Do I have enough experience to travel?

[icu_nursie76]

Hello everyone!

I have been a nurse for 9yrs. my experience includes 4yrs in the nursing home as an LPN. RN experience includes 2yrs on a med/surgical floor level one trauma center. 1 yr Intermediate Cardiac Stepdown. 2yrs telemetry floor, 1 yr cardiac short stay (pts post heart cath, pulling sheaths all day:madface:! and occasional cardiac overflow pt i.e chest pain, chf etc). And I currently work in STICU, I started this position 5/2007, my orientation ended 8/2007. My fiancee is a RN as well and we are getting married in March and we are both very eager to begin in April as travelers in Northern California preferbaly the bay area! Do you think I have enough experience to travel as an STICU RN. I spoke to several travel companies and they assured me that I was and my coworkers assure me that I do a good job, but as we all know we are our worst critics! And it is always nice to here from other nurses who have been through this! Also any reccomendations of a small hospitals in the bay area to start off at that are travel friendly and what companies are paying the most money!!!

Thank you

[RNnewgrad]

Hello everyone!

I have been a nurse for 9yrs. my experience includes 4yrs in the nursing home as an LPN. RN experience includes 2yrs on a med/surgical floor level one trauma center. 1 yr Intermediate Cardiac Stepdown. 2yrs telemetry floor, 1 yr cardiac short stay (pts post heart cath, pulling sheaths all day:madface:! and occasional cardiac overflow pt i.e chest pain, chf etc). And I currently work in STICU, I started this position 5/2007, my orientation ended 8/2007. My fiancee is a RN as well and we are getting married in March and we are both very eager to begin in April as travelers in Northern California preferbaly the bay area! Do you think I have enough experience to travel as an STICU RN. I spoke to several travel companies and they assured me that I was and my coworkers assure me that I do a good job, but as we all know we are our worst critics! And it is always nice to here from other nurses who have been through this! Also any reccomendations of a small hospitals in the bay area to start off at that are travel friendly and what companies are paying the most money!!!

Thank you

I had the same question not to long ago on this site. The advice I got was that a nurse is ready to travel when their coworkers ask them for help with a tough patient, they can run a code in their sleep, and are basically excellent at the basics.

Best of luck!

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I've been a traveler for three years. Travel companies want 1-2 years experience in a speciality, and you have to have had the experience within the last year. i.e. if you last did med/surg 2 years ago, you can't do it as a traveler. If you currently work cardiac-step down, and have been doing so for the last year, you can travel in this speciality.

You must be comfortable and confident in your skills, and be able to "hit the ground running."

Travel agencies vary widely in what they pay and what they offer. Generally, the smaller agencies pay better. Don't take the first offer that comes along- look around a bit and negotiate.