A new report released Tuesday warns of the rise of an “Uber for nursing,” a growing gig industry in which artificial intelligence is used to assist nurses in hospitals and other medical facilities.
A report published by the Roosevelt Institute asserts that: “These apps encourage nurses to work for low wages, offer no certainty about schedules or the amount or nature of work, take little or no responsibility for worker safety, and Nurses are in an unfamiliar clinical environment with no onboarding or on-site training.”
The report comes after the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, the nation's largest health care company, sparking debate and outrage over the flaws and staggering costs of the U.S. health care system. It was announced while it was happening.
Twenty-nine workers interviewed reported having to pay a fee to bid for shifts and winning bids by offering to work for lower wages than other workers. Some people reported experiencing problems with the app and not getting paid for their work as a result.
“Too many facilities are stuck between a rock and a hard place and are turning to these gig nursing apps as a short-term solution,” said McKenzie, senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative and co-author of the report. said Dr. Katie Wells. . “We have a problem with care. We don't pay enough for it. We don't take care of these workers in a way that allows them to take care of their families. And that's why , the reason many of these workers are turning to the gig economy is because they need some control over their lives, and they couldn't do it any other way.
Wells said it's unclear how much gig nurses are actually being utilized because these gig companies don't publish data and the industry is unregulated. But based on the rising capital valuations of these nurse recruitment platforms and surveys, this is clearly a fast-growing trend, she said. As with gig companies in other industries, workers are sold with the promise of flexibility and freedom.
Workers are subject to evaluation systems that prevent them from canceling shifts due to illness or personal conflicts, and employers are often not compensated for canceled or shortened shifts.
“The only reason I'm doing this now is because I have no other choice. This is what I went to school for, and this… terrible economic crisis, you know, we're going through right now. I have to pay my bills in a situation where I'm barely able to survive,” Ashley said. Nurses interviewed in the report. “So this is what I have to do to survive, even if it's not what I really want to do. But I don't want to say that because I love being a nurse. But I hate being a nurse now because of what this greedy, immoral corporation has done to healthcare.
Workers interviewed explained that they often work shifts in facilities where they are untrained and unfamiliar with the operations and supplies located. Others said they had to bring and use medical supplies such as stethoscopes, thermometers and blood pressure monitors for patients.
They are also often treated poorly by the full-time staff of the facilities where their shifts are placed, are given the most difficult tasks, and in the gig model, their employers pay for taxes, uniforms, supplies, benefits such as health insurance, etc. He argued that there are often high costs to bear. , to the workers.
“It's only been a few years that someone who doesn't know much about hospitals, patients, medical histories, or administrative structures can arrive at a hospital one day and pick up a previous employee at the end of their shift. “This would have been unimaginable before,” the report claims.
Nursing gig companies have soared in popularity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and industry claims of a nursing shortage, but there are now more than 5 million licensed nurses in the U.S., more than ever before. The report found that more than half of the respondents said they were understaffed in their workplaces and workplaces. Problems in recruiting and retaining nurses stem from workers' refusal to accept low wages and poor working conditions.
“Human frailty, an essential subject of nursing, defies algorithmic management,” the report argues.
