The pay was good enough last year, what changed? In my opinon nursing has always been a difficult job, yet they've always had people lining up to become nurses. So it must be more than just 'the job is too demanding'.
More and more, nurses have to act like robots to remain in compliance, and that's not what any of them signed up for, and the increasing lack of intangible reward that comes from caring for people and creating a human connection, means they demand more explicit monetary reward for temporarily suppressing their humanity to do the job.
- A large fraction of patients see the pandemic as overblown and nurses as perpetuating the myth. It's gotta be hard to care for someone who mistrusts you from the beginning.
- For those nurses taking care of COVID patients, it's probably tough to watch the cycle of death, and moreso when you know many could have taken steps to prevent it.
- The pandemic obviously puts a strain on the healthcare system, including its workers. More patients, longer hours, etc surely gets to be exhausting after doing it for 2 years.
- Administration that says they care but do the bare minimum to boost conditions or morale. A pizza party isn't as meaningful when you're struggling with an unsafe patient load.
- There's a feedback loop. As more nurses quit, the burden gets heavier on those who remain.
So even if pay hasn't dropped, the conditions have gotten worse. It's not a surprise that eventually people decide that it just isn't worth it anymore.