New nurse traveling? Mabye?

Trauma Columnist · Feb 2, 2008

Doubt it! When you travel, it is imperative that you have a few years of nursing under your belt especially for critical care. You will be expected to jump right in with a full patient load and be confident in your skills. It sounds like you are getting a good foundation. I would advise staying put for at least one and preferablly 2-3 years. Then...you will feel confident that you can jump right in, take care of ICU patients and know what is going on.

Good luck.

elkpark · Feb 2, 2008

Bad, bad idea ... Even though most agencies will sign you up with only a year of experience, many hospitals will only accept travelers with three or more years of experience in their particular specialty. They are paying big bucks for travelers, and, for the amount of $$$ they're shelling out, they expect to get a seasoned "pro" who can walk onto the unit and do the job, with a minimum of orientation or guidance. Travelers often get only a shift or two of orientation (if that much!) Agencies are looking out for their profits, not your best interests, and no one is going to protect your license but you.

Best wishes for your new career! :balloons:

EmmaG, RN · Feb 2, 2008

What she said... terrible idea.

However, get a few years of CCU under your belt and you can write your own ticket.

bill4745, RN · Feb 2, 2008

As a former full-time agency critical care and ER RN, I can say with confidence that you need at least 2-3 years of unit experience before you should try and travel. You will be expected to walk into a totally new environment and given not much more than a brief tour and a discussion of some of their procedures (eg how to page the house doc, how to call a code, etc). Most travel agencies and hospitals will not take you without several years of solid ICU experience. By solid, I mean an ICU with really sick patients, not some ICU that is really a glorified PCU.

sharann, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2008

Our hospital hired a traveller for PACU who had been a nurse for less than a year. The manager said "he/she has ICU experience!". Wow, what 6 months? He/she(not telling), had ZEROP pacu experience and though he was bright and motivated he had no buissness being a traveller in any unit let alone one he had never set foor in. Yet, our hospital(not mine for much longer ) felt this was okeydokey. All PACU patients just sleep right?

suzanne4, RN · Feb 3, 2008

5 weeks and you are probably not even done with your orientation. It will take you months to feel comfortable with what you are doing. Your skill level needs to be at a point where you are able to just jump into any situation with minimal amount of orientation.

Your license is on the line with every day that you go to work, and this is something that most travel companies do not tell you. Hospitals bring in travellers when they have a shortage, they do not have the time to give you an orientation that you would need. You need to fill in holes in a schedule and be in the count almost immediately.

As the others have stated here, you need to have substantial experience under your belt. You may see a company tell you that they will hire you with one year of experience, but they are not the ones that make the final decision. The hospital does that, and we are seeing the requirements actually increase and not decrease.

Diary/Dairy, RN · Feb 3, 2008

The hospital does that, and we are seeing the requirements actually increase and not decrease.

I think that's a good thing - I have been a nurse for 5 and a half years and still feel like I still feel like I am almost there sometimes......

EmmaG, RN · Feb 3, 2008

Another thing to consider: if that were you (or someone you cared about) in that bed, would you want a 5 week grad with no experience and no orientation to be caring for you?

GrnHonu99, RN · Feb 3, 2008

So I am a new nurse that graduated about 5 weeks ago. I took a position in CCU (coronary care) and love it but am DYING to be a travel nurse. I am worried though that I wont be able to deal with no orientation and being able to pick stuff up so fast. Anyone jump into travel nursing soon after graduating?

hate to be a downer but dooonnnt do it.....you really need bare bones a year to really even be competant in your role at this present time...you need strong leaders and coworkers to teach you...you need a stable environment to protect your interests as well...i could not imagine starting in the ICU without the strong support system that i had...when you travel you literally have to hit the ground running and just reality a lot of times if you are a traveler you are on your own..everywhere is just a tad different and you could get into big trouble if you dont have at least some solid experience behind you. good luck i know how hard it is to wait...ive wanted to travel since before i finished school too..but its worth it! Good luck:)