Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

allnurses

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

DeDe245

Members
  • Joined

  • Last visited

All Content by DeDe245

  1. Some are sticklers to the one year recent experience rule many aren't. Same with facilities. Although more than one year is ideal. Consider the abundance of each specilaty as well with ER being more abundant. Use Google Job Search Search Phrase: Travel "Specialty" (abbreviation) USA or 2 letter state or City and state Click more jobs to get into the full app where you can save jobs and set up alerts to make a long term assessment
  2. 20's, BF, Dog, Clinic>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Marriage, Mortgage, Kids, Retirement, Death That's when I wake up in a cold sweat so glad it was just a nightmare Just my opinion based on years of living You have to decide to try it for yourself or not but first learn the ins and outs otherwise you first assignment could be a nightmare as well Sounds like your gut is saying you are settling down too early. That super processor that puts all the facts together on the fly. Everytime I've ignored it things went wrong
  3. I suggest doing more reading, research, planning to have the best experience. Many companies supply housing and some with multiple options. It's something to be negotiated like everything else. Be careful once you travel you may never want to go back perm at least some of us like me.
  4. I like the idea of a yard for dog. Never had that. Maybe with a pet door Most important I need quiet, close to parks, bike paths and facilities Don't need a lot of space. Stackable Washer/dryer Hard wood floors for pets is a plus or even without pets AC /Heat that works good Wifi , Kingsize bed Smart TV for some travelers I don't watch TV but my dog does Animal Planet LOL ?
  5. Also IRS Publication 463 https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-463 And IRS Free File Fed and States https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
  6. DeDe245 replied to Rachel_T's topic in Travel
    Don't follow those top 10 or 20 Best agency sites either even though some good companies may be in there. After many years of investigating those sites and their criteria it is based upon money referrals and a lot of slick talk that fools many new or uneducated Travelers. Do your own assessments based upon benefits, company policies, performance of the recruiter and pay packages. Have at least 5 good recruiters/companies you are registered with and have worked for as well and keep in email contact with the others.
  7. DeDe245 replied to mari1993's topic in Travel
    People either love or hate Psych. Psych is all I've ever done and all I want to do. If you contact enough companies you'll get one that will work with you depending on your experience in the first specialty but then you have to find a hiring manager that will take you. All you need is one yes though. Many companies don't have the rigid requirement of 1 year recent experience in your specialty no matter what experience you have. Once you find one and you like the assignment I'd keep extending to build that recent experience up to open your options.
  8. DeDe245 replied to Sasrn10's topic in Travel
    I get my healthcare through the VA even while traveling. They have a Traveling Vet program not to be confused with the Travel Nurse Corps. I am grateful for my VA Care and found it better and much less costly than health insurance and less hassle now that they have made improvements and you have access to a national Urgent Care Network, ER's and other private providers. That said they are very bureaucratic and some VA's are much worse than others. My permanent home VA is great though. I looked at the Travel Nurse Corps and was leary of the VA managing a Travel Nurse program but guess it could be like hospital that have their own in house traveler or seasonal programs. I worked an assignment for the VA through another Travel Nurse Company and the VA still has assignments with regular Travel Nurse Agencies. On that assignment the people were pretty good but the thick bureaucracy was there. Would be interested to know how it works out. I know they do things different than other Travel Nurse Companies.
  9. Professional Nursing Service PNS is the one to stick with in USVI. I worked for them down there years ago. Trustaff has a long history of complaints but as always negotiate especially for decent housing and do your research on it, if you take medications bring a supply to last your whole stay including potential extensions as the pharmacies there are a nightmare.
  10. The Senate is about to throw out Federally Mandated Hazard pay of an extra $12-13/hr for Frontline Workers Which passed the House of Representatives Part of the Next Stimulus Package Plan RE: COVID Yet put in a provision to give employers legal protections from lawsuits. AMNESTY Contact your Senator Now to Voice your View https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Demand for the Hazard Pay AND that they require Employers to file for it. ACT NOW
  11. I'm wondering if staff are being screened for COVID19 as well as patients? As psych units are limited to what you can do with social distancing especially with hands on incidents. I work as a Psych RN Traveler but have been out recovering from a surgery before this virus took over and now at 100% ready to help. I've communicated with other travelers I know and they said patients were being pre-screened before admission. I don't know yet if that is routine everywhere. I'm thinking though as Travelers come and go from many areas it would be critical to pre-screen them as well as you can be an aymptomatic carrier or have mild symptoms which could be allergies as well this time of year. Interested in others experiences on their units. Has this affected your census? Have there been census caps put into place? I imagine these lockdowns are creating big problems in the homeless community many of which are dealing with mental health issues.
  12. I was out of official Nursing for 8 years caring for parents. I was really scared of never being able to return to Nursing without taking one of those expensive RN refresher programs. Yet I had been maintaining my licenses and doing a lot of continuing ed. So set out to edit and re-edit and re-edit my resume describing in to the point what I did Care giver, Case Manager, Advocate, Researcher etc etc. It was basically the hardest Nursing I've done in my life 24-7 live-in. I have my elevator speech plus I reconnected with past references and updated info and I had years of experience in my specialty Psych and caring for my Parents was basically Geri-Psych with lots of Med Surg which I had no prior experience in so I gained many skills and became even more efficient balancing lots of roles but despite all that I would get from well meaning advisors you'd be lucky if you could get a Perm Job and then you would need to work their a year but not me. I wanted my cake and eat it too. I wanted to return as a Traveler as I had done before. Finally I set out to email every company with ready rebuttals to any objection that I could simply and copy and paste on the fly and send plus I called and spoke with recruiters hoping that approach would work. I guessed all I needed was one company to agree and one hospital to agree and I would keep renewing at the hospital for almost a year. BAM! It worked! It was merely a numbers game. Out of all the companies I emailed maybe 60 responded and what I found in my real life experiment was after a few back and forth emails and them checking with their clinical director more than half of those responded favorably...some more so than others. In fact I had to create separate folders in Outlook to keep up with them. I focused on the ones that the recruiter had the most positivity and the company was large enough with plenty of assignments cause even then I still had the hurdle of getting a hiring manager to hire me and again I thought all I need is one. I had some interviews where I was turned down but I kept pushing. All I needed was one hiring manager who took care of their parents and would get it or knew somebody that did and understood the difficulty of it. Looking back on the process I learned some things I may have done differently but all in all it was just a matter of persistence, staying organized, genuine marketing. Finally a place that need nurses bad interviewed me and loved my background and in the 20 minute interview we mostly talked about the weather and it was a go. After I had hung up my mouth was open in amazement on how easy it was. I worked their a almost a year and I keep getting offers almost daily from companies but I like my recruiter. In the past I use to hop from one company to the other but I fine here for the time being. So what I learned take the conventional advice with a grain of salt and caution but test it out and be persistent and committed. I am just happier as a Traveler plus I banked a lot of money that year. I am now a Thousandaire and taking a break and will out again soon. On the unit I worked it was just matter learning their systems but my Psych skills were there still and even sharper plus the fact that I don't consider this a job but a calling. I care about these people. I love connecting with them. I had to get back to them. Every place has it's hassles and I hadn't given injection in a long while but had given thousands before. I dealt with it all using humor, taking notes I called recipes for this process or that process. So no you don't need a year of recent experience in a hospital setting. Now if I had been doing something completely different it may have been more challenging but so many people even so called experts tend to go by this what I call copy and paste advise. Someone who sounds authoritative or even with some expertise tells them something and they take it as gospel unchecked. I didn't find a whole lot on the web about this except some posts saying you couldn't use caring for a family members as experience....says who? I did listen to a TED speech online about the subject that motivated me with real stories. Also I am close to 60 years old. I read the stats of the difficulty of returning to the work force and bought into that I would have given up. You have to say and believe you are an outlier of the stats. Plus despite of somewhat disabled...I can't run I did it. I keep in very good shape and future surgery will fix that problem. All these challenges I had (I won't get into all of them) have become a blessing to change for the better and re-invent myself it literally has turned the clock back for me except for white hairs here and there I am proud of in fact I try to brighten them ha ha :) Just be creative with plans and do it and readjust and keep doing it. If I change one I hope more peoples mind about this non-official rule of one year recent experience.
  13. There are lots of assignments for Psych RNs accross the country. I am constantly getting emails for Psych assignments. In my experience just about every company recruits Psych RN's with a small percentage of exceptions. I know there are couple of companies that say they specialize in Psych but I found this not to be the case as they staff many other specialties as well along with a good supply of Psych assignments. Since Psych assignments are not AS abundant as other specialties it is even more neccessary to register with a good number of companies as well as work on an assignment with several companies. On top of that stay in email contact with other recruiters. If you do that you will see that many companies may be marketing the same assignment but also different ones you haven't seen. Psych certification helps as well. Also most importantly is a knowledgeable, fair. effective/efficient recruiter working as a team with you (as with any specialty). Once you sign up with a company and get stuck with a poor recruiter it is difficult (not impossible) to change recruiters unless that recruiter leaves or is promoted to management. Keep in contact with great recruiters via cell as I've seen many great recruiters move from company to company. Also save up those $'s because to give you confidence to hold out for good paying assignments and when you are looking have 2-3 potentials going as they fall through many times. The more state licenses the merrier and look outside of just Travel Nurse Companies, look at Seasonal, Military Contracts , VA, per diem (with or without a contract), and even the Dreaded!! Perm although its best if you stay with inpatient Psych as the vast majority of Psych Travel is inpatient psych although I've seen Psych Home Health, Psych Management, Psych Case Management here and there. Good Luck :)
  14. Tax Advantage does not set you up for an audit Unless of course you don't have a permanent tax home (a place you own, rent or buying) Unless of course if the company is paying way below the lowest pay rate for the area on the taxable portion and shifting the rest to the non-taxable portion called per diem or reimbursements for Meals & Incidentals + Lodging. If you qualify it can mean much more money in your pocket than if you deducted those same things. That money you can then invest in your 401K or IRA which = more money for retirement. True, Companies are pushing it but the truth is just about all companies have always offered it on the Lodging portion. If you are not paying taxes on the lodging you receive or the housing stipend you receive without qualifying for "Tax Advantage" (having permanent tax home) that can set you up for an audit just as well. That's why companies have you sign a statement declaring a permanent address although they do little to properly advise you of the ramifications and neither does the form. To be honest alot of companies even bigger ones are abusing the tax advantage with ridiculously low taxable pay rates (probably anything below $18/hr for RN). I've seen as low as $12/hr taxable. Many though are conservative with it. I've seen it used to confuse people too in thinking they are making more but a few simple calculations can spot that quickly. DeDe
  15. Although this is a very thorough post I found several inaccuracies. All companies are not the same. Although many share the same assignments they also have different assignments too with different pay rates, benefits, housing etc. A verbal contract is not binding. This is a psychological trick to get you not to consider the written contract and get you locked in mentally to the assignment. The written contract needs to cover all agreements made on housing, other reimbursements, overtime, floating, unit worked, The more specific items covered the better.Make sure it is not one-sided as well. Once the contracted is negotiated and adjusted to please all parties only then can you make an informed agreement that is binding. There is no way you could do this verbally. Even if you said you agreed or I like it until you get the formal document you haven't even finished negotiating all the terms. There will always be things in the contract that weren't discussed. So slow down do your research and consider every possibility. You will Thank yourself immensely you did every contract. Another thing is the assumption cable, phone and internet are not covered. Not true. Everything is up for negotiation. Many apartments not just extended stays come with everything. I've had several like this. Do your own research too on housing...you may find a better deal and then ask the company to use that housing instead. No don't assume you have to go the Housing Stipend route and put everything in your own name. Another thing is you don't have to fill out applications to find out jobs available although many recruiters want you to. There are around or more than 300 Companies. There is a Nursing shortage. The Nurse is in demand so act like it and negotiate and market yourself via email to definitely more than 3 recruiters. I don't mean be a Prima Donna although many recruiters may call you that for wanting utilities and/or cable covered or negotiating. Let them. These are people that are experienced at getting the nurse at the lowest price possible but still retain their loyalty. They do this by becoming your "friend". Perpetuating the myths and assumption of Travel Nursing. Many of which you can find in Healthcare Traveler Magazine Articles :). They are very subtle and between the lines. Yet they are effective in clouding your judgement. The latest scare tactic is using the economy as an excuse to get you to accept lower pay. Don't buy it. Sorry to attack this article but I'm not going to sit here let another wanna be Traveler get duped into the same assumptions. Becareful where you get your information from, research it, test it, keep testing it, challenge it. I've heard experienced Nurses and even Nurses that have been Traveling repeat same myths. Experience does not always = Travel Smarts. Yes you need to be flexible to some degree but not a door mat. It's an easy Trap to get in for Nurses because we are Caregivers. On the unit be a hard worker and a team player. On Negotiation and Finding Contracts be a business person which requires some finesse not just demanding everything which can backfire. Be friendly with your recruiters but don't think of them as your friend. If you sign an contract with no negotiating and all smiles and no give and take I guarantee that someone else got a better deal before during or after you on the same assignment. DeDe
  16. Good Day :) Do you know if the St. Croix hospital has any Psych needs know? What companies do they use now? What's the pay and benefits and taxes like there now if you don't mind my asking? Thanks in advance for your time. I appreciate it. DeDe
  17. DeDe245 replied to tipiwoman's topic in Travel
    How much did Sea Cliff run then? Is it through Real Estate Company or Private Owners? Whereabouts is it on the Island? Thanks in advance.. :) DeDe
  18. Hey I'd like any info you could supply on working Psych in Saipan. Did you contract directly? Thanks in advance DeDe
  19. I am interested in attending the online ASN w/PN program at Deaconess Schoolof Nursing now called Chamberlain School of Nursing. I've heard they are accreditied by the NLN but if you pass the ASN w/ PN web based degree where you have to set your clinicals up will all Boards of Nursing accept this school. For example my resident state is NC may accept it I don't know yet but what if I wanted to move to California. I have read about in the past a College Called Regents in NY now called Excelsior I believe had a similiar program but graduates would not be accepted in Florida or California I believe. Don't know if that was to sit for the NCLEX or through reciprocity as well. Just want to get this question answered before proceeding. DeDe

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.