Published Mar 25, 2020
Naturally Brilliant, BSN, RN
167 Posts
I currently work as a night-shift psych RN, and the job is (on the whole) pretty easy and relatively routine. I work for a state university system, and love my benefits (free health insurance and vesting in a pension). One of the downsides, though, is the rotating nature of the schedule (it's on a grid system, with 4 nights one week and 3 nights the other week).
I've been perusing the travel nurse jobs for COVID and the pay is amazing to me. It got me thinking if I could get a second job as a travel RN, but within my city, dealing with COVID patients. I used to work ICU and inpatient dialysis before I became a psych nurse, and my ICU time was actually only about 3-4 years back, so I haven't forgotten everything. The pay is quite tempting, and I don't have a spouse or children, so if I died from COVID then whatever.
Right now, would I have leverage in negotiating a travel ICU assignment so I could work the nights that I was off at my other job, thereby keeping both? The hospitals are desperate for skilled staff, right? Should I wait until the Coronavirus thing gets worse, the current generation of ICU RNs either burns out and quits or gets sick and is off work, and then see if I can jump in the pool? Lots of thoughts!