There are a few skills that I would love to learn, add to resume and practice, for example, Picc line insertion. Most hospitals only train a few selected staff members for things like this. I have offered to pay out of pocket as a TN, but always get told no. Agency is no help. How do you seasoned TNs advance your skillset?

Your example isn't going to aid your travel career. Not only do hospitals not look for this skill, they will not use you for it even if you are certified. Hospitals typically credential their own. So even if you become certified somehow (I believe there are two certifications, one for insertion, and one for removal), you wont ever get any practice.

I know what you mean, and it was one of the doubts I had going into travel nursing, but ultimately I felt like there were more possible gains. I'm used to being very active with code blues in my hospital and had gone through quite a bit of training (and then training others) for this; now it's strange to just keep working when a code blue is called (elsewhere in the hospital, not my own unit, of course) while the permanent staff go running. I also see flyers for workshops being put on at the hospital that I might like to attend... eventually I might ask about attending some on my own dime, but I don't know how that will go. What I remind myself is that I often felt too busy to attend continuing education even when I WAS permanent staff, so it's not like I'm really losing something every time I think to myself "hey, that would be interesting!".

What I'm trying to do is keep my eyes and ears open for procedures I may not be familiar with that are routine in the hospital where I'm placed, or just different ways of doing things, or different medications used. All that knowledge is valuable to me, too, even if it's not as flashy or obviously marketable as a new certification. I was glad to do an ativan drip the other day because at my last hospital all the ativan drips were sent to the ICU. And even though I worked at a bigger hospital with higher acuity, all of a particular cardiac surgery was done at a sister hospital, so those patients are new to me here. I'm also doing an in-depth anatomy review on my own time. Eventually I'm sure I'll feel like I've seen it all and am no longer learning the way I am now, and then it might be time to apply for permanent staff again.

I kinda had the same question. I'm an L&D nurse at a teaching hospital. so the residents do lady partsl exams. As a matter of fact, in my home state nurses aren't allowed to perform lady partsl exams at all. It's not in our scope of practice. However in some states, the nurses do all the lady partsl exams (and everything else for that matter) and the doctors only show up to deliver the babies. So how would I even learn this skill if I can't legally do it at home, but then I'd be expected to do it all the time in another state? I'm also going to post this on the OB/GYN board. But I'm trying to gain insight on how to advance skills as a traveler like raindrop.

Well, my plan is to travel for a couple of years and then take a perm job somewhere with a good reputation to get ICU experience - I would stay perm for 3-4 years as long as I enjoy the area. The only issue with this plan is I woukd prefer to live in LA or NYC and work in one of the biggies there. But I doubt if I could afford to live there. So I am thinking Mayo Clinic may be it for me.

I kinda had the same question. I'm an L&D nurse at a teaching hospital. so the residents do lady partsl exams. As a matter of fact, in my home state nurses aren't allowed to perform lady partsl exams at all. It's not in our scope of practice. However in some states, the nurses do all the lady partsl exams (and everything else for that matter) and the doctors only show up to deliver the babies. So how would I even learn this skill if I can't legally do it at home, but then I'd be expected to do it all the time in another state? I'm also going to post this on the OB/GYN board. But I'm trying to gain insight on how to advance skills as a traveler like raindrop.

Perfexion,

residents did all SVEs where I started too. On my 2nd travel assignment, the rns did exams. At that particular hospital, the orientation sign-offs included someone validating your exams. So, they taught me! And I had a great charge nurse on nights who was particularly encouraging and helpful (I have yet to place cervadil successfully! Lol) At my next assignment, my skills weren't questioned but I noticed staff were eager to help an RN new to L&D who always wanted someone to check behind her. People have no problems teaching you, just make it clear in your interviews. Having only worked at a teaching hospital before traveling, this has been a great learning experience for me. You learn something new or different everywhere you go!