Benefits of Travel Nursing
by: Linda Raye

This article is from Articlecity and is by Linda Raye




Want to see places, yet be on the job? Many careers offer that pleasure, but none like travel nursing jobs. It’s exciting to experience different cultures, and it is equally rewarding to know many kinds of people in travel nursing jobs. Think about it. Travel nursing jobs will not only offer you excellent money in addition to free housing and insurance, they will also let you see the entire country, experience different cultures, taste different cuisines, and above all meet new people. But there is another advantage. By opting for travel nursing jobs, you are adding to your unique experience of multiple nursing abilities.

A travel nursing job is a temporary requirement of the mobile health care provider who is able to attend contracted assignments for a health care facility. Normally, these assignments are for a term of 13 weeks, but may vary subject to terms of agreement. The travel nursing job differs from agency nursing whereby, in the case of the latter, the service provider is a local nurse whom hospitals contract mostly for single-shift assignments.

In view of shortages of experienced nursing staff, there is a good scope for travel nursing jobs. Since hospitals can hire experienced travel nurses, by so doing they can save on their resources that would have otherwise been spent for orientation of new nurses or extending matching employee benefits.

Though there is no dearth of travel nursing jobs, a prospective candidate will do well to do solid homework before joining the fray. Here are some pointers:

1. Before You Apply

You need minimum of one-year experience in nursing. Also, you must have nursing license for the states where you wish to practice. A new state license usually takes not less than 6 months for issuance. If you are licensed in a state that participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact agreement, the usual wait to obtain a new license may be waived.

2. Which Travel Company To Choose

This is an important step in finding a suitable travel nursing job. Be diligent and try to unearth as much information as you can. For example, if you can locate other travel nurses, do ask them pros and cons of a company’s service. Not all companies measure up to expectations. Does a company issue paychecks in time? Does it stand by you in emergency? Does it offer free housing and insurance? What is the standard of housing offered? Will you get travel reimbursement? For all these and much more extensive information, think of participating in various travel nurse forums.

3. After You Choose Travel Company

Now is the time to arrange all your papers and start applying. When your application is accepted by a company, you will be asked to select from among several travel nursing jobs. Use some time to research the hospitals of your choice by visiting their websites. After your confirmation, and once your profile matches with the requirements of a recruiting hospital, you will need to establish communication for a phone interview with a company representative. If your interview goes well, you may land the job.

4. What Next ?

Okay, you are now ready for your travel nursing job. But wait. Scan the contract papers thoroughly. Remember what is not written is not guaranteed. So, if there is something amiss in the contract papers, ask for it. Ensure that you perfectly know what is expected of you when you start your new assignment. If this is mandatory on your part, there are other pressing needs you must attend to. Gather information about the new place, its climate, the people, the facilities, where and what to eat, places to see, taxes and levies to think about and so on.

If you are a willing nurse eager to try out travel nursing jobs, an exciting career awaits you. You will get to work in top-ranking hospitals with cutting-edge technology and innovative practices. You will become a good manager of your finances and have more control on your career. But perhaps the most redeeming feature of travel nursing jobs is the incredible opportunity to visit many places and know many people. What could be better? Indeed!

Copyright 2006 Linda Raye

        

It seems like everyone is either on facebook, myspace, twitter, some kind of social networking site these days. It's a great way to keep up with friends and family, share photos, and look up long lost friends. It's also a great tool to use in you professional life as well. As more and more travel nurses themselves, and travel companies as well, create profile pages on myspace and facebook it's becoming a great networking tool for you to use when looking for a new assignment, or a new company to travel for.

I keep up with nurses at almost every assignment that I've had over the past 5 years, and with facebook, it's become so easy and fun to do. I can get online and post one update, and within a few hours I get replies that tell me where my friends are currently working, who they're working for, and if the hospital they are at might have some openings for another traveler.

I do recommend that you keep a separate friend list on facebook for colleagues. Some people update their status quite often and share a lot of photos. I keep one list of close friends and family, people I don't want to miss a single post from. Then I have a list of colleagues, and a list of company home pages. It's easy to set up and can save you a lot of time reading posts from people taking quizzes and playing games online.

There are also groups of travel nurses that you can join on Facebook where hundreds of travel nurses share information. There are quite a few recruiters cruising these groups to, so if you're actively looking you can post to the group. You're likely to get a response.

I'm not as familiar with myspace, but facebook has made staying up to date with people at home a lot easier for me as I travel. I love waking up and having coffee while I look at friends and family updates and photos. It makes me feel more in touch and less isolated from them all. It's also easy to use, if you can browse the internet, you can use facebook.

        

It's hard to believe it's been a year, but I'm back in Victoria again after wintering in Syracuse New York. The job market has a lot of Travel Nurses talking right now, but thus far I have to say that I'm still finding positions where I want to go.

At first glance you would think that there are less open positions at facilities, but I don't think that's the case at all. The vacancies are still there, it's just that administrations are trying to cut back, and choosing to fill those positions with full timers willing to work the OT right now, as opposed to signing 13 week contracts with travelers.

There are a lot more short term 4 to 8 week contracts out there right now than before, and I think they can work out well for someone willing to travel without knowing for certain how long you'll be there. Those 4 week contracts turn into longer stays pretty easily. I'm currently working at facility that will only do 4 week contracts at a time, and I've been here since January 5th - well beyond the usual 13 week assignment.

Travel nurses have to be careful right now. Travel companies will try and use the apparent shortage of travel assignments to their advantage by reducing offered rates. You have to be more diligent about shopping companies and benefits.

Nothing has fundamentally changed in the shortage of nurses out here. The economic downturn just has hospital administrators looking at staffing with a dollar sign again. Bottom line, they still have to fill the position, and you deserve to paid for the job you do. Especially now, when it's even more likely that your going to be working in a short staffing environment.

While you're out there looking, if warm weather and great fishing is something you're interested in - start looking at the Texas gulf coast area. It's great for the outdoor enthusiast and the people are as warm and inviting as the weather.

        

Victoria is a mid-sized city in south Texas near the Gulf of Mexico. It's sometimes called "The Crossroads of Texas" because of the many South Texas highways that crisscross through it, and because of it's proximity to Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Corpus Christi, and Galveston. You can get in your car from here, and be in any of those places within a few hours. It's not a fancy vacation destination, but it's certainly on of those places that puts a lot of activities within your day offs reach.

First of all, the assignment outlook here is pretty good. There are three major medical facilities here. Detar Navarro, Detar North, and Citizens Medical Center. Citizens is the largest and most active facility, with a busy ER. Detar Navarro and Detar North are sister hospitals, with the North campus being a women's and children's center, however their ER sees all patients. I have no personal experience with Citizens or with Detar North, but have talked to nurses that work at both, and they say the work environment is good.

Detar Navarro is a full service ER with a 13 bed ER department. The staff at Detar Navarro has been very traveler friendly for me, and it is a well run department with a excellent Nursing staff and the physician's staff in the ER is great. I haven't had any experience in other areas of the hospital, but the ER has thus far been a real pleasure to work in. If you get the chance to come to Detar Navarro, I highly recommend it. It's not one of those "work a million hours" places, their staff here is too stable. But if you're happy with 36 a week, you're not going to find an assignment where the work portion is much more enjoyable than here.

On your off days, you havea lot of decisions to make. Depending on your idea of fun, you can visit Austin or San Anotnio for big city tourism where you can see the State Capital, enjoy the night life, or visit Sea World and Fiesta, Texas. Of course, no visit to San Antonio is complete without a visit to the Alamo, and then spending time on the river walk.

If you like the outdoors, then you're in luck here as well. Some of the best fishing on the gulf coast is within an hours drive from Victoria with both bay fishing and off shore excursions easy to arrange. Avid bird watchers flock to this area at certain times of the years to see an amazing gathering of avian, some quite rare. The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is a short 30 minute drive away from Victoria, and is one of my favorite ways to spend a few hours on a day off. It has many trails to choose from and winds along the coast for about 7 miles, then through a diverse collection of Texas' habitats as the loop goes inland. On my last trip I saw too many birds to even mention, ferrel hogs, white tailed deer, alligators, wild turkeys, and some very humorous ground hogs.



If the beach is more your style, then Corpus Christi is about 90 minutes down the road, and you can spend your day on a crowded tourist beach, or venture onto North Padre Island in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and spend the day exploring an undeveloped coastal barrier island on your own. Corpus is also the home of the Texas State Aquarium, and to a Casino Cruise ship with daily excursions for those who want to place a bet.

There's a lot of Texas history around here, and those who enjoy visiting Spanish missions, or historic battle fields and monuments will find something to keep them busy here as well.

Victoria may not be a glamorous place to spend 13 weeks itself, but it puts you in reach of a lot of activities and offers a very pleasant work experience, at least it has for me. So if a Texas assignment is what you're looking for, you might want to talk to your recruiter about Victoria, TX.

        

I think you have to pretty crazy to jump into a frozen lake when it's 5 degrees outside, but that's what these folks did at Lake George last week. One of the people going for a dip is a Physician's Assistant that I work with, and great guy, and completely out of his mind!! The winter here takes a lot of getting used to for a Southern girl and I'll admit that I've seen all the white stuff I ever want to see.

        

I came up to Schenectady in late fall, the drive was beautifull. I caught the tail end of the fall colors, and then winter moved in and took over. The trip up was a quick one, so I didn't get to sight see as much as I would have liked, but just enjoying the countryside was pretty impressive. This is a photo of the fall colors here in NY.