Please help..want to start traveling

[Chloe23]

I am an RN planning on traveling at the end of the summer...I have a friend to travel with but am nervous about not having enough experience. I started last June on a med/surg ortho unit with high acuity patients. I have been researching travel complanies and reading these forums for awhile now...I feel comfortable in my basic skills but am getting worried b/c alot of the posts seem to be saying you should have more then a yr experience. The nurses on my unit said I would be fine b/c of our nurse/pt ratio and acuity level but they have not traveled and I am wondering if a little over a year is not enough...I would appreciate any help and advice!!!

[bagladyrn, RN]

I am an RN planning on traveling at the end of the summer...I have a friend to travel with but am nervous about not having enough experience. I started last June on a med/surg ortho unit with high acuity patients. I have been researching travel complanies and reading these forums for awhile now...I feel comfortable in my basic skills but am getting worried b/c alot of the posts seem to be saying you should have more then a yr experience. The nurses on my unit said I would be fine b/c of our nurse/pt ratio and acuity level but they have not traveled and I am wondering if a little over a year is not enough...I would appreciate any help and advice!!!

I've said this recently in posts to another asking essentially the same question. If you are nervous about your skill level and lack of experience, you are not yet ready to travel. You might get lucky and muddle through, but you might equally well end up at a place with a higher acuity and worse nurse/pt. ratio (no matter what the interviewer says). Until you know that you can handle anything thrown at you the day you walk into that hospital, you are not ready. (I once ended up in a true "crash" c/section and a full neonatal code and shipping a baby out on multiple supports TWO HOURS after the very first time I walked through the doors of the unit)

The best way to build your confidence, besides time, is to do some agency or perdiem shifts at other area hospitals to get a feel for what it's like to walk into an unfamiliar place and function.

Not meant to be discouraging - you'll get to where you are ready to travel - and have a much better and safer experience with it for the wait.

[suzanne4, RN]

Try taking some per diem agency assignments in your local area and see how you do with that, it will check your comfort level and put it in perspective for you.

I have walked into one assignment and had a crash C-section, a SIDS death and a pediatric trauma all within a couple of hours. Have walked into OR assignments and directly into an emergency open heart case in my room. You need to be able to deal with anything and without any orientation. Things may also be done differently at the other facilities so you need to be comfortable with change from what you are used to.

Only then, should you consider yourself ready.

Best of luck to you.