What is a Traveling Nurse Duties?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2004

Hi. We use travelers where I work, especially in the winter. Basically they are hired on a temporary basis and work out a contract for a specified amount of time. Their duties are the same as the nurses on the units they are staffed on.

Most of the time they are paid top dollar, get a housing allowance or their rent paid at an apartment the hospital rents for them, and other benefits.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jul 13, 2004

Agency nurses are more like temps (per-diem or day-to-day basis). They usually earn more than travel nurses also, as their room and board, travel expenses, etc. do not have to be paid. Travelers work full-time and are on the schedule right along with the full-timers for the length of their contracts. They are contracted with a particular unit and interview with the manager of the unit prior to accepting (or passing on) the contract offered.

Both agency nurses and travelers are experienced nurses (most reputable agencies will not contract with nurses who have less than a year of experience unless it is a specific internship type of contract, and I've heard even those are a little shady in that the nurses get turned loose before they are ready). They will have the same duties and patient load as the regular staff in most cases.

LouisianaNurse2006 · Jul 13, 2004

When you work for an agency and are sent to different hospitals all the time, how do you learn each facilities way of doing things? Wouldn't this be awfully stressful on the agency nurse - always having to adjust to a new environment constantly or do they usually stay for awhile??