New Grad of 18months seeking input on Travel nursing

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Hello to all nurses of any experience level:

I had a phone interview with a representative from an agency based out of California this past Wednesday. I was wondering how everything in the travel nursing industry usually works and what type of training a travel nurse gets in this area of nursing. I just wanted to get some feedback on what happens in the interview process. Does anyone have input on this process?

I felt like the agency, American Mobile, immediately wanted to set me up with a potential contract. My main experience level is LTC but I want more learning in acute care. Wanting advice if this is a good idea to put myself in this position and if not what suggestions do people have?

Also, I am married and a mother of 2 children ages 6 and 9 who are both attending school locally. My intention with travel nursing is to remain local and gain experience by traveling to different hospitals within my area. I am willing to drive if need be in order to gain experience.

Anyway, does anyone out there have any advice, information and feed back on this type of nursing?

Thank you!

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Travel nurses do not get training. They do receive a very limited hospital unit orientation. Travelers are expected to hit the ground running. Generally you need to be well above average in your specialty to cope with new practice environments. Confidence is a must. If you have any doubts, try working for a local agency at another hospital and see how you do. Yes, if you want to work in acute care, you need a couple years of experience first, which you will have to gain as a permanent employee.

What you are trying to get is a "local" contract. Any travelers at your facility? If not, there may not be much in the way of local contracts in your area. Even if there are, often hospitals limit locals from working such contracts as they don't want to have to compete for staff who want to bail and work as contractors. Not beneficial for continuity or cost generally from the hospital perspective.

You may have heard about the great pay and benefits of travel nursing. Forget about it in your situation! No sick pay, PTO, holidays, or vacations. Health insurance if available is generally much worse than staff, and would be really expensive to cover your family. There are no tax benefits to working locally. Everything you are paid will be taxed.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I echo the previous poster. With no acute care experience at all you would not be a good candidate for an acute care travel assignment. If I were you, I would work on trying to get my foot in the door for a local hospital for some acute care experience and then maybe see if you still want to travel in a year or two.

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I figured that was an expectation, however I just wanted to hear it from others as well. What about long term care facilities in travel nursing, does anyone know how the pay rate is for LTC RNs as travel nurses?

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I figured that was an expectation, however I just wanted to hear it from others as well. What about long term care facilities in travel nursing, does anyone know how the pay rate is for LTC RNs as travel nurses?
Umm, what did American Mobile say? What do the travelers you work with say? Did you read what I said about no tax benefits? If you are working within commuting distance to where you are, your total pay is likely not going to be any better. And it could be worse when you consider poorer benefit packages travelers get. Forget about it. It is extraordinarily difficult to just give you a number that means anything of what an LTC traveler might make. It depends on location and need. Even travelers quoted a package from one agency have a hard time comparing it with another quote. Compensation is broken up into taxable and non taxable portions: hourly, housing, insurance%2
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I figured that was an expectation, however I just wanted to hear it from others as well. What about long term care facilities in travel nursing, does anyone know how the pay rate is for LTC RNs as travel nurses?

Umm, what did American Mobile say? What do the travelers you work with say? Did you read what I said about no tax benefits? If you are working within commuting distance to where you are, your total pay is likely not going to be any better. And it could be worse when you consider poorer benefit packages travelers get. Forget about it.

It is extraordinarily difficult to just give you a number that means anything of what an LTC traveler might make. It depends on location and need. Even travelers quoted a package from one agency have a hard time comparing it with another quote. Compensation is broken up into taxable and non taxable portions: hourly, housing, insurance, license reimbursement, per diem, and travel. If you just want a range of the hourly, it varies between $15 and $50 an hour. Depending. Could be blended, might include housing, or might not.

Getting an idea of how hard it is? Any number we might give you here will be meaningless. The only way to really find out is to call agencies that have assignments in your area and ask them. A lot of people use the Travelers Calculator in PanTravelers to crunch the numbers they receive to help make sense of them. You can also use it to compare those numbers with what you make at your staff job. That will tell you if you are better off (at least in the short term) financially with local contracts (if available at all).

I say "in the short term" because doing local contracts can now put you at risk of no job and no income three months from now when the assignment is over. That is a lot of risk for someone with kids. Sorry to be so negative and I appreciate your ambition to improve your finances, but you should never consider travel just for the money. Risks are higher. If you are in an area where local contracts are common and plentiful, perhaps DC or Chicago, then you might be alright. But it is even less likely from the little I know about LTC that travel assignments are plentiful anywhere, and to work steady, you would probably have to actually travel. If you haven't met a traveler at your facility, it is unlikely contracts are plentiful in your area. AM should know as well as anyone as the largest agency in the country.

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Just to clarify, I do not work for American Mobile. I was interviewed last week and was contacted by a recruiter and she discussed setting me up with a contract. I was not quite sure about the options I had so I will be contacted tomorrow by my recruiter to discuss my interest. I am new and still lack comfort with advanced skills since I don't get much exposure working in LTC. I work 2 casual LTC jobs and take ambulance duty in mr township. I am an EMT Basic and am hoping to use that experience to get into an acute care setting.

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I said no to American mobile and have made the decision to continue to apply to hospitals nearby. Hopefully I will find a place where I can gain more experience.

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I wish you success in your career. If you are able, seriously consider taking a good job with a teaching hospital anywhere (relocating) to get a good start in acute care.

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