Travel in Your Future? What to Know Before You Go
Carol Dunbar, APRN, BC
Alice* has been feeling frustrated and restless lately. Each day seems like a rerun of the day before — the same problems and the same complaints. It’s gotten so difficult for Alice that she can’t seem to see beyond the next eight-hour shift.
“Maybe what you need is a fortune-teller,” her best friend says with a laugh, “someone who can see your future for you.” Alice laughs, but secretly keeps the idea in the back of her mind. “Maybe a fortune-teller is just what I need,” she muses, “someone who can help me see my way out of here.”
On her way home that night, Alice steps inside Madam Future’s Fortune-telling Parlor and Travel Nurse Agency. “Please help me,” Alice pleads as she comes face to face with Madam Future. “Get out your crystal ball, your tarot cards, look at my palm, whatever it is that you use, and tell me there is something new and exciting in my future.”
“Oh,” Madam Future exclaims, “I don’t need any of those things. I can see a nursing career of exciting assignments with many challenges and changes. I see travel to exotic places, sun-filled beaches, snow-covered ski slopes, and desert climates. I see you working in rural community hospitals and large urban medical centers. I see a very exciting future for you. Are you interested, Alice?”
Travel Trends
Travel nursing is a relatively new career option that began in the early 1980s. Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida are some of the states that first used travel nurses to supplement nursing workforces where the population saw significant increases in the winter months. Since then, travel nurses have been used throughout the country to ease staff shortage problems, adjust staff levels for specific times of year, or supplement staff when nurses are undergoing new education or training.
“I was a staff nurse for more than 15 years,” explains Kristin Alberto, RN, critical care travel nurse. “I was topped out in my salary and frustrated with my career. I tried the management route as a nurse manager, but knew that wasn’t for me. I am a good bedside nurse and like being at the bedside. I just needed an alternative. I wanted to travel and I wanted to go someplace where I could learn something new.”
Sound interesting? Then take the first step. “Nurses who call our agency have usually read up on a travel career,” says Marcia Fuller, RN, BSN, senior vice president of nursing for AMN Healthcare, which specializes in travel nurses and currently assigns about 7,500 nurses throughout the country. “When a nurse calls one of our six companies,” Fuller adds, “we will send information that explains what to expect from a travel career — pay, benefits, housing, and how to choose an assignment that is most suitable.”
What You Need to Go
The first step in deciding whether to travel should be a careful self-assessment. Can you move to a new place, walk into a new assignment with only a few days’ orientation, work for 13 weeks, and then move on to another assignment? What are the skills that make a good traveler? “Clinical experience, critical thinking skills, and people skills,” Fuller suggests, “are very important. Can you accept change, adapt well, fit in, and be independent?”
Your success as a travel nurse may depend on your relationship with your agency. “You definitely need to find a good agency,” Alberto emphasizes, “one that is viable and reliable. After all, you will be depending on it to recommend assignments as well as to provide housing.” Sarah Gaspar, RN, a pediatric nurse who has been traveling with AMN since 1996, agrees. “The most important relationship for a travel nurse is the one you will have with your recruiter,” she says. “You need to have someone who understands you, someone you can contact at anytime, someone who you know will be there for you.” A good recruiter will mentor, listen to concerns, and help choose the best assignments. “A good recruiter is someone you can trust,” Alberto adds. “It is a very important relationship.”
Beyond the recruiter, communication with other departments in the agency will also help make your travel career a success. “You need to know that your agency will be easy to reach,” Gaspar advises, “whether it is a question on housing, payroll, or healthcare benefits. When you’re out there on your own, communication is very important.”
There are many other considerations involved in taking a travel assignment. You will need to know the health and immunization requirements of each facility, as well as specific certifications that will be required prior to employment. There is also a testing process at most hospitals. “The test I took at one hospital,” Alberto recalls, “took several hours. I remember thinking this was harder than my state boards.”
You will also need to apply for a nursing license in the state where you are assigned. “Currently, there are 17 states that belong to the Nursing Licensure Compact,” explains Fuller. That means that nurses holding a license in any one of these states may practice in any other of the compact states provided they follow the laws and regulations of the state in which they are practicing. To find out which states belong to the compact, access the National Council of State Boards of Nursing at http://www.ncsbn.org.
Housing is also important to consider when deciding on a travel assignment. Make sure to ask about the following
issues —
- What kind of housing is guaranteed?
- Will it be private or will you share with another travel nurse?
- Is it in a safe neighborhood?
- How far is the housing from the work assignment?
- Will you be able to take your car or will there be public transportation?
“Housing is typically a furnished apartment,” explains Fuller, “but in a rural area the accommodations could be in a home. The housing is very different from one place to another, depending on what’s available.”
Contract Questions
“As an agency, probably the most important thing we can do is to coach you on the interview process with the hospital,” suggests Fuller. And these are the questions that can make all the difference in whether the assignment is a winner or a washout. Alberto suggests the following important things to ask —
- What kind of orientation does the hospital provide?
- What is the unit’s type and size?
- What is the nurse-to-patient ratio?
- What shifts will you be expected to work — weekends or on-call?
- Will there be a charge nurse on all shifts?
- What kind of equipment is used in the unit?
- Is charting done by computer or handwritten notes?
- Will you be required to float to other units?
Gaspar adds these additional questions —
- What resources are available?
- Will you be expected to take charge, and what does that entail at that particular facility?
Travel nursing is not always easy, especially in the beginning, but these nurses can look back on those first assignments with a smile. “It was very scary at first,” Alberto recalls. Gaspar, who took her first assignment in California, found her first assignment to be a traumatic experience. “Now I can chalk it up to experience,” she says with a laugh. “I quickly found out that what I didn’t ask was very important.”
Fitting In
One of the biggest challenges for the travel nurse can be fitting in at the new assignment. “I have a simple work ethic,” Alberto says. “I do my best wherever I go, and I love what I do. I like people, I introduce myself, and I start conversations.” Gaspar agrees. “I listen, I watch, and acclimate to the setting,” she says. “I’m not afraid to ask questions or to say I’ve never done that before, could you show me how you do it? You never want to come in as ‘nurse know-it-all.’ Don’t cling to your past ways of doing things and always be open to learning something new.”
Rewards on the Road
Travel nursing may be just what you need to take a new look at your nursing career and at yourself. “Travel nursing requires that you learn from every place that you’ve been,” Gaspar explains, “and makes you realize how much you know. You will develop your decision-making abilities, and you will learn something about yourself from the attitudes of the staff in response to you.” And the challenges are not to be underestimated. “You must be confident in your skills, embrace the challenges,” Alberto advises, “and the person you are will show through in the end.”
*Composite person
Carol Dunbar, APRN, BC, is a contributing writer for Nursing Spectrum.
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