Preparing to Travel, advice please

[exit96]

I am in my first year as an RN. Worked 1 year in LTC with my LPN before my med/surg floor FT position I have. I have also started working per diem at a sister hospital on med/surg floor, not only for the $$ but trying to get as much experience as I can as quickly as I can. My goal is to Travel, or at least try it.

What should I add to this and how much experience should I acquire before taking that step? (I know its not only experience as a number of years experienced, but also the individual and maturity)...________________________

[NedRN]

It is not just your ability, it is actual years of experience. That is what hospitals see on your work history. You are competing with a jillion other med/surg nurses in a weak market for that specialty. If you were a nurse manager, who would you pick: a nurse with five years of experience with two of those years traveling, or a one year never traveled nurse?

I strongly recommend you get more experience and move up the line to at least telemetry if not ICU. Then you will be more marketable. Med/surg has been dropping for the last 20 years, it is not going to suddenly start going up.

[exit96]

I am tele certified, and I do intend on rounding out my experience, that is the premise of my post.

What do you mean by "Med/surg has been dropping for the last 20 years, it is not going to suddenly start going up."_____________

[NedRN]

Med surg positions, does that make it clear? And along with them, travel assignments in med surg.

I'll make some wild guesses and say that 30 years ago, back when patients stayed a week for an appendectomy, med surg, ortho positions and the like accounted for 90 percent of hospital RN staffing. I'm guessing that number is closer to 20 percent today.

Every year, there are fewer med surg nurses. It is pretty darned clear that is going to continue. Just saying... There will be a good uptick in home health though so med surg skills will translate there.