Healthcare systems suffering staff shortages — especially among nurses, X-ray technicians and respiratory therapists — sometimes rely on "travelers,”  according to an article on the Modern Healthcare website. Agencies have deployed tens of thousands nationally since the pandemic began in the spring..

Often employed by remote staffing agencies, travelers can find themselves working in dangerous conditions without adequate safety equipment.

Caught between the hospitals where they report for duty and remote staffing agencies, their worker protections are blurred, the article said.

While providing protective equipment is the agency's responsibility, some travelers said agencies rarely distribute any.

Another answer to staffing shortages may be helping to spread the virus.Data showed a lot of nursing home workers are working at more than one facility.  One of the study’s authors said the findings suggest that staffers who work in multiple nursing homes are one source of the spread of infections, according to a Kaiser Health News article.

Read the full Modern Healthcare article.