Job outlook for travel nursing in this economy?

[inthesouthrn]

I've been an RN for the past 15 years. I spent most of that time in home health. Then I decided that I would LOVE to be a travel nurse so I can see this beautiful country of ours. So then, knowing that travel agencies want you to have at least a year of hospital experience, I went back into the hospital setting and have worked on a medical floor for the past 2 and a half years. My youngest daughter has just left the nest and is in college. My current job I loved so much and made such great money, that I had almost decided to stay there. But the road calls. With my girl in college and we have the motorhome, I was thinking of traveling pretty soon.

However, at my current job, our census had dropped drastically since May and we are getting canceled very frequently. When I first started on the floor I currently work on (a year ago) half the staff was travel nurses. Now we have NO travel nurses and I feel we are overstaffed. Here I sit on my SECOND day of getting canceled this week!!!

My thinking is that if we are suffering low census (I don't know if it's due to the economy, our current hospitalist program that lots of patients don't like or what is causing the low census....none of the old timers remember it ever being this bad) and our lack of even having travelers now, how is the current job market for travelers in the US now? I would hate to leave my current hospital where I do have some seniority over the newly hired grads of last year, into a type of job where I may not can get the jobs I want. I do want to go to popular areas such as CA, AK, and areas near tourist attractions, because well....I want to be a tourist while I work. That's mostly why I want to travel.

Please give your insight on this. I don't have any travel nurses to talk to where I work because they are all gone and I'd love to have some advice from you who are out there. I don't want to jump into a market where there are no good jobs.

Anything you can tell me will be very appreciated. Thank you!

[marktwain]

I am following this posting closely. I was planning to start traveling in January, but in the job postings on the sites of the agencies I decided to go with, discussions with recruiters, and posts like these, I see a decrease in the available contracts. Please elaborate on what everyone is finding, and do you think I should wait a bit longer? There is no rush and I have a great job with excellent pay, I am just bored to tears:o

[REB_58]

I travel as a nurse and am seeing things tighten a bit. However, as with all things if you are flexible in where you are willing to go you will find travel nurse positions at good pay.

[Soonstudent]

I just got a contract in CO. I was looking with 3 smaller companies for about 4 weeks with no luck. Two of the companies were working hard. In my perception there were a lot of jobs out there, however I don't have anything to compare it to as I'm a first time traveller. In my situation the problem was that I've only been a nurse for a year and a half and this was my first travel assignment. Most hospitals didn't want to take me. I signed up with a larger travel company because they get more exposure and had a job in less than 24hrs. I was real flexible on the details of my assignment and I was told by recruiters thats what it takes in this market, but most of the jobs I was submitted to were places I would have liked anyway. I to was a little nervous about leaving a secure job but so far I think it'll work out fine.

[emtneel]

I just got a contract in CO. I was looking with 3 smaller companies for about 4 weeks with no luck. Two of the companies were working hard. In my perception there were a lot of jobs out there, however I don't have anything to compare it to as I'm a first time traveller. In my situation the problem was that I've only been a nurse for a year and a half and this was my first travel assignment. Most hospitals didn't want to take me. I signed up with a larger travel company because they get more exposure and had a job in less than 24hrs. I was real flexible on the details of my assignment and I was told by recruiters thats what it takes in this market, but most of the jobs I was submitted to were places I would have liked anyway. I to was a little nervous about leaving a secure job but so far I think it'll work out fine.

Where you gonna be in Colorado?

I can tell you about most hospitals in Pueblo, COS, and Denver area...

The weather has been GREAT here, more like spring/fall not really winter!

[Soonstudent]

I'll be in Pueblo from Dec - Mar. Thinking of getting a season lift ticket. I've been to Keystone before and loved it. They have a package deal for Keystone, Breck and one more for a pretty good deal. What do you think? Thanks Brandon

[emtneel]

I'll be in Pueblo from Dec - Mar. Thinking of getting a season lift ticket. I've been to Keystone before and loved it. They have a package deal for Keystone, Breck and one more for a pretty good deal. What do you think? Thanks Brandon

I dunno, Pueblo is REALLY far from keystone, brek, etc..

Denver is about 2 hours or so to these places, and Pueblo is 2 hours south of Denver (if you don't hit traffic) there is a "shortcut" way you could maybe take 30min off, but if roads are snow and icy... you are really looking at 3-4 hours one way to get to the resort. Then i guess you could stay at a hotel in Denver, unless you don't mind spending 200-300/night for a hotel/condo at the actual ski area. Anywhere you stay up in the mountains is going to be ridiculous expensive.

If you were in Denver I would say go for it, there are people that go up to ski every weekend. But its not that far and you can drive up and back the same day.

I would really calculate how many times you are going to go, to see if you will really re-coup your pass expense and if you have money for hotels, or don't mind driving 8 hours in one day to ski.

Are you working at ST.Mary corwin? or Parkview?

I haven't worked in Pueblo, but my mom is a nurse and lived in Pueblo for 10 years, she always, said take me to Parkview and that it was better than St.Mary corwin.

Get ready for small town atmosphere. If i was you i would take the housing subsidy and find your own housing because it is cheap in Pueblo. And no matter where you live, you are probably ~30min from either hospital.

We used to live in Pueblo West, might be 30-40min from there.

If you have any questions about Pueblo, let me know, i lived there for ~10 yrs.

Also there are smaller ski resorts that are closer to Pueblo. Ski Cooper and Monarch, and they are a LOT cheaper. They are only about 1.5-2hours drive away. The blacks aren't that hard at those resorts but it is still good skiing.

You will have to get out of Pueblo to actually do "stuff" as there is not much there.. its a town of ~150k, 1 movie theatre, but they have everything you need, a small mall, kohls, samsclub, etcc. Just not that much extra stuff to do.

[Soonstudent]

Thanks for the advice, google maps says about 3 hours to keystone. I'll make a run and see how it works out. I have a friend in Denver I could stay with. Coming from the east coast I don't have any problem driving 3-4hours to snowboard for the day. I'll just have to check it out when I get there. I'll check into the other areas as well. Thanks Brandon

[emtneel]

Thanks for the advice, google maps says about 3 hours to keystone. I'll make a run and see how it works out. I have a friend in Denver I could stay with. Coming from the east coast I don't have any problem driving 3-4hours to snowboard for the day. I'll just have to check it out when I get there. I'll check into the other areas as well. Thanks Brandon

Well if you have a friend then i would say go ahead. But also you might want to call the resorts and see if you can even ski much. They might be having sale because it has been really warm here in colorado, and i don't think much skiing has been going on, they probably have been making snow.... We finally got some good snow that didn't melt last night, but that's the first.. and its over a month later than normal.. its been high 60s and beautiful here shorts/t-shirt weather.. Today was really the first chilly day we had with a high of 40F..

[sharonaz]

Well, here I am ready to go off to my first travel assignment. I have wanting to do this for several years and I have not had any trouble finding a contract. This will be a totally new experience. My specialties are MedSurg and Home Health. I am very thankful to have found this blog.

I agree with what many of the writers have posted about the difference in the economy though. I have practiced for the last 16 years in AZ and the last two years have seen a significant drop in the seasonal, massive influx of snowbird patients.

Potential patients are not having elective surgeries. Knees are not getting replaced. People must just be living with the pain.

Snowbirds cannot afford two homes anymore. Many have lost significant amounts of their retirement savings.

People will still get sick and need nurses though that is for sure.

[JoeMacERRN]

I'm just getting ready for a travel assignment also. I have 23 yrs ER experience. Done the busy Level 1, and currently in a small community level 4. Our census is dead. I don't know how they can afford to keep the doors open. One pt on the floor and 6-8 a 12 hr shift thru the ER. I"m bored to death. I'm afraid my skills are dulling. I need some juice. So I'm looking to travel. Wading thru all the compaines is kind of a trip. Everyone has the highest pay, best benefits in the industry, treat their nurse the best...blah, blah. Show me the money!!!