New Traveler

Diary/Dairy, RN · Jan 7, 2008

Good for you - Glad to have you here!

:balloons:

CraigBSN02 · Jan 7, 2008

Traveling is awesome. I'm seen more/done more/made more that I ever hoped to do working at one facility. Sure, there have been average & poor assignments, but the good outweighs the bad.

If you're flexible with where you lay your head, there's no limit to where you can go.

My .02 :-)

-Craig

RN, BSN, and others.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 7, 2008

Traveling is awesome. I'm seen more/done more/made more that I ever hoped to do working at one facility. Sure, there have been average & poor assignments, but the good outweighs the bad.
If you're flexible with where you lay your head, there's no limit to where you can go.
My .02 :-)
-Craig
RN, BSN, and others.

Thanks for such a positive post!!

I know people come here to vent, but sometimes I get a little depressed when I read so many negative things about nursing. Sometimes I have to take a break from this site so I can feel a little better about my choices.

But yeah, it's good to know that while there are some bad things out there, there are some good things too. You just have to decide if the good is good enough to make the bad bearable.

After getting a couple years' experience under my belt I would like to do travel nursing. I am so ready to see the country, and I especially love what you said about getting the chance to try out things you never would if you had stayed in one place. Makes me feel so much better about my decision.

Thank you.

Bella RN, BSN, MSN · Jan 10, 2008

Yeah thanks Craig,

I plan on traveling soon and I was nervous because most of the posts are very negative when it comes to travel nursing. I felt like i had to be overly cautious.

I hope everything works well when i start my first assignment.

st4wb3rr33sh0rtc4k3 · Jan 10, 2008

I have met some great travel nurses that I still talk to. I wish I could travel, but I am not sure with my mixed experience that I would get anything. Sounds exciting to be somewhere different all the time and not having to have a very long commitment.

travelnurse229 · Jan 10, 2008

Travelling is great. As far as I know most hospital only require 1 year of current experience in your specialty to travel there : )

Maybe that'll help. Good Luck : )

kdblueey · Jan 11, 2008

Yeah thanks Craig,
I plan on traveling soon and I was nervous because most of the posts are very negative when it comes to travel nursing. I felt like i had to be overly cautious.
I hope everything works well when i start my first assignment.

I don't think your reading negative things about traveling per se. It's having to deal with those travel companies out there that are not out there for the nurse, but rather for themselves. I have never read a post from a traveler that had a bad experience going to new places, meeting new people, and basically seeing the world, as no other way possible.

It's normal to feel nervous about trying anything new. But you will definately find much support on this forum, as well as the other travel forums.

I am a new traveler myself. Don't hesitate. Start the ball rolling and get out there and see the world.

Kathy

:redpinkhe:innerconf

CARCAM75 · Jan 17, 2008

Hi, :cheers:

I'm currently on my first travel assignment. I live in Orlando, FL and spent my first year and a half as a nurse in my dream field Labor and Delivery. I graduated in May 2006 and started working in L&D on nights at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. After about a yr I wanted to start traveling but was a little apprehensive because you're right - you do tend to hear/read more negative and scarey stories about traveling than you do positive/good ones. I wanted to be totally ready for what may come so I purchased that book by Epstien LaRue - Highway Hypodermics, so that I'd have an idea of what I'll need etc. I spoke with any travel nurse that I came across - when I got a bad story I asked them to tell me what they thought was good about it and received their positive stories. After a 1-1/2 at my hospital, I was mentally, physically, occupationally ready for "more". My hospital is a high risk, high volume, high acuity hospital for women and babies. They deliver 35+ babies a day, 13K a year, 1300 a month. When I started praying for "normal" labor pts on my commute to the hospital I realized that I was ready to travel. I researched a few agencies mentioned in that Highway book and I also spoke with some of the travelers on my shift and got a feel for their agencies/ recruiters, etc. I spoke with a traveler at my hospital that had this to say about her recruiter: "They aren't the highest paying, but my recruiter is always available to me, she's gone to bat for me when I needed her to, I've always been placed in beautiful, safe housing, and she always works any extra $ in the assignment budget in my favor whenever and wherever she could". Once I heard that, I decided to look no more. That recruiter is now my recruiter. When I mentioned to her the top 5 cities I wanted to try, not only did she excitedly verbalize 3-5 hospitals in each that were great L&D hospitals, but she made suggestions that helped me formulate a plan for my travel experience for 2008. This way I would be able to experience those cities/states at their best times of year. The company also stays in contact with me all the time via email. Whether it be housing checking on my accommodations, payroll making sure all was well with my pay, account mgr making sure everything is ok, clinical liason calling to introduce herself, or my recruiter just calling to say hello and touch bases - it feels good to know that I'm supported on this first assignment.

I'm having a GREAT TIME traveling and the hospital staff members are so incredibly grateful for my being there. My first day off orientation - where I was looking for evil looks and negative energy/vibes - everyone that I was introduced to said "Thanks for coming to help out" and the support that I've received from the nurses and doctors made me feel right at home. So, all around, I'm glad I chose to travel and I'm happy that I chose my first assignment close to home in case I didn't have a good experience. I'm 2 hours from my apt in Orlando (which I kept because I wasn't sure how this travel thing was gonna turn out) and I'm glad because when I needed things for this assignment that I forgot to bring, I was only a drive away to grab it! Now I feel I'm ready to go full steam ahead for the next assignment. Maybe New York or Seattle for the spring! :w00t:

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 17, 2008

Wow. Thanks for that great post. It's very inspiring. I hope I can have as great an experience as you. It seems that the right recruiter is the secret to making things work well.

CARCAM75 · Jan 17, 2008

Hi NatKat,

It is very important to have a good nurse recruiter. Its a blessing to get a GREAT one! :) I had a friend who started traveling before I did (by 1 month) and she had a good recruiter who happened to leave the company or got transferred or something and so she was shuffled to a different replacement recruiter 3x in that first assignment. It made things terrible for her and she vowed she was done with traveling. She said she felt like the first recruiter KNEW her and knew that this was her first assignment, etc and the others didn't really care to assist her the way a first time traveler needed to.... mistakes were made with her pay, due to miscommunication or rather non-communication... it was just a nightmare for her. She decided to just go to grad school instead of traveling (it was a decision between travelling now and gradschool later or gradschool now and travel later - she chose to travel first. After the drama, she said she's done with traveling.) So yes, if you want to travel, you've got to do your research about recruiters for the first assignment. It's my opinion that for your first anything, you've gotta forgo the I want more money thing and go with the whose gonna give me the most support so you can build yourself properly thing. Just like coming out of nursing school. I could've worked for the hospital that was paying new grads the most base pay and/or the highest sign-on bonus. However, I chose to go with the hospital that would give me the longest, most in-depth, most supportive GN program cause I knew I would need it for my first nursing job. What good will making the most money do for me if I have no clue how to deliver a baby, or how to handle myself on the floor, or how to start an IV properly, or how to take and document a physician's order properly? A proper, supportive beginning will ensure that your skills and level of confidence can support a request for increased pay in the future. When you don't know what you're doing you set yourself up for failure in the long run. NOOOOOW I'm ready and able to go for the high pay offers cause I have confidence in my skills due to the great training and knowledge I've acquired and from that, my ability to hit the ground running - in terms of jobs that is. In terms of travel agencies, I'm fine with the one I've started with for right now because traveling is still new to me.

Good luck and just remember to take care of your career and your license. Protect it with everything you got cause it was HELL :devil: to achieve. :cheers:

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 17, 2008

What great advice!I have a coworker who is finishing nursing school the same time as me. She said she is planning to opt out of an internship because she wants more money. Like you, I would rather work slowly and take my time learning what I need to learn with lots of support in the beginning. I have been in situations in the past where I didn't learn everything I needed to know and had to sort of flail around and figure things out. I hated it. I would rather get it right in the beginning.At least if by chance I wind up with a bad recruiter, I'll chalk it up to experience and move on. I won't let it keep me from doing what I really want to do. Thanks for all the information and support.