Traveling to MA

[zaviesmom]

My husband has recently received a job in central MA. My current assignment is up early July and I plan on finding another travel position to move there. Has anybody had problems with licensing there? Also, does anybody know of local travel agencies there? I'm thinking of switching agencies, as I feel I'm really not getting the best benefits or pay with my current large nationwide company. Any other feedback on traveling to MA?

Thanks!

[NedRN]

Massachusetts requires every nursing license ever held to be verified. If all your license states can be verified by Nursys, it shouldn't take long.

Travcorps (who actually invented travel nursing) was based in the Boston area. At the time of their merger with Cross Country, they were the second largest agency. Cross Country still has an office in Waltham I believe. As with any large agency, there are lots of local agency spinoffs from talent starting their own agency. Other MA based agencies (or ones with local offices other than the big per diem players) include Sagent and Randstad. But lots of agencies will have contracts in MA, no special advantage for local agencies.

MA being a strong union state is one of the higher paying states for travelers. So a MA license is valuable in my opinion.

[scooterkitten]

I just received my mass license, (originally licensed in NY), it took about 2 weeks. If you are planning to travel there, the hospitals will not even look at your application until you have an active MA license. In addition, most of the hospitals in Boston require a BSN degree. They have many openings throughout the state. They have a bunch of seasonal contracts near the coast.