Travel nursing,clarify things

[Nurse J1112]

Hello all, I wanted to know what some of the common acronyms for travel nursing used on the allnurses means and basically just get a simple clarification. ALSO, I am told Cali is the best state to travel nurse and make income. Please feel free to list the best hospitals you had experience working in (more so if you are telemetry/med surg because that is what I will have to be working).

Apart from this, I know no hospital is perfect nor is every travel company or recruiter.. so I am open taking into consideration what are the KEY things to consider,look for and make necessity when starting a contract. I am new never travel nursed before

List of my things/priorities referenced above:

1- income/take home money,how to get most I can

2-what to negotiate if things go bad (contract cancelled/fired,complaints etc)

3- legal implications/disciplinary actions should something occur in work environment

3a- what happens if in future if a legal case were to happen to go to court and I am contacted, does the hospital I traveled to have to represent me etc? (this can be a whole single response just focusing on this aspect thanks)

Also last thing. I was black balled from a hospital that I mistakenly told in the past, that I was fired from another job.(never worked at that hospital I told this to)

Should I NOT list this as a hospital I am interested to work in ? (for travel or per diem) I want to think the hospital would be quick to tell the travel agency I am DNS/DNR/DNU because of this. Just want an opinion.

Can also email me personally anything on here :)

[NedRN]

What acronyms are you puzzled about? While I don't know of an acronym list, you can read about the basics of traveler nursing with a free membership at PanTravelers.

Travelers do not typically provide a list of hospitals they are interested in taking assignments. Even if they did, your fears are groundless. An agency would only find out if you are "do not use" if there is an open assignment at that hospital for which you are qualified, submit you, and the staffing department actually has that "do not use" list and uses it. A bit far fetched, but even if that happens and the agency now declines to use you at any hospital (also unlikely), there are 400 other agencies you can choose from for a fresh start with a clean slate.

Your first priority as a new traveler is not what you have listed, it is to have a successful and completed first assignment. For that you will need a good recruiter with who you communicate well with (otherwise all is lost) who is onboard with that goal. You are competing for travel assignments against others that may have more experience than you, and proven travel success. Until you have a successful travel assignment on your work history with good evaluations, chasing money will work against you. Why would a manager pick you for a high paying assignment over those more qualified? Think about that for a bit (understand the underlying bill rate is exactly the same for a traveler with 20 years of experience and 1 year of experience). Until you try travel, you don't really know how readily and quickly (half a shift of clinical orientation perhaps) you will adapt to a completely new work and local culture, unfamiliar patient population and acuity, a computer charting program you have never used before, different assortment of daily work tasks and support staff, and a different patient flow.

Thus it is better to start at a traveler friendly facility where your clinical skills are well within the scope required no matter the location or pay. After you know what you don't know, and have proven value as a traveler, now you can make better informed decisions about future assignments.

As far as legal and disciplinary/legal professional issues, they are the same for you whether staff or traveler. You are the licensed professional responsible for your own practice. Practice competently within your scope of knowledge, refuse assignments that you cannot safely handle, and use the chain of command at the hospital for issues. No different for travelers fundamentally, and you cannot/should not expect substantive help from agencies.

I will say that travelers are perhaps more likely to be reported to boards of nursing, whether for real issues or for hospitals trying to squirm out of their contract with the agency if they don't like you or are experiencing low census. Again, you need to rely on good recruiters to inform you of the risks of a particular assignment (an above market rate should always be a red flag). You can manage these risks, both by choosing assignments carefully, and professionalism including demeanor on assignment. As a personal risk management choice (for example), I choose never to work in Texas because while I like Texas, the management, physicians, a notorious blacklist, and TX BON represent unacceptable risks to me over working in other states. You can also choose to work in union hospitals or areas with better working conditions and pt ratio rules (or CA for the state mandated staffing ratio law although that was because of their strong unions).