New ICU Travel Nurse

Julius Seizure · Jul 1, 2016

I would wait till your contract is up, honestly. Is there a reason you can't? Also, do you have a cardiac icu at your current hospital where you can gain experience before traveling?

Julius Seizure · Jul 1, 2016

Travelers often get the "easier" lower acuity assignments anyway, because they don't trust you when they don't know how you. But because of that, going now before getting more staff experience will possibly cheap you out of getting more high acuity experience to learn from.

Lisa.fnp · Jul 1, 2016

I loved being a travel Nurse and went into traveling and didn't look back. You will make over twice what your making now. In addition your free from all the unit garbage that goes on and won't have to count meds or go to the mandatory unit meetings. You will experience the best and the worse from the know-it-all's and Barbie's when working as a travel nurse in your assignments. You must be on your game for you are expected to be an expert the second you walk in a new assignment, and will receive no more training. Are you ready? Only you can answer the question. Are you a skilled expert Nurse that has the skills and experience to make the correct decisions in a flash. Are you a superior nurse? Many take longer then 3 years to have the needed skills to reach expert status. Some 2 years plus and very very few under two years. Your saying your ready? The other cost is your contract. How much we talking for breaking it? How is it to be paid back? How fast is it to be paid back? How much is the travel company willing to to reimburse you? When would they reimburse you? Get everything in writing. You will love the doors opened to you being a traveler, it's the best. But remember it will be their next year and the year after that so don't let the recruiter pressure you. Your the valuable asset, it's your license. You are only a paycheck to the recruiter.

guest769224 · Jul 1, 2016

My contract at my current employer is another two years, but the travel agency said they will help pay my contract off.

I find this very interesting, and didn't know this was possible.

NedRN · Jul 1, 2016

It is very unlikely you will be able to work up to pediatric cardiac ICUs as a traveler unless you are very skilled, confident, and lucky. If that is really your goal, stay where you are if your facility will offer you that training.

It would be a pretty poor hospital that would hire a traveler with one year of experience and slam them with cases above their skill level. It can and does happen, and your best protection is to not consider traveling with less than two years of experience. It is easy to feel like a hot shot and full of confidence after just one year of experience, and you might be, but it is unlikely. You will be more likely to succeed after two or three years in a good staff position, and it sounds like you are in that position.

Testing your skill set with local per diem if available can be a good reality check before you abandon your three year contract. I did that before I started traveling in a large metropolitan area. It turned out I was ready, but by then I had had almost three full years of training at a teaching hospital by that time, ending up in cardiac surgery after almost two years training/floating in all surgical services.

In my opinion, two years is a good time frame of experience needed in most specialties to deal with travel. There are exceptions, but do not rely on the blandishments of an agency eager to get any warm body to fill contracts. As a traveler, you will have to quickly adapt to different charting systems and monitors, order entry, patient and adjunct care flow, local ways of doing things down to local customs on interpersonal communication and language. Right now, you are feeling cocky and confident in your familiar environment and don't know yet what you don't know.

Bottom line, get more experience and test what you know with local per diem if available before you bail on your very first employment contract. It is a great reality check.

Julius Seizure · Jul 1, 2016

The other posters make a great point about agencies - they dont have any idea or interest in if you are ready or not....they just want a PICU nurse to fill contracts because its a high paying specialty. They don't care if its a bad move for you to make. And they will tell you that they will help pay off your contract, but without specifics about how, I wouldn't be very trusting of that. Especially if they wont put it in writing.

PICUBeachRN · Jul 1, 2016

Thank you everyone for your feedback! My main pull to leaving so early is not being happy in the town which I am currently living in, nothing really to deal with where I work. I agree that it probably is the better bet to stay another year to get more experience. We do get post op cardiac patients on the unit I work on. Seeing all of your comments has grounded me, and even though I am doing well in the field, I also know I am still learning a lot everyday. So taking another year before I do leave seems like the most reasonable answer to my situation. Regardless of me wanting to leave this town and wanting the way better pay.

NedRN · Jul 1, 2016

You do have to pay your dues. I was so ready emotionally to bail after 2 years on staff, but I wanted to learn a new super specialty and that third year not only did that, but helped nail all my specialty skills. I also validated my skill set and adaptability before becoming a traveler by doing agency at nearby hospitals. Leaving your staff job cold turkey might find you as a fish out of water to mix metaphors here. Travelers have to adapt to completely new local and working cultures and ethnicities, new computer charting, new mix of acuities and conditions and patient load, and adapt to new patient flow with often very minimal or even absent orientation.

Even if travel is just for fun before starting a family, it will be a lot more fun if you can handle the new working environment without the stress affecting you outside of work. Two years is really the minimal recommendation before you are grounded and secure enough to be thrown into new random experiences without a support network.

Argo · Jul 2, 2016

Now change your phone number because recruiters will be calling you daily. I have been thinking about getting another phone line for personal use and using my current one for just travel companies and "business".

Julius Seizure · Jul 2, 2016

When you DO start traveling though, it'll be amazing! PICU is a great specialty to travel in, and if you come in with a little cardiac experience like you will get at your current job, thats great. PICU and CVICU nurses often float back and forth, so you can expect to be able to take contracts at major children's hospitals where you will likely float to the CVICU as a PICU traveler, and you will continue to learn with every new contract. Good luck!

Sydryth, ASN, RN · Jul 2, 2016

I've seen strong agency nurses and I've seen agency nurses that I couldn't even figure out how they got through school. They were typically the ones with minimum experience. While you will find some places that welcome traveler's with open arms, you will find some that will resent you, not help you, and give you the worst of the worst. So you better be confident and know what you are doing before starting to travel. Some places will test you and if you seem knowledgeable and a team player they will warm up to you and start treating you like you are one of their own, but if you are not very knowledgeable about things that arise, they will try throwing you under the bus every time you turn around. So just know you may find yourself on a cruise ship or struggling to stay a float. I do wish you the best in your nursing career though!