Best travel nurse agencies

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I'm thinking of pursuing travel nursing. Can anyone tell me from past experiences which agency has most benefits? (higher pay, private housing, best recruiters, locations) I'd really appreciate it.:redpinkhe I've been an RN in CT for 3 years with strong and broad med/surg and rehab experience.

Specializes in Cardiac Stepdown.

Thanks Ned... that is definitely a big help...

I have to tell you that I usually made between $34 and $36 an hr as a traveler over ten years ago.

Plus paid housing, utils, housewares, cable, internet, and travel. Housing was usually pretty nice.

I think you get a better deal with smaller agencies.

Good Luck though!!!

Your best bet is to get a recommendation from a friend or trusted experienced traveler. The truth is every agency is a little different, but most of them have the same jobs. One might have a job a week before another because the hospital account is with them, but if they can't fill it in a week, they send the contract out to all the other agents too. You'll want to find an agent you like when you first get started more than you'll want to chase number--its worth a couple bucks to have a good experience.

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

I agree with the above, the recruiter will be your best ally in the whole process regardless of agency. That is my experience. I got my recruiter through a referral from a former coworker. She was very happy with her experience so I figured she might be good for me too. Referrals are the way to go. No one refers a bad recruiter!

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I have heard about those most of the times which are mentioned truly. Basically its about what goes correctly for you and how something can actually be a good thing for overall productivity which goes ahead and works.

LittleNurseJudy said:
Your best bet is to get a recommendation from a friend or trusted experienced traveler. The truth is every agency is a little different, but most of them have the same jobs. One might have a job a week before another because the hospital account is with them, but if they can't fill it in a week, they send the contract out to all the other agents too. You'll want to find an agent you like when you first get started more than you'll want to chase number--its worth a couple bucks to have a good experience. This blog might be helpful... The Juicy Stuff... Agencies!!! | The Travel Nurse Expert

What do you charge as an agent?

I am a travel nurse, and I would suggest working for The Right Solutions. I have had a great experience with them, I started working with them in 2013. They are very nice, and most of the people that you talk with I think are either nurses or have worked in the past in the medical field I think. The best thing I think about them is the way they are set up. They are very efficient, and they have different departments that you can talk to so all your needs get met. Just a suggestion, I am sure there are other good places but this is the only one I have experience with so I just thought i'd give you one that I know is good. Wish you all the best!

Yes, but after 2008-2009 at lot of hospitals stopped using travel nurses at all, and when they began using travelers again the pay rate was considerably less.

True then, but bill rates have now fully recovered in most areas and then some.

Is the agencies fixed compensation per traveler something the traveler can be privy to?

No, but there are some methods that can often reverse engineer the likely bill rate. They don't work as well anymore as agencies seem to be taking a higher percentage of high billing contracts such as cath lab and L&D.

But there is not much advantage in knowing the exact bill rate, what you want to know is which agencies pay the best, right? The only way to find that out is to shop around.

With the prevalence today of vendor managers, or hospitals with uniform contracts, bill rates are often the same for all agencies at a particular facility. The cool thing about that is if you know that to be the case and you have several agencies with that same assignment, you know which one truly pays their travelers (or just you) the best. Versus which agency did a better job of negotiating a good bill rate.

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