How do you have time to volunteer especially to other countrys?

[Ultraposh]

Part of the reason why I want to become a travel nurse is because I wasnt to volunteer in other countries. It seems like the only way I would afford going financially and time wise so im excites to start saving! Those of you who arent travel nurses how on earth do you get to volunteer long term or in other countries?? Thanks!

[Ultraposh]

Does the personal leave for absence hurt her chances in any way of returning to work or being let go? Ive only worked in home care so im not even familiar with how those things work working in a facility. How often does she take a leave of absense?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

She takes one every other year, plans a year in advance to prepare and so her manager & staffing can accommodate her personal loa. Many companies have provisions for unpaid personal loa if you read through the employee handbook. Even my home care agencies have such a provision with notice (whether for school or personal) I think she has a cobra type option for insurance, never asked, so she is coveted. I know she purchases travel health insurance for the trip. (Most US policies don't cover international needs). I think it's similar to an academic professor taking a sabbatical.

My sister (MSN, PNP, RN, CNE) has the best deal the hospital based BSN program she teaches at does a children's medical mission every other year. She's paid to accompany and lead 3rd & 4th yr BSN students to an affiliated mission in South America if she chooses to go.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Staff nurses are usually limited to once a year as the volunteer commitment is often 3-4 weeks and most staff nurses don't get more vacation time than 4 weeks. I know one nurse that takes a personal leave of absence to volunteer and saves paid vacation for pleasure travel.

I have never worked at a job that gave less than 6 weeks PTO annually. I have also done shorter term (2 week) volunteer stints abroad and have consistently left the country several times per year since becoming a nurse. My record is 5x in 2009. (Not all of these were volunteer trips.) Organizations like Operation Smile have short term placements. Occasionally, the hospitals in my city will sponsor trips overseas and will pay their staff's way as well as pay them their salary while they are there. I know a girl who recently spent several months in Rwanda, sponsored by her employer in conjunction with a local international health organization. The hospital paid her way and she got paid 80% of her salary while she was there.

[Traveldee]

The nurses I know who volunteer overseas use their vacation time if they are staff. (There may very well be exceptions to this, I just don't know of any). The majority of nurses I talk to who volunteer for longer are either travel nurses, or retired. I am a travel nurse and so that makes volunteering convenient in between assignments (with careful budgeting, as someone mentioned above).

[kimtame]

Working as a volunteer nurse is the challenging profession which is beneficial for development of your career. You obtain a chance for attending medical awareness camps all over the globe which helps those people who don't receive enough resources to take advantage of medical facilities.