ORLANDO, FL — Editor's note: This article is provided as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and Orlando Business Journal.
Orlando hospitals have seen a dramatic drop in demand for traveling nurses in the years following the coronavirus pandemic.
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But the nonprofit health system is now down to 18 travel nurses in the Central Florida area. Kathy Stankiewicz, chief nursing officer for AdventHealth's hospitals in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, said the move is a great way to maintain community-based nursing while keeping some travelers on staff. He said that this was intentional to increase dependence on the teacher.
For example, at the height of the pandemic that first hit the region in 2020, Altamonte Springs-based AdventHealth hired more than 1,200 travel nurses in Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties. They contract with independent staffing agencies to travel to other parts of the United States or overseas to provide temporary nursing care in hospitals, clinics, and other facilities in exchange for higher wages, temporary housing, and transportation costs. These are registered nurses who travel.
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