Travel nursing during NP program

NedRN · Dec 23, 2013

Last question first, both of you have marketable specialties, so yes, you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding assignments together.

No possibilities of part time travel assignments, but 4 days off a week should allow you to manage. I'm assuming you have above average work ethic, smarts, and organizational skills to be in an NP program.

Yes, you can travel as an NP. Specialty does matter, and you may have to work a year or two in a permanent position to get the experience needed to travel (I'm not certain). The NP's I've seen as travelers personally are just in my general specialty area, the OR, as a first assistant (most often found taking vein in open heart but other specialties as well), and midwives assisting in sections. Of course CRNA as well, but I've not met one that was another kind of advanced practice previously.

I can speculate what kind of NPs might better find travel assignments, but I think you are better off posting such a query on the APRN section of AllNurses, or calling an agency that specializes in NP travel. I can name a couple agencies if a Google search doesn't work for you, but also the very largest agencies such as Cross Country or American Mobile do a lot of placement.

Now I'm going to speculate anyway! Since you work in the NICU, I'd guess that is where you are planning to focus your career. I can easily see an NP's skills needed in rural hospitals with no pediatrician available for high risk births - not that those would ever be planned at rural hospitals, but stuff always happens.

You might take basic NP skills and focus on the ER - perhaps not if you want to keep your boyfriend though! If you were already OR, I'd recommend becoming a surgical first assistant. Any surgeon would be happy to have the load taken off of rounding, and the current way first assistants are billed for, the billing more than pays for your salary or hourly. Depending on the state, your independent prescriptive authority may give you some advantages over a PA and make hospital credentialing easier. It would require significant additional training though.

Which brings up a downside of traveling as an NP, getting both an advanced practice new state license and credentialed by the facility will reduce travel flexibility because of the extra time involved. Being will to travel on occasion as a regular NICU nurse would bring it back up.

lemur87 · Dec 23, 2013

Thank you so much for your response! After graduation I would certainly be willing to travel as an RN in the NICU if needed...it will be nice to go back to why I love every now and then

Keeping up with state licensing:credentialing/prescriptive authority etc will not be fun...but ohwell. My bf and I have both been daydreaming about Alaska...as an ER nurse I'm sure he could work in frontier positions where a NICU nurse...probably not so much. Hopefully as a FNP I'll be more marketable in those rural places that we love (born and raised in the southern country )

NedRN · Dec 23, 2013

Indeed! I'm thinking NP's and rural areas such as Alaska that have a hard time attracting physicians are made for each other! So FNP - I missed that in your original post. I think that by itself limits you to private practices, clinics, and the ER. The ER is the most compatible with traveling I would think, but I don't know if that is a common practice area for FNPs.

You may also be able to set up a private practice in some states, but that is for after you get travel out of your system. If ever!

lemur87 · Dec 24, 2013

In my state (TN) many FNPs work as hospitalists. Is this common in other states that you know of?

NedRN · Dec 24, 2013

That's interesting. In the OR, I don't meet a lot of hospitalists but the ones I have met were physicians. I'm wondering if perhaps that is a TN legislator or regulatory reimbursement quirk - if so a rational quirk. The specialty would seem to me to lend itself well to travel if NPs are accepted in other states. Because hospitals will increasing gain revenue via better outcomes, it would seem like they would tend to lobby for lower cost professionals who could do just that. I think in most states it is all about the medical lobby holding down advanced practice. The example I'm most familiar with is CRNAs versus physicians. Identical outcomes so there is no rational case other than who has the best lobby or most power.