Travel Nursing

I'm moving your thread to the Travel Nursing forum, since that is the subject. Also, there are many older threads in the Travel Nursing forum that you may find interesting or helpful.

Experience
The more experience you have, the better for you...As a traveler you are expected to be able to hit the ground running with little or no orientation, baptism by fire if you will. As a new nurse, the comfort zone is a little more narrow, and it can be overwhelming enough without the ~not knowing where to find anything ~ syndrome associated with travel nursing. It can really put a damper on your time management and therefore affect patient care.

There are some facilities that will take you with one year experience. The interview process you will have with the facility (not your recruiter) should tell you if it will be a nice/safe fit. Some facilities are 'good' to their travelers, while others may have 'different' expectations of their travelers. If you are honest with yourself, and your limitations, you may find a reasonable assignment for your level of experience.

Work Environments
California has recently mandated their patient ratios and are taking on more travelers to comply, so in my experience, it is good here. I have also worked in certain nameless facilities in Florida that gave travelers and staff alike rediculously unsafe assignments... oh my, I'm still having nightmares! Not to say all assignments in Cali are good, and Florida is bad, just saying my own experience regarding rn/pt ratios has been better in Cali since they have ratios mandated by law.

Is there a regional facility near you that you could pick up a little per diem float pool work? That is one way to prepare you for stepping outside your comfort zone.


Lonliness
Depends on how outgoing you are, and what you expect from other people. I recently met a trio of young nurses that traveled together. What a great time they had on their assignment. They made friends with staff, and also had their own built in 'crew'.
The facility/unit I'm at now has potluck going away parties for their travelers, and invite travelers along on adventures and outings. Other places, not so much...and then there are others that say they do (welcome their travelers with open arms and 'include them') during the interview, but when you get there, nope...not so much.

I fully agree that taking on some per diem agency assigment helps greatly in the transition. You get to see how other hospitals do things and other equipment you may not have used before. When you travel, you will get little orientation. I have done 4 hours to 2 day of orientation for a 13 week contract.

I started traveling when I had 1.5 years of experience. I was freaked out when the time came for me to start my first assigment but I got through it. I have worked with only 1 or 2 nurses that gave me problems. The vast majority are very helpful and are great resources.

You absolutely have to be able to hit the ground running. Nurses will help you if you have a question but you have to be confident in your skills and know what you are doing.

After I started applying for my first couple of assigments I found out that yes, 1 year of experience is required, several hospitals turned me down because they wanted 2 years and some of them even wanted charge experience which I didn't have then. I was surprised, but some of the assigments I have been on, I have been the charge nurse because I was the one with the most experience or no one else wanted to do it.