Funded PhD Project 2: "Work, Employment and Robots: Investigating Working Conditions in the Supply Chain of Robotics", with Funda Ustek Spilda @fundaustek.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Thanks so much for including our @rooseveltinstitute.org work on gig nursing. A fav project w/ the brilliant @fundaustek.bsky.social.
Today, @katiejwells.bsky.social and @fundaustek.bsky.social explain how new Uber-style firms like CareRev and Clipboard Health are facilitating a race to the bottom among healthcare workers, and contributing to the erosion of America’s already-strained health care system.
In 2013, @timmaughan.bsky.social published a short story of dystopian fiction about Nicki, a 19-year-old zero-hour contract worker. Today, it reads as a plausible description of the working world of American nurses. My latest for @lpeproject.bsky.social. lpeproject.org/blog/nursing...
Great piece today by Katie J. Wells and Funda Ustek Spilda on the gig economy in nursing and algorithmic wage discrimination for health care providers, including discrimination based on workers’ credit information.
lpeproject.org/blog/nursing...
New paper! Latest work from @geoplace.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk exploring the strategic unknowns embedded in the business models of digital care work platforms, published in Critical Sociology. Co-authors @fundaustek.bsky.social and Dr Alessio Bertolini. Read the full paper here:
bit.ly/3F4WAJW
Silicon Valley's plan to Uberize nursing only worsens our healthcare crisis, we argue. New piece from
@fundaustek.bsky.social and myself w/ the support of
@geoplace.bsky.social and @veenadubal.bsky.social.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/31/u...
Join us March 5 in DC to discuss what happens when nurses use AI to bid against each other for shifts.
@veenadubal.bsky.social @daveyseligman.bsky.social @geoplace.bsky.social @fundaustek.bsky.social &
@chenjerai.bsky.social will guide us through the new tech wilderness. Register: lnkd.in/eCsiWVye
Quote graphic from the Roosevelt Institute stating: 'The nurses and nursing assistants who use these apps must pay fees to bid on shifts, and they win those bids by offering to work for lower hourly rates than their fellow workers.' Cited from Katie J. Wells and Funda Ustek Spilda's article 'Uber for Nursing: How an AI-Powered Gig Model Is Threatening Health Care.'
Since 2016, US hospitals have been relying on "gig" nurses.
@katiejwells.bsky.social & @fundaustek.bsky.social interviewed 29 "gig" nurses & nursing assistants, revealing how on-demand staffing services intensify existing challenges in the healthcare industry. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
"It sucks that there's nobody that you can get ahold of immediately," a nurse told me.
"It's really as if AI has eaten the managers," I explained to @businessinsider.com
www.businessinsider.com/uber-for-nur...
Research by @katiejwells.bsky.social and @fundaustek.bsky.social details how these platforms prioritize cost-cutting over worker and patient safety. www.commondreams.org/news/gig-wor...
This makes me think about the time we got a Lyft driver who literally fell asleep at a stoplight
Once again, the reason AI is facing a backlash isn’t because people are anti-tech, it’s because this is what AI *actually does* in the world — make services worse and people’s livelihoods more precarious
We quote @gabrielwinant.bsky.social: “Health care is run increasingly on a ‘lean’ basis, at the bare minimum of staffing, & then when there is a need to increase supply firms like CareRev are positioned to profit; it’s good for them & good for hospitals but bad for workers & bad for patients.”
Pair this with @allisonpugh.bsky.social ’s excellent book on the devaluation of connective labor press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Not only is this greedy & insulting, it’s *terrible* for patients & workflow. My husband is an RN & you can’t believe how many mistakes happen bc of travel nurses who don’t know the hospital—& they stay for months. Now imagine what happens when you get nurses the way car washes pick up day workers.
A new @rooseveltinstitute.bsky.social report by @katiejwells.bsky.social and @fundaustek.bsky.social reveals how the AI-powered gig model has its tentacles in the healthcare industry, and how it is creating new hazards for workers and patients. www.commondreams.org/news/gig-wor...
Here is a coverage of our recent article by @levernews.com @rooseveltinstitute.bsky.social @katiejwells.bsky.social @towardsfairwork.bsky.social
"These on-demand nursing apps can create high-risk, low-reward working conditions that endanger medical professionals and patients alike."
If we have learned anything from Uber, it’s time to rein in the on-demand nursing services. @levernews.com www.levernews.com/the-dangero...
The @guardian covering the important new paper on gig nursing in the US by #Fairwork US PI @katiejwells.bsky.social and #Fairwork Senior Researcher @fundaustek.bsky.social 👇
@rooseveltinstitute.bsky.social @groundwork.bsky.social
amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
We write: “Wall Street’s takeover of US health-care infrastructure and Silicon Valley’s introduction of gig nursing apps are a dangerous duo that is eroding our health-care system and eviscerating our ability to take care of each other.”
Gig nursing apps don’t “fix” health care—they exploit workers and put patients at risk. Lower wages. Zero training. No accountability.
Groundwork’s @katiejwells.bsky.social: “We have a problem with care. We don’t pay it well enough.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
Good question. Personally I don’t know if the technological turn in the medical industry is going to go away. But I believe it is really crucial to include worker voices and patient wellbeing in all the decisions about technology design, development and deployment.
Image of a healthcare worker in scrubs kneeling beside a hospital bed, adjusting equipment, in a modern hospital room. To the right, a promotional banner for the Roosevelt Institute features a quote about the impact of AI on nursing and healthcare disparities.
NEW📃: Since 2016, US hospitals have integrated "gig" nurses.
@katiejwells.bsky.social & @fundaustek.bsky.social interviewed 29 "gig" nurses & nursing assistants. They find that on-demand nursing firms exacerbate existing issues in the health-care industry. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Really pleased to share that @katiejwells.bsky.social and I have a new report out published by the @rooseveltinstitute.bsky.social. As part of @towardsfairwork.bsky.social we have been studying nursing platforms, and this brief presents our insights into this new domain of platformisation in the US.
Hi @nataliesedacca.bsky.social You can find it here rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
