Interested in TRAVELING out of state

[Cisl4him, RN]

Hi fellow nurses

I am in the middle of applying to nurse fly. It’s a healthcare staffing agency with dozens of travel positions across the map. Any advice on whether I should look for my own housing or let the agency?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the Travel Nursing forum

[NedRN]

I think most experienced travelers find their own housing these days. Hassle, but if you maintain your residence in MA, the housing stipend is tax free and you get to keep (without reporting as income) any difference between the stipend any what you have to pay. Personally I find Craigslist fine most of the time now, especially if you put in your own ad - travel nurses are highly desirable tenants. I tend to get house or apartment shares as these are usually fully furnished and utilities are on. Sometimes you can find a fully furnished property for a reasonable cost. There are several medical housing companies (even many agencies outsource their housing to them) that you can also use: Med Temp Housing, Travelers Haven, Furnished Finders.

That said, I'd highly recommend that you take agency provided housing for your first (or even several) assignments. For one, it is highly luxurious to just show up and be handed a key to furnished housing. And even though you apparently work per diem at more than one facility in MA, you are going to have culture shock anywhere you go. AK is notable for native Americans that often clash culturally with nurses - mind you, this is just what I read, and the same could happen on any assignment frankly. You will also have a different EMR, patient population, work flow than you have experienced before. Nice to not have to worry about housing (although agencies can screw that up too).

[Cisl4him, RN]

WOW!! Thank you so much. Haha, I’m thinking I have it made here as a local travel nurse. No hassles, excellent income and more. I’m still going to investigate. Time will tell the rest of the story.