Contract Nursing

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · Dec 18, 2000

I have done contract nursing for years. This past year, a group of us formed our own professional practice group and we have had outstanding experiences. If you want to know more, email me please or go to our website www.preferredrns.com. I will be happy to talk with you.

regards

sucessful1s · Dec 20, 2000

Whether to do contract nursing or not depends on you. Contract nurses make more money in some cases, than staff nurses do. They do not have to participate in administrative duties like monthly quality assurance reports. They will also never get cancelled, like staff nurses do. Contract nurses do get benefits like regular employees, 401k, medical, group banking, discounts, etc.

However, if you are interested in being a staff member for a hospital for a long period of time, then working on staff is the best for you.

Being a nurse for 5 years, I have done both and contract nursing has been the best experience for me. Check out www.travelnurse.bigstep.com.

mustangsheba · Dec 20, 2000

Originally posted by Charles S. Smith, RN, MS:
I have done contract nursing for years. This past year, a group of us formed our own professional practice group and we have had outstanding experiences. If you want to know more, email me please or go to our website www.preferredrns.com. I will be happy to talk with you.

regards

Charles - tried to e-mail you, but couldn't get through. I'm interested in how you are reimbursed. And a bunch of other stuff as well. Do you have any literature? Also, where to you live, if you don't mind telling?

ratchit · Dec 21, 2000

By contract nursing, do you mean agency or travelling? I worked a little agency but can answer more about travelling.

PROs: Get to see the world, one place at a time. Little involvement with staff politics. Get to see how nursing is practiced in different places (it is VERY different.) I sometimes make a bit more in salary than I did as a staff RN. My housing is paid for, as long as I pay to maintain a permanent residence back home.

CON: No sick pay, vaca pay, or shift differential. If I get sick, I actually get BILLED to cover my housing costs. Many places see travellers as nurses to fill holes- we often get the worst patient assignments and schedules, and with no orientation are often expected to be the house float- and to float 1st. I don't have an HR department for backup- I have a recruiter, who is a salesperson, who does not always act in my interest. I have very little to no control over where my housing is- and I have to move as often as every 13 weeks. I pay installation fees for phone and cable 4 times a year and had a heck of a time explaining my address changes to the bank when I bought a car. I can't have an HMO because I won't be near my primary doc- so if I get sick, my insurance is often very hard to use.

All in all, I like travelling, but there are a great many things about it that staff nurses don't know. The ads in the journals don't tell the whole story. Oh, and travellers DO get cancelled sometimes- depends on the hospital. But no PTO to make up the lost hours if we get cancelled.