Are travel nurses needed anymore?

[esthomprn]

My dream is to become a travel nurse. I just graduated last year and has been working for almost 6 months so I know that i have to what at least another year to do it. My problem is that with todays economy, im afraid that there aren't enough travel jobs. I was told by my manager that if I travel, they would not be able to hold my job. I hate to travel and then find out that there are not enough jobs out there or I don't like it and then im just stuck with no job. Is it true that there are not any jobs for travel nurses or that in a few years there won't be?

[Jokerhill]

I do hope the travel field takes off even more. If nursing wants to be a profession this is going to be how it starts. Contracting out your services and not working for the hospital as part of the bed charge is the best chance nursing has for this. There are several things nursing needs to do to become a legitimate profession and contracting for ones services is one of them. How nursing got into the charge nurse being paid more when only doing charge is beyond me. There is not another profession in the world where you only get paid for being something some of the time. If a cop becomes a sergeant and is now a leader but he is out doing patrol duties that night as there are other sergeants on at the same time he is on he does not get the patrolman's pay for that night. He still gets paid at the sergeants rate. All nurses need to be working in their own contract not being paid because there is 5 others working that shift all making the same rate. It should be based on their skill level and what they individually negotiated at. Travel nursing is opening this up and for the good of nursing I hope all nurses will be negotiating their own contracts soon. The only nurses I see that would have a problem with this are the ones who are afraid they are not worth what the are being paid now, and are relying on the ability's of others to keep the wage up. If everyone is paid the same rate it is a job not a profession, even if you make up your own language and create mandatory care plans for yourselves to feel good.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

Positions for travel nurses have dried up due to the economy. As a new traveler you might be able to pick up contracts, but they will be at the facilities experienced travelers are saying no to. Pay for travelers has also significantly decreased.

Contracts are being canceled often. Visit the delphi forum travel nurse section and you can learn alot. Also visit Pantravelers.

It is highly recommended that you do not travel unless you have a sound savings to fall back on. There have been several cases of people going to their new assignment and when they get there find out they have been canceled and they spent all their money getting to the job.

So, long story short, you can travel, but it won't be as steady a job as in the past.

[NurseCard, ADN]

One of my friends wants to travel when his youngest daughter reaches 18. It's all he talks about. He thinks it's all going to be never-ending paradise for him. Little does he understand that a) there aren't as many travel opportunities out there as he thinks and b) if he does actually get to work out any long contracts, he's going to work his BUTT off in a place that can't hire enough permanent people because the work sucks.

Sorry, I'm just a little bitter because this particular person insists on living in a dream world.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

. . . All nurses need to be working in their own contract not being paid because there is 5 others working that shift all making the same rate. It should be based on their skill level and what they individually negotiated at. Travel nursing is opening this up and for the good of nursing I hope all nurses will be negotiating their own contracts soon. The only nurses I see that would have a problem with this are the ones who are afraid they are not worth what the are being paid now, and are relying on the ability's of others to keep the wage up. If everyone is paid the same rate it is a job not a profession, even if you make up your own language and create mandatory care plans for yourselves to feel good.

Sheesh - The poster is displaying a significant lack of understanding of the basics of compensation management, including Federal wage and hour laws. Compensation has nothing to do with whether a group of people can call themselves 'professional' or not. Professions are defined and regulated by licensing bodies - not by compensation.

Compensation 101 - Organizations must maintain "internal equity" of compensation, to establish a salary structure. Basic compensation is determined by several things, including the job's market value (what competitors are paying for the same job) and "compensable factors" - things that an organization values enough to pay more money for... usually things like licensure, certifications, years of experience, working unpopular shifts, etc. It is possible to pay based on exactly what is being done during a specific period of time... this is called "piece work"... essentially how 'per visit' nurses are paid in Home Care. But none of these structures enable an employer to pay different wages to people who are essentially doing the same job - that is a sure-fire path to charges of discrimination.

Independent contractors can individualize salaries by virtue of the fact that they are external, and therefore not subject to the company's compensation structure.

I don't see how travel nurses are functioning "for the good of nursing". Does the OP feel that it would be better to have all nurses functioning as independent contractors? I would like to hear more about how this would work from an operational perspective.