Southern California: Travel RN

Maybe this will help you:

www.delphiforums.com

search for travel nurses and you can find tons of stuff in the archives. I got my cali license very fast and it was cumbersome but not hard. Need two fingerprint cards, records to be transferred and some paperwork. Expensive but worth it.

renerian

Hello My name is Stephen,
I am a one year Telemetry RN who lives in St. Louis, MO. I am looking to move to Southern California. Can a you please help me in this move?
1. What Travel Co. should I apply for?
2. Should I avoid any certain Hospitals?
3. Should I take their housing or money for my own place?
4. Is one year Tele exp. enough?
5. Do I need ACLS?
6. How long is the application process?
7. Should I get my CA License now on my own, or should I let the Tavel CO assist me.
8. Can you think of any questions I missed.


I will answer what I can:
1. I can't tell you which one, but I do recommend you apply with several of them for your first assignment so you can compare pay and benes and pick from the litter. Definitely use the site renerian provided.
2. Anything NOT Tenet
3. Get the stipend if you can and use that money rather than have them set you up. It's more convenient for them to do it, but you will get more if you are able to get the stipend. Also, remember, it is tax free.
4. Typically 1 yr experience in the field you want to work in is enough, but there are always exceptions to the rule
5. It won't hurt.
6. What for--the travel agency or CA licensure?
7. I would wait until you at least have a travel company to work with. They should reimburse, but might (or not) if you do it before you start talking to recruiters.
8. Why thank you for asking. As a St. Lou native (born and raised) I'd like to say...Let's go Blues, Rams, and Cards , but I certainly understand your interest in getting out of the great state of Misery I will leave the question appropriate for my response to number 8 up to you. Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.


Good luck

Just to clarify psychrn03 #3:

Housing AND/OR the stipend is only tax-free if you have a permanent tax home. Otherwise, it is taxable.

I suggest having your California license BEFORE arriving here.

Our hospital has hired nurses from out of state who do not get their license in a timely manner. The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) revenue was cut 10% by Governor Davis and even more by Arnold (no disrespect here, just too lazy to look up the spelling of his name).
The BRN has taken in a surplus that went to the general fund and another $5.00 every two years for nursing education, all from our license fees. Still they are sometimes slow. Some of the people who answer the phone are not as efficient as we would like.

The nurses ended up going to Sacramento several hundred miles away and when face-to face expedited the process.

The travel nurses (mostly excellent!) have their license when they get here.

Hate to say this because there are some very fine nursing staff at Tenet facilities, but I will not even go through the registry now. My license and mental health cannot take it. There is a great opportunity for those who enjoy a challange (fight?) to work at a Tenet facility that is unionizing. The right person, NOT ME, will be able to help future patients and nurses by improving the patient care at these places.

WELCOME!

Wow, this is of the utmost importance to me!!! I have never heard of this, and I don't quite understand what this means. I live in TX currently and rent an apt, but once I leave I won't have an apt. I plan to have my mail forwarded to my mother in MO while I travel so I don't have to keep changing addresses through the post office. Will this mean my tax free money will not be tax free? If so I guess I will need to make sure my pay is readjusted accordingly so that I see more of that money. I greatly appreciate this information. Also, if you happen to know where I could look at this information online, I would appreciate any links you could provide.

I was surprised how much the Cali BON had to cut back when I got my newsletter.

renerian

psychRN03-

I don't really remember the IRS publication that talks about what is able to be "tax-free" and what is not. It might be in the IRS publication that talks about Meals and Incidentals, and Housing. You can look it up at the IRS website under "Per Diem Rates". (I researched this before I started traveling almost 3 years ago, so I am not sure of the exact publications!)

There are many travelers, who thinking that they are receiving their housing "tax free", then either receive a 1099 at the end of the year with their housing/subsidy on it (and, of course, no taxes taken out!) or some companies put it on their W-2's (correctly, I might add!). They get a rude awakening when their "income" is increased by $10,000 or so, and they owe taxes!!!!

The ONLY legal way to get housing and per diems tax free is to have a tax home. You can do this by either: keeping your apt, have a house that you pay on, renting a room in someone's house (most people who do this use a relative). The only catch with "renting" a room is that the "rent" you pay MUST be "market value" for the room. Legally, you cannot just pay, say.....$1/month and then try to call it your legal tax home.

Unfortunately, companies do not tell you this. I would recommend (if you do not want to research it yourself) is to talk to a CPA/accountant who specialized in travel nursing!

Good Luck to you!

Actually I did some research and was actually able to find some info in this vast world wide web. As I mentioned, I was planning on forwarding my mail to my mother, but if I set up a deal with her I'd have to pay MO state taxes on my income, so I might set up something with my girlfriend's parents here in TX so I can avoid that problem. Now the issue I must deal with is spending 30 days at my "home" over the course of 2 yrs. I'm going to have to figure out how that can be worked out. Again, I can't thank you enough for making me hip to the fact. That's what makes this board so wonderful.

Fortunately, the "30 day rule" is actually a myth. No where in IRS statues will find such a rule!