire to watch people die all day long - even for $140/hr. I have a few family members who are RTs in NYC. PTSD doesn't being to describe their current conditions.
 
No desire to watch people die all day long - even for $140/hr. I have a few family members who are RTs in NYC. PTSD doesn't being to describe their current conditions.
I can do a lot of stuff for $140/hr.

That said, think of the techs making $14/hr who see the same thing.

The medical community is typically just swept under the rug. Prior to COVID, nurses had a suicide rate higher than our military. Don't see any publicity of "22 a day" on them, eh? Nah. Wonder what it will be after COVID. We will probably never know because noone would fund that study I bet, but my wager is that it will be a bit higher, especially in the new ones who haven't BTDT yet when COVID hit.

Pre COVID nursing stats:

2 year attrition rate: 30%
PTSD: 25% prevalence after 5 years.
Suicide rate: 39.8/100K (male), 11.97/100,000 (female).

Get ready for post/during COVID numbers that you will never see, but know are higher across the board. Or don't. Just ignore it like always.

For many in the medical field, it's not the dying that bothers them, it's the being treated like absolute worthless feces by patients, administration, law enforcement and judicial system, and everyone else while trying to keep people from dying.
 
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I can do a lot of stuff for $140/hr.

That said, think of the techs making $14/hr who see the same thing.

The medical community is typically just swept under the rug. Prior to COVID, nurses had a suicide rate higher than our military. Don't see any publicity of "22 a day" on them, eh? Nah. Wonder what it will be after COVID. We will probably never know because noone would fund that study I bet, but my wager is that it will be a bit higher, especially in the new ones who haven't BTDT yet when COVID hit.

Pre COVID nursing stats:

2 year attrition rate: 30%
PTSD: 25% prevalence after 5 years.
Suicide rate: 39.8/100K (male), 11.97/100,000 (female).

Get ready for post/during COVID numbers that you will never see, but know are higher across the board. Or don't. Just ignore it like always.

For many in the medical field, it's not the dying that bothers them, it's the being treated like absolute worthless feces by patients, administration, law enforcement and judicial system, and everyone else while trying to keep people from dying.
I'm not an MD but have OR privileges at the major university hospital in our city and so interact with MDs and nurses and support staff frequently - they've all been pretty clear - it's the non-stop death that got to them. There's a lot to unpack there. Most people feel stress when they feel like something is out of their control. Sure, people die when you work at hospital but not 5-10 people in your unit per day, every day, for months and months. As they watched the non-stop influx of new critically-ill patients come in knowing there was little/nothing they could do for many/most of them it really started to take its toll. Or so they've told me.

Same story for my cousins in NYC who are RTs...
 
I'm not an MD but have OR privileges at the major university hospital in our city and so interact with MDs and nurses and support staff frequently - they've all been pretty clear - it's the non-stop death that got to them. There's a lot to unpack there. Most people feel stress when they feel like something is out of their control. Sure, people die when you work at hospital but not 5-10 people in your unit per day, every day, for months and months. As they watched the non-stop influx of new critically-ill patients come in knowing there was little/nothing they could do for many/most of them it really started to take its toll. Or so they've told me.

Same story for my cousins in NYC who are RTs...
Everyone has a different view.
 
WS6,

Imagine the PTSD working in a trauma center in a bad city with all the gun violence and killings ?


“For many in the medical field, it's not the dying that bothers them, it's the being treated like absolute worthless feces by patients, administration, law enforcement and judicial system, and everyone else while trying to keep people from dying.”

Yep. Lots of hospitals and Administrators worry more about their HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) surveys from patients than their employees.

Healthcare is a business, it chews up people. Some can handle it and others can’t.
 
WS6,

Imagine the PTSD working in a trauma center in a bad city with all the gun violence and killings ?


“For many in the medical field, it's not the dying that bothers them, it's the being treated like absolute worthless feces by patients, administration, law enforcement and judicial system, and everyone else while trying to keep people from dying.”

Yep. Lots of hospitals and Administrators worry more about their HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) surveys from patients than their employees.

Healthcare is a business, it chews up people. Some can handle it and others can’t.
Death dying and seeing people's brains blown out doesn't really upset me a whole lot in general. It does make me sad when it's a kid with parents present, or a parent with a young kid, present, though, won't lie. If you've never watched that one ("Will my mommy be okay?"), then it will be an eye opener when you sadly do. What would bother me about the inner city big state hospitals most, is your second paragraph.

That said, I am amused. "Some can handle it and some cannot". I guess we can say the same thing for spousal abuse? No. Some people are just willing to trade money for respect, and as soon as the money vs respect equation unbalances, they leave. Sure, some kill themselves, as the stats show...but what of the others? They didnt "not handle it". They got out and made a happier life for themselves. They're out there "handling" just fine.

What's really fun is when budget cuts leave a critical care area short staffed and the employees juggle performing lifesaving interventions with delivering narcotics for HCAHPS score maintenance, with not putting professional licensure at risk with assault and battery from patients with...shift in and shift out. That's where the real burnout happens, imo. Not from the upsetting double murder suicide or whatever. That's a sad event and you motor on, and over the years you learn that it's just how it goes, but it doesn't really affect you personally like the other stuff can and does, in a legal, physical, and financial sense as well as the morality conflicts.
 
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States cutting funding for mental health has the folks on the frontline dealing with more Baker Acts , problems, violent patients and the big increase in homelessness with drug and mental issues.

MBAs at the top of any organization really do want their frequent flyers to have a happy stay at their facility....


.
 
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I can do a lot of stuff for $140/hr.

That said, think of the techs making $14/hr who see the same thing.

....
We are having an issue with finding techs.
About 1/3 (5 or 6 between day and night shift) of our techs have quit in the past few months (1 found a travel gig as a medic, 1 went to another hospital system, the others went to work on the ambulance), all for more money. We have hired 2 replacements so far, with a 3rd about to start.

I mentioned the COVID bonus that hospitals are giving nurses and RT, but techs get nothing (they were getting an extra $75/shift on top of the extra hours for any shifts over 6 in a pay period, but I think that just ended).
It leaves a bad taste in their mouth when the work the same number of hours, do as much (if not more) work than many nurses, yet are getting paid $15-20/hour, and not getting any bonus money.
Not having a tech really slows the flow in the ER and on the floor, making a nurses job that much harder. I love my techs and try to treat them well. I was a tech for about 18 months before I got my degree, so I know their pain.
Last month when I got my bonus money, I went and bought a bunch of $20 gift cards for all of them. While not much, at least they know I appreciate them.
I had also sent an email to all the ER nurses and told them to thank the techs in whatever way they saw fit. I know a few other nurses did similar to me.
 
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I know some of the nurses that left are on a do not rehire list, and in nursing, things like that get around even though there is no official list around here (but some areas do have this that is shared between facilities).
Is that because they 'left' and went the traveling option ? If so, that's bull**** on the hospital's part as they are the ones that have caused this ! I'm sure most areas aren't any different than ours, but in a 30-mile radius of Dayton OH, counting full-blown hospitals and remote hospitals/ERs, there must be 2 dozen facilities and not counting the VA hospital and one other facility, the others are operated by (2) "networks". If you're blacklisted by either, you're effectively shut out of local work.

Full Time employees at hospitals are walking off the job mid shift to join a staffing agency as a traveling RT.
Good for them ! As I said above, the hospitals created this problem.
 
We are having an issue with finding techs.
About 1/3 (5 or 6 between day and night shift) of our techs have quit in the past few months (1 found a travel gig as a medic, 1 went to another hospital system, the others went to work on the ambulance), all for more money. We have hired 2 replacements so far, with a 3rd about to start.

I mentioned the COVID bonus that hospitals are giving nurses and RT, but techs get nothing (they were getting an extra $75/shift on top of the extra hours for any shifts over 6 in a pay period, but I think that just ended).
It leaves a bad taste in their mouth when the work the same number of hours, do as much (if not more) work than many nurses, yet are getting paid $15-20/hour, and not getting any bonus money.
Not having a tech really slows the flow in the ER and on the floor, making a nurses job that much harder. I love my techs and try to treat them well. I was a tech for about 18 months before I got my degree, so I know their pain.
Last month when I got my bonus money, I went and bought a bunch of $20 gift cards for all of them. While not much, at least they know I appreciate them.
I had also sent an email to all the ER nurses and told them to thank the techs in whatever way they saw fit. I know a few other nurses did similar to me.
You are a good man Blupupher!

I do the same every Christmas. I buy my tech/transporters and secretaries. $25 gift cards, as they are the lowest paid in my department. It's a $150 or so well spent. They know it comes from my pocket, and they appreciate that their supervisor pays it from his own pocket and hands it to them personally. Not like a director who buys them with the corporate card. Over the years i have spent over $2000 to do this. Money well spent.
 
Is that because they 'left' and went the traveling option ? If so, that's bull**** on the hospital's part as they are the ones that have caused this ! ...
Not sure how the hospital caused it?
They left to go make 2-3 times what they were currently making due to the pandemic.
They "abandoned" the facility causing it to need to use travel nursing to fill the gaps caused by those leaving to go travel.
If you leave for greener pastures and burn that bridge of the steady (albeit lower) paycheck, you still burned that bridge.

You are a good man Blupupher!

I do the same every Christmas. I buy my tech/transporters and secretaries. $25 gift cards, as they are the lowest paid in my department. It's a $150 or so well spent. They know it comes from my pocket, and they appreciate that their supervisor pays it from his own pocket and hands it to them personally. Not like a director who buys them with the corporate card. Over the years i have spent over $2000 to do this. Money well spent.
I have done it a few times in the past as well, just not in the past 2 years or so. I also buy it for our unit clerks, they keep the ER going.
This time I actually bought 9 $20 gift cards and 1 $50 card (all identical), so no idea who actually got the $50 card since I just kept them all in my pocket and handed them out randomly over several days.

I actually had one tech tell me after I gave it to him to not expect him to do more for him because I bribed him (and he meant it).
I was tempted to take the card back (and no idea if he got the $50 card or not), but I did tell him I expected nothing more from him because of the gift card, but I just appreciate what he does.
I have not asked him for a single thing since that time, but in the past week he is doing a lot more to help me now.
Guess he feels bad for being a jerk.
 
We are having an issue with finding techs.
About 1/3 (5 or 6 between day and night shift) of our techs have quit in the past few months (1 found a travel gig as a medic, 1 went to another hospital system, the others went to work on the ambulance), all for more money. We have hired 2 replacements so far, with a 3rd about to start.

I mentioned the COVID bonus that hospitals are giving nurses and RT, but techs get nothing (they were getting an extra $75/shift on top of the extra hours for any shifts over 6 in a pay period, but I think that just ended).
It leaves a bad taste in their mouth when the work the same number of hours, do as much (if not more) work than many nurses, yet are getting paid $15-20/hour, and not getting any bonus money.
Not having a tech really slows the flow in the ER and on the floor, making a nurses job that much harder. I love my techs and try to treat them well. I was a tech for about 18 months before I got my degree, so I know their pain.
Last month when I got my bonus money, I went and bought a bunch of $20 gift cards for all of them. While not much, at least they know I appreciate them.
I had also sent an email to all the ER nurses and told them to thank the techs in whatever way they saw fit. I know a few other nurses did similar to me.
I have long felt the same. Realistically, I don't know why anyone would be a tech when you can make $20-30/hr equivalency waiting tables at any decent chain restaurant, especially if you can manage time and demand like a tech can. The only people I know who are techs, are people who shouldn't be, or people who are in school and using this as a doorway into an organization/to feel out an organization. This is part of why it's so difficult to actually keep a good tech. They graduate and move on, or they flat out are full of fail and finally get fired or leave. The demands of that job are far greater than the pay, in a strictly monetary sense.
 
Is that because they 'left' and went the traveling option ? If so, that's bull**** on the hospital's part as they are the ones that have caused this ! I'm sure most areas aren't any different than ours, but in a 30-mile radius of Dayton OH, counting full-blown hospitals and remote hospitals/ERs, there must be 2 dozen facilities and not counting the VA hospital and one other facility, the others are operated by (2) "networks". If you're blacklisted by either, you're effectively shut out of local work.


Good for them ! As I said above, the hospitals created this problem.
I've lived places with near single-system healthcare where that's a thing. Usually it's a high crime town/area, though, and no other systems WANT to move in and absorb all the medicare/medicaid.
 
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