Travel questions

Trauma Columnist · Jul 9, 2015

Moved to Travel Nursing forum

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2015

You're better off with 2 years experience minimum in my opinion. Your just starting to get your feet wet at 1 year to be honest, and you will be a more appealing candidate with 2 years under your belt.

I hear L/D and PICU are up there in demand, less so M/S. ICU staff I hear tend to get floated a lot to tele and stepdown in addition to working ICU so they frequently work outside their comfort zones.

You just have to see how you feel after a year. Travel nursing is hit the ground running with 2 days orientation to the floor.

Argo · Jul 9, 2015

OR, ER, Cath LAB, L/D and all ICU specialties do not have much issue at all getting assignments. I am OR and can pick which city I want to go to, if it is a big city there will be multiple assignments. Even in small/medium sized cities there seem to be more than one assignment available.

If you are working med/surg, 1 year. Specialty areas, 2 years. I think it is hard to get a grasp for most on things you will run across in big hospitals if you only see something once in a 6-12 month period. When you are in a smaller hospital you just don't get the exposure. When you are learning during your 1st year in a specialty you are kind of over run with info and you forget more than you think you will.

NedRN · Jul 9, 2015

The higher level of training you have, the more valuable you are. Medsurg is entry level and entry level jobs will always have a lot of competition. You might be able to get by with one year of medsurg before traveling, but not other specialties.