[HN Gopher] What Happens When Nurses Are Hired Like Ubers
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What Happens When Nurses Are Hired Like Ubers
Author : chapulin
Score : 19 points
Date : 2023-10-05 18:51 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (themarkup.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (themarkup.org)
| Eumenes wrote:
| Just a hit piece on contractors because the publication doesn't
| like how they can't be part of a union.
|
| > Contractors have more flexibility and in some circumstances
| higher pay, but generally, workers classified as employees have
| rights to sick leave, minimum wage pay, and other benefits that
| contractors aren't automatically granted.
|
| Yes, that's correct. If you're a contractor, you don't get paid
| if you don't work. Why is minimum wage even relevant here?
| Traveling nurses get paid a TON of money. Again, just a hit piece
| on nurses that choose not to be W2.
| [deleted]
| pixl97 wrote:
| It works when all contracting nurses are high paid. It breaks
| down when companies decide to make everyone low paid
| contractors (aka Uber).
| Eumenes wrote:
| There are all sorts of contractors ... Low paid menial work
| like driving a car and highly specialized ones, like having
| expertise in an area of nursing (wound/burn care, surgery,
| maternity, etc).
| madsbuch wrote:
| IMHO contracting should always pay at least a competitive
| salary for the area of work plus a risk premium. ie. it
| does not make sense to talk about a low paid contractor.
| miguelazo wrote:
| The focus of the piece is the impact on delivery of care,
| relationship between patient and nurse, as well as the
| experience of the nurses. Hardly a hit piece, but keep simping
| for the gig economy.
| Eumenes wrote:
| Independent contractor [?] gig worker
|
| Independent contractors have been doing 1099 work way before
| the 'gig economy'
| [deleted]
| 1323portloo wrote:
| These companies (ShiftKey, Clipboard) are not acting as
| agents for long term 1099 contractors at a hospital or
| other health care facility. They are filling shifts for as
| little as a day at a time at a moment's notic. Quality of
| care is atrocious because you never know the quality of the
| health care worker and the health care worker may not have
| the necessary training to do the job required of them.
| Bottom line is the problem is not 1099 work or workers,
| it's that these garbage "gig economy" rent seeking
| companies are treating the health care profession as if
| they were picking up day laborers in a Home Depot parking
| lot.
| Eumenes wrote:
| If there's a hole or shortage in scheduling, these
| contractors can fill vital gaps. Are you saying that the
| hospitals, and patients, are better off with less nurses?
| Are the existing staff better off with higher patient to
| caretaker ratios? You have to have a
| license/certification/required education to take on these
| jobs, which are managed by state nursing boards (or
| whomever manages the licensure). Requirements for
| traveling/temp nursing staff are usually higher than FT
| (generally need experience within a hospital). Knowing
| the industry, any of these temps can get the FT jobs if
| they chose. Its a choice to them (make more $$ hourly,
| less/no benefits, no set work schedule, etc).
| RoyalHenOil wrote:
| You seem to be missing the point. The problem isn't
| getting in temps to fill in during the odd shortage. It's
| replacing long-term staff with temps. This is bad for
| patients.
|
| If your hospital is always understaffed on Friday nights,
| for example, you need to hire more nurses, not get temps.
| hyperhello wrote:
| It seems like the fundamental situation of having a very bad boss
| or an exploitative industry, coded into a procedure. Soon you'll
| have to spend your salarycoin at the company storeapp, and
| there's no recourse or anyone to blame.
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(page generated 2023-10-05 23:02 UTC)