DALLAS — A Texas nurse left her staff position at a hospital to become a traveling nurse because she was burnt out.

"I was exhausted and underappreciated," said Rashida Holliday from Killeen.

Holliday has been a nurse for 11 years. She started as a nurse in the U.S. Army for eight years. After that, she had a full-time job at one hospital.

"But the hospitals are all full, our safety is in jeopardy, we are short-staffed and COVID is on the rise," Holliday said.

Holliday realized there was a shortage when the workload got heavier, and she was assigned many extra duties. She said that it escalated from there.

"Nurses are burnt out, traumatized and tired from long work hours and the extra demands because of the shortage and the lack of compensation," she said.

To think about working around COVID-19 gives her anxiety. 

"At night, I can still hear the beeping of the machines. I had guilt about calling in sick. There was no compassion for our mental health in an industry with so much compassion," Holliday explained.

Holliday quit and became a traveling nurse with the company StaffDNA.

"This is my first time not working with COVID patients in a long time. I requested a non-COVID ward because I'm so burnt out," she said.

Holliday has worked at five hospitals since the pandemic, including in Tyler, Texas, Richmond, Virginia, Saint Louis, Missouri, Gallup, New Mexico with the Navajo Nation and her current posting in Plano, Texas, north of Dallas.

"This company listens to me, pays well and makes sure my environment is safe," she said. "I'm actually getting compensated for the demands of working during a pandemic in a shortage."

Across Texas and the country, demand for traveling nurses through StaffDNA's technology is on the rise.

The table below shows the increase of jobs by market and overall for the state of Texas by month.
The total at the bottom is looking at the increase in jobs from June 1, 2021, to August 25, 2021.

Holliday said she now realizes how important it is to recharge.

"I hang out with friends, I play my base guitar, and I always try and get outdoors," Holliday said.

She believes that nurses need to stand up for themselves and their mental health right now.

"Nurses should come together to speak out and ask for support," she said. "If there was better patient ratios, higher pay and support, retention wouldn't be an issue."

She said this is the time for nurses to come together and speak up to give safe patient care.