About a year and a half of experience...

[TheRickster]

and I need to travel. I know that MOST travel nurses recommend at least 2 years to avoid the pitfalls that inexperience can bring, but I need to get out of here for a while and travel nursing seems to be the ticket.

I have been an RN at Jewish in Louisville in critical care and ventilator units, I am PCCN certified and have my ACLS certification, STILL -- I feel like a fraud... like any day now someone is going to find out just how little I know. The thing is, I would just as soon feel like that in Albuquerque for 13 weeks at twice the pay as I would back here at home.

Is this wrong? I suspect that I know more than I think I do (does that make sense?) because, frankly, I can often tell when another nurse is less than competent in a certain area and what they are doing wrong.

Anyway, I am 44 years old and started this RN thing late in life, I have wanted to do travel nursing since before nursing school and I am not getting any younger so I figure on a baptism by fire.

Big mistake? High probability of failure? Your thoughts.

[bagladyrn, RN]

Sounds like you have a good solid base to start from. The only issue for you might be what sounds like a bit of lack in the self confidence area. Since as a traveler you will be expected to pick up and work with minimal to no orientation (usual is one to two shifts), if you have worked only at this one hospital, I'd suggest spending just a couple of months picking up per diem shifts through an agency at other local facilities just to prove to yourself how adaptable you can be.

Spend the time while doing this exploring various agencies offerings and finding the best fit for your personal needs and goals. There can be a wide disparity between travel nursing agencies and you really should take the time to compare them.

[TheRickster]

I certainly appreciate the advice. Whether I am smart enough to take it remains to be seen.

As for self-confidence, I simply hate the thought of billing myself as "all that and a bag of chips" and then falling flat on my face -- bad for me, for the nurses I would work with, and for future travelers to that facility.

One of the companies that I am in travel negotiations with wanted to "update" the checklist I submitted because they felt I might be shortchanging myself.

For example, under hemodialysis I checked "3 -- little experience", I am not a dialysis RN and have only performed peritoneal dialysis on a patient. My recruiter asks "do you care for patients who require dialysis?"...my answer "of course"...her reply "well then you should check 1 -- able to act w/o supervision".

By the time we were finished, I was one of the most experienced RNs I have ever met.

I think I may proceed with the travel plans, but I will not sign until I am certain that a potential employer understands EXACTLY what my experience and skill level are.

WRT

[bagladyrn, RN]

You are very right on the above - do NOT allow a recruiter ( or anyone else ) to tell you to change your qualifications to reflect anything other than your actual experience. This could result in you being placed in a position you have not had the training to handle and at the least will reflect badly on both you and the agency. Taking care of a patient before and after receiving dialysis ( administered by another trained nurse) is certainly not the same as performing the skills yourself.

Most hospitals I have worked with would rather know that you have limited experience with a procedure but are willing to learn or perform with supervision. If it is not a skill which takes a long time to learn, they may be willing to train even a traveler.

[TinyNurse, RN]

I started traveling after just one year of ER experience. I also felt like a fraud, but as the weeks went on I realized I was learning MORE, just by being a traveler. Always fill out your checklists honestly.

[TheRickster]

I believe that I will do alright. No misrepresentation and I will look at every assignment as a learning opportunity.