I NEED ADVICE... To travel or stay put???

[malkburt]

Hey everyone! I need advice. Travel nursing has always been in the back of my mind since I started my career. I have subscribed to several sites and receive emails from recruiters quite a bit. I usually just ignore them because of my apprehensiveness to leave my job, afraid "the grass isn't greener on the other side" so to speak. I have started to really become serious about moving somewhere new this summer. Currently, I live in Indianapolis. My bf and I broke up last year and several of my friends are leaving Indy for their career or relationships. I think this would be the ideal time to experience travel nursing but I do love (at times) my current job and change tends to scare me enough to never follow through with it.

Here is a little about my job, experience, etc.

- My unit is CVPV (cardiovascular peripheral vascular) and we take care of pts who have had any heart surgery, peripheral vascular surgery, or thoracic surgery. We also are VAD & transplant certified and care for pts with fresh/readmitted ventricular assist devices or heart transplants.

- It's not considered ICU but many of the pts are on our floor post op day 1 or 2

- I have had experience with many drips (heparin, insulin, Lasix, nitro, amio, cardizem, protonix, and others)

- The hospital I work at is a magnet hospital and my unit has 24 beds. Usually take care of 3 pts on a good night and 4 when we are short staffed.

- I have my BSN and have been working as a RN for almost 3 years. I am still working where I was first hired

- I am ACLS and BLS certified as well as VAD trained.

- I have been precepting new nurses for over a year and started as a charge nurse 6+ months ago.

I guess I am looking for advice on travel nursing experiences and chances of being hired with the experience I have. I work on a unit that I have a hard time finding when searching jobs and wonder if other hospitals have the same type of unit or of maybe a different type of unit would be a good change??

I would greatly appreciate any type of advice or shared experiences.

Thank you,

Mallory

[NedRN]

You are working in a combined stepdown tele unit that has a primary CV and thoracic focus. Only very large hospitals will set up similar units but you will find lots of available assignments for your skill set in step down and tele units. Larger hospitals especially with large volume open heart programs will think you are a real find.

So i wouldnt worry about that. Start calling agencies until you find a couple of recruiters you feel comfortable with and can make it easy for you to take a first assignment.