First-year nurse and want to travel

meandragonbrett · Jan 4, 2013

Yes, more than likely! Would you be able to walk into any hospital and receive maybe 8-12 hours of orientation and be able to handle a full patient load and be comfortable doing so?

For a critical care area I say a good 2-3 years experience is a good starting point to travel. Also, study for CCRN and take the exam and pass it.

Lovelymo79 · Jan 5, 2013

I think you will be fine, as long as you are confident in your abilities. I haven't traveled yet but I work agency and I started with a little less than a year and a half of experience in the ICU. I got 4 hours of orientation (one hospital gave me 3 hours of orientation bc they needed me to immediately pick up a patient and take a new admit all within an hour). Some people told me that I should wait until I had more experience but I am glad I didn't listen.

As long as you know that you will be hitting the ground running, you will be ok. They will NOT orient you to how to be a nurse. Orientation will be: this is where the restrooms are, here are your pxysis passwords, here are our policies...let's go! So make sure you know your nursing stuff before going in! Good luck!

Lovelymo79 · Jan 5, 2013

I just realized you only have 6 months if experience and that is too new. You should have atleast one year of continued experience before traveling.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2013

If you only have 6 months experience, no travel agency will hire you, as you would be way over your head. You need a minimum of 18 months to be considered. Anyone on contract receives 1-2 shifts of orientation, and then they're on their own. You're still considered a new grad the first year. Best to get some local experience first.

rn_abbey · Jan 8, 2013

To echo others, you need more experience. A travel agency has a relationship with a hospital if they send over an inexperienced nurse, they will be less likely to secure a contract in the future. You are essentially pre-screened by a travel nursing agency.

jlpolec · Jan 14, 2014

I just read this post. I just got my first travel assignment and I was told that I would only get 4 hours of orientation and that was it. Kind of nervous but I will see, I have a little over a year experience. I'm debating if this was a good idea to do travel nursing considering the fact I have 3 children too.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 14, 2014

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum, but I've been reading it since my first year of nursing school.
I completed my orienation and worked in a PICU for 6 months. Now I'm looking to move out-of-state and get some experience elsewhere. I have already left my job to help out my family at home, but now the job hunt is starting up. I have been looking for full-time PICU positions at various pediatric hospitals, but I have always been attracted to the idea of travel nursing. When looking at job requirements, most travel agencies ask for 1-2 years experience or more. I understand that I'm very new to nursing. I'm not a cocky individual whatsoever, I accept criticism and love to learn new things. Would I be in over my head if I were to go into traveling?

Your first mistake was in quitting your job after just six months. In order to be considered for a traveling position, you need about two years of experience in your specialty. Take a full time position, but STAY in that position for two years. THEN start thinking about travel nursing.