There's so many places I want to go,'' said Gresham, who would like to try Las Vegas, Salt Lake during the Olympics, San Francisco and Denver. Then she'll think about Australia, France, Ireland. Brian Hekman, Cross Country's director of corporate communications, estimates there are about 15,000 travel nurses, nearly twice as many as five years ago. Well over 100 Cross Country travel nurses are working in the Philadelphia area, he said. Medstaff, the Newtown Square-based company that employs Gresham, has placed 75 others here.
Some agencies specialize in supplying strike breakers.
What's causing the growth now, though, is the nursing shortage, agency off icials said. Area nurse managers said their first choice was a full-time staff nurse. Virtua Health has several travel nurses about to start working in its four New Jersey hospitals. It would hire more if they were available, even though they cost 50 percent to 75 percent more than staff nurses. Albert Einstein Medical Center, which has b een using travel nurses since 1999, has 11 now and is looking for 10 more.