Private Duty Traveling

lawrencenightingale · Jul 14, 2004

mattsmom81,

No, I've never done private duty travel nursing. I agree, it sounds intriguing. It's something I might do after seriously considering my patient's health. As for now I travel nurse. Am interested in breaking into independent contacting. Good luck.

LN

suzanne4, RN · Jul 15, 2004

Anybody here taake assignments through a travel agency to go with ill clients on extended trips? My agency gets a lot of requests for this and I was curious how others do this. A client needed a nurse to travel with him to India for a funeral..which sounded intriguing until I thought of all the things that could go awry, especially being out of the country among people you don't know.
Anybody here done this type of thing and have stories or advice to share? I love the idea of this but am cautious especially in this times. :uhoh21:

It is usually a flight nurse that goes with the patient, as if there are any problems in the air you need to know what to do with them. For these types of trips, normally the nurse just accompanies the patient over, the stay for a couple of days, and then you return them home.

mattsmom81 · Jul 16, 2004

From what I gather from my agency the clients requesting accompanying nurses are homecare type patients, not acute hospital patients. I am guessing one needs to be working under contract conditions and be very specific as to what one will be responsible for when you go on a trip with a client like this; as well as what will constitute dealbreakers.

I would worry about being taken to a foreign country then the family changes the deal and tried to force a nurse to comply or threaten some legal mess. I would worry about foreign laws and how they might apply, so I imagine knowing the laws of the country one is traveling to is quite imperative.. As one nurse I work with said, if something went bad the nurse might never get home or might leave minus a finger or two. What protections would the nurse have in a foreign land other than her embassy? How far would the contracting agency go to protect their nurse and how responsible are they in situations like this? Lots of questions.

I see you are working in Thailand Suzanne...are you a citizen there or on contract and how did that work for you...sounds interesting but I imagine there were some important considerations for you too before you began.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 16, 2004

I am an American nurse that lives and works in Thailand in my school, that I own. Quite different.

Right now you do not want to fly to India, I don't care what the fees are that you will be getting. There are having major natural disasters going on there right now.

You always have a paid return ticket in hand before you leave the US for those type of travle assignments. What your agency does sounds quite shady to me. What do they have set up for you? What type of contract is in place to protect you? I think that you neede to do a lot more research before you even attempt to consider one of these contracts. You need to check out your agency alot more thoroughly, doesn't sound like they have the nurse's interests in front of anything else.

The flight to India is also extremely long and if you are not used to doing it, you will be exhausted when you get there and all the way until you are back in the uS, plus the jet lag due to the time difference. Something else to think about.

mattsmom81 · Jul 17, 2004

Oh I am not considering taking this assignment...just interested in the hows and whys...and curious if anybody out there has done this. Thanks for answering Suzanne...yes your situation sounds safe to me and I'm also wary of my agency's request. Just looking for some opinions here. :)

CDN RN · Aug 9, 2004

I guess there are many things that COULD go wrong when travelling privately...

I used to work for a home care company as a coordinator several years ago. I arranged a few travelling situations where nurses accompanied patients out of province or out of country. MOst of these situations were clients who were well known to the agency as they received nursing visits while at home in our city as well.

Most were also paliative and looking to acomplish specific things before thier time ran out...you know...that last carribean cruise...or a sister's 50th wedding anniversary party etc etc. These situation always worked out very well...of course when a patient is palliative there are some fears...but most of those become proceedural..and lawsuits are not what you expect...as the family usually have all come to some degree of understanding of the possibilities...

From the nurses I managed...it seemed that it could be a very rewarding experience...

mattsmom81 · Aug 12, 2004

I guess there are many things that COULD go wrong when travelling privately...
I used to work for a home care company as a coordinator several years ago. I arranged a few travelling situations where nurses accompanied patients out of province or out of country. MOst of these situations were clients who were well known to the agency as they received nursing visits while at home in our city as well.
Most were also paliative and looking to acomplish specific things before thier time ran out...you know...that last carribean cruise...or a sister's 50th wedding anniversary party etc etc. These situation always worked out very well...of course when a patient is palliative there are some fears...but most of those become proceedural..and lawsuits are not what you expect...as the family usually have all come to some degree of understanding of the possibilities...
From the nurses I managed...it seemed that it could be a very rewarding experience...

Yes this is some of what I was considering...and if the family was well known to an agency it would be a better situation for sure, I agree. The unknowns are the big question too in my mind. Thanks for answering.

LadyNWhite1 · Dec 12, 2010

I have just been asked to start traveling with patients while they are traveling inside the USA and outside the USA to administer basic nursing care. Is there a generic contract available for nurses? I am an LVN with over 25 years experience but have never done anything like this. I am very interested in any and all information that anyone can share. Thanks!