Travel Nursing near National Parks

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Needs some travel nurse advice! My boyfriend and I (and our pup) are considering buying a new four season RV, trading in one of our cars, and buying a truck to pull the RV. We would travel and live in the RV during and in between travel assignments. My boyfriend has an Environmental Science degree hoping to find temporary/seasonal jobs wherever we would go, preferably near outdoor enthusiast places like National Parks! (we love to hike). As I'm a staff nurse with 4 years experience on a Step Down telemetry cardio thoracic surgical unit that has post open heart surgeries, LVAD's, vascular, and post lung surgeries, along with prior experience working M/S oncology and short procedure. We currently rent an apartment and our lease will be up the end of May. Looking to start traveling right after that in June.

Is it too soon to start looking for travel nursing agencies? And there are so many, are there any in particular that focus on assignments in hospitals near NP's? We are not very interested in living or working in big cities. Anyone have experience working with a company doing Progressive Care cardiac surgical nursing?

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Sooner the better to start vetting agencies. A lot of questions will come up during your search and it will take some time to figure out who is telling the truth and which ones are best for you. Your relationship with your recruiters matter far more than the agency brand. No agencies specialize in National Parks, but some do have more IHS business than others - which probably hits the same button for you. Every agency will have open assignments in your specialty but of course rural assignments in your specialty will be uncommon.

I don't know what you have heard about travel nursing. It has a reputation, not necessarily deserved, as big money. To the extent that it is deserved, it is in large part due to the tax benefits travelers get who are working away from home. Since you will never be away from home in your RV (an itinerant worker), you are not eligible.

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Thanks for the reply! I'll have to start looking into which ones have more IHS business. I'm not in it so much for the money as I am the travel experience and seeing the country. I currently work about 50 miles outside of Philadelphia and the pay is low, much lower than Philadelphia. I would imagine that the pay would be relatively the same or just slightly less if I traveled for rural hospitals. I would also be renting a room from my best friend at her house and giving her monthly rent/ storing my furniture, etc. It would be my permanent home address before I start and during. I would use the housing stipend towards the RV and truck payment.

Has anyone ever worked at a rural hospital close to the mountains they enjoyed? Thinking about maybe California, Utah, Arizona, or Montana. Visited Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon last spring, wouldn't mind travel nursing close to them. Was in Alaska this summer for vacation and travel nursing there would be a dream too!

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15 bed hospital in Mammoth Lakes. Bit of a drive around to Yosemite but you can walk in from Mammoth. A bit farther away is Bishop which also uses travelers.

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Specializes in Ambulatory Case Management, Clinic, Psychiatry.

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