So you're a travel nurse, which constant questions do you LOVE the most?

Specialties Travel

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Specializes in Nephrology, Dialysis, Plasmapheresis.

So you're a travel nurse, meeting new people all the time, and answering the raised eyebrow questions from your skeptical aunts. Which one is your favorite, or should I say, least favorite question that you get asked on a regular basis!?

-Questions from friends, family, heck even my Dad, "So you still liking this traveling thing?"

-The audacity of co-workers asking, "Hey come here, let me ask you a question... how much do you make?"

-Or the one right after you announce your new assignment to someone and they actually say, "Oh cool, where you going after that?"

Just a few of my favorites.. it amazes me that people all ask the same questions!

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-What is a travel nurse?

-Why doesn't the hospital just hire more staff?

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Specializes in They know this too!.

I get asked about my salary, which I don't like discussing. Because we all know not every Agency offers the same thing and we are not all in it for the same things.

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the salary question! ugh. so awkward. i just simply answer something along the lines of its not as high as some would think but its more than i was making back home. so far, no one has had the nerve to keep asking!

another question i get that I think is odd "Don't you get lonely?" (obviously its more for single travelers) You can make friends everywhere which is the beauty of this job!

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Specializes in OB.

I hear the "How much do you make?" frequently, which I never answer specifically, just "It varies with each contract".

Lately though I've been hearing "You drive all that way alone?" - in an incredulous tone? and the newest - "You drive all over the country without a GPS?!?" One would think I was finding my route by following the North Star or some such!

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"Did you travel out here alone?" (No, I brought my teenage sons.) "Oh, do they like having to switch schools? " (No, they homeschool). *looking shocked* "Oh my, how on earth do you do that? I could never do that."

Well, you're not me, is what I want to say. And your kids are not my kids. In fact, there are a lot of things I want to say. And then when they want to know details, I want to tell them to consult google, or mind their own business. I don't know why this gets on my nerves so, but it does.

Also: Where have you been? Where are you going to go next? You must make a lot of money, huh?

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Got a good laugh last night at work thinking about this thread bc I finally ran into an actual travel nurse (not a local agency) who got floated to our floor! Another nurse and I grilled him for a good 30 minutes - he was excited to talk about traveling and we were excited to listen & learn. He worked in LTC for a few years then hit the road working in hospitals - with no hospital experience. Was amazed at the variety of jobs he'd worked or considered - endoscopy clinic, strike work, etc and all the places he'd been.

Just nice to talk to someone face to face who's "living the dream" or at least my dream. Made it all real. I walked out of work on cloud nine. :)

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I'm 26, and I have been told that I look 16. My favorite, which is the most insulting to me, is:

You're so young, isn't this sort of dangerous for you?

How condescending! First off, I am 5'9" and a bigger girl, so it's not like I really am 16 and weigh 100 pounds. Second of all, is it dangerous for the 30 year old staff nurse to go to the grocery store? I see no difference. Then typically, it is followed by, "You must be rich to have no kids and to be doing this." No, I'm not. Thanks. I drive a 2011 Kia Soul with a dent in the bumper and some weird scratch down the side. I also have debt and monthly bills just like you. Rude.

I take this all in stride and try to laugh people's privacy invading comments. It normally works.

Kimberly

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I don't mind the questions, I lived in Australia for several years and answered the same sort of things nearly every day because I couldn't hide my accent. What I find annoying is not the asking about salary (people know better than to ask here) but the attitude from the local staff that travellers are raking it in. At my current hospital I've been referred to as a "nurse with a purse", they were shocked when I told them their float pool pays better than travel nursing.

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