New Traveler

Rod, Male Nurse · Feb 6, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the traveling world, (natural born gypsy lifestyler prior to nursing).. Currently, I'm an ICU nurse in a rural hospital with roughly 200 beds, with almost 2 yrs of ICU experience, (5 total, Tele and OR at a LEvel 1 prior to this ICU). I'm currently trying to tie up some loose ends, and prepare to travel in May of this year. I'm doing starting some casual/per diem work locally to bridge my full time job to traveling, and build some experience, as well as to get a feel to work outside of my comfort zone before I head too far from what I know.

What are some things that you absolutely wish you'd known before you started travelling?
Any must have's you personally rely on for your travels?
Any great APPs or resources?
Favorite Travel friendly hospital's or cities?
How many agencies do you have ties with?

I'm looking forward to your responses!

Know the hospital the assignment is going to be at. many travelers accept a contract and end up miserable for 13 weeks because the hospital sucks. Allnurses is a great place to search a specific hospital and get reviews from nurses who have worked there.. When your recruiter gives you potential assignment listings, ask for the hospital names as well.

Don't take the agency's first offer. It's all negotiable. Even if the money looks good, get a little more.

Have "ties" with several agencies. You'll experience good and bad agencies as well as good and bad recruiters. I feel that the recruiter is just as important as the agency. I use RN Network and they've been great.

Don't feel bad getting compensation package quotes with several agencies and using that as leverage to get top pay with one of them.

thewandereRN · Feb 8, 2015

Thanks for the advice Rod. As I'm gathering info, the process seems so daunting sometimes. Any places you recommend to understand how pay, perdiem, stipends, housing all work into pays? I'm a bit confused on what I should be looking for in numbers when working out an offer. Thanks!! :)

NedRN · Feb 8, 2015

You can use PanTravelers calculator to compare offers. I would also read some articles there for better understanding of travel nursing. One thing to know is that pay is not something to worry about on a first assignment so forget about hardball negotiation. Completing a successful first assignment is key so other than finding an assignment suitable to your skills and experience, don't worry about location and pay. That is for later assignments.

thewandereRN · Feb 8, 2015

I have no plans of hardball negotiations, I'm just trying to figure out the terminology actually. I thought maybe there was a nice resource to break it down that I was missing. Thanks for the tips.

dmitchner · Feb 23, 2015

Have you asked any of the agencies to break it down for you? Mine told me exactly what everything meant and went in to a lot of detail. The whole idea of travel nursing was so foreign to me and they should understand that. Just flat out ask a recruiter to give you all the information possible. My recruiter is always available to help me even at weird hours. She made sure I knew exactly what I was getting myself into without that aggressive sales attitude. I didn't have to negotiate either :)