OR Travel nursing

[fader23]

Hello all!

So I was just looking for some advice from a third-party person. I have been a nurse in the OR for a little bit over a year now. I really like my job and the OR and (finally) know what I am doing. However, the hospital I work at specializes only in one type of service. I was offered a job at another hospital that would train me in other services, like ortho and vascular. I am thinking of doing travel OR nursing. Do any of you have experience with travel OR nursing? I can just take a guess and I know, deep down, I need to know other specialties to do travel nursing. Its just hard to leave my job and the wonderful people I work with. I'm not going to lie, but I am scared of leaving and then potentially not being good at the other place! I was wondering if anyone could tell me about travel OR nursing, how is it, what its like. Thanks for all your help! :)

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

I did OR travel nursing for 2 years, and it was wonderful. Prior to my traveling, I was an OR nurse for 5 years. I was trained in every specialty except for open hearts.

If an OR is hiring travel nurses, that means they are in dire need and you must be very flexible. They typically want you to be able to cover either a day shift or an evening shift (night shifts are usually pretty well staffed...I have yet to see an OR night shift traveler in my experience, although I don't doubt that there are some floating about).

Various travel companies will give you a questionnaire regarding your skills and will also administer a written test that you must pass to prove the skills that you checked off. Explore your options for travel nursing...after all, you don't HAVE to take a job, but you can always go ahead and put your app in and see what they have to offer you. It was a wonderful experience and I truly loved it!

Oh and I must share this with you: I was so nervous when I started driving up to my first assignment that I had to pull over on the side of the road and barf! Everyone worries that they won't be adequate/knowledgeable/flexible/prepared enough when going to another OR, so don't beat yourself up for being nervous-totally understandable!

I hope you find this somewhat helpful. Good luck to you!

[socialjustice]

I am just getting ready to travel and have been in the OR for 4 years (in 3 months :))

Good luck.