sandals

i think part of the trick is to work for the right agency. i work for a small agency that finds local work. if i get cancelled after arriving at the hospital, they owe me 4 hours pay. they have to cancel me 2 hours before my shift , not to have to pay me. we only float if we agree to. you need an agency that believes in nurses. i find agencies that are run by nurses are better at that. good luck

i was totally confused by the whole math equation. how does the irs believe that your taxable wage is only 14 per hour? i thought it depended on whether or not you had a permanent address? is the travel company issuing you a 1099 at the end of the year? if yes, you will need to pay taxes on that money. the company saves money on you when they give you a 1099. why dont they just offer you an hourly salary? why does it have to be so convoluted? sandals

i have worked agency since 1991. i only go to one facility at a time. you have to be a confident nurse for it to work. not a life for a new grad. the best thing i do, when i show up to a new floor is: get there 10 minutes early, ask for the charge nurse, and introduce myself. i then introduce myself to my fellow nurses and the assitant assigned to me. you would be surprised how far that gets you. they see you as a worker and confident. you also have to know when to speak up. you will find that the same floors request you and so you become like staff to them. as i work with the nurses more, they realize that i am being paid more an hour but they get beneifts that i dont. it really equals out in the end. since i make my own schedule and only work when i want, where i want. i come into work in a good mood. that too, goes a long way. as being agency, you dont have to put up with a lot of the nonsense that staff nurses have like mandatory staff meetings. yes, you do get cancelled first so you need to be flexible. if financially you need to work 5 days a week, that may not be for you. i needed 3 but when i could get 4 i took it. if i only got 2, it was ok. not great, but ok again, not for a new grad sandals

HOW DO YOU PRESENT YOUR CURRENT LICENSE TO YOUR AGENCY IF YOU LIVE OUT OF STATE? THEY SAY THAT YOU CANNOT MAIL OR FAX IT. HOW IS IT THAT YOUR AGENCY VERIFIES THAT YOUR LICENSE IS CURRENT? DOES YOUR AGENCY DO YOUR DRUG SCREEN OR IS IT DONE BY THE PARTICULAR FACILITY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO WORK IN? how is your identity verified again if the agency that is placing you, has never met you. there is an employment eligibility form that needs to be filled out to validate citizenship, just wondering how that is done? again, all help is greatly appreciated thanks sandals

Are Most Of You Med Surg Nurses? Do Most Of You Work Days Or Nights? Did You Have To Provide Fingerprints To Your Agency? Were You Tested At The Facility Before You Started? Sandals

well im glad to hear that that counts for so much. we have maybe a 3-5 minute turn around for returning calls. our perdiem nurses really like that. i also appreciate the advice about not having nurses go where they dont want to. we can have all the contracts in the world, with no nurses, i agree. we can also have all the nurses in the world, but no contracts. it is very much a two way street. i feel that when we get a nurse, we will have no trouble retaining them. im just not sure how to best go about getting them i will continue to look for more input from you thanks again sandals

that is very good advice. we will start local and maybe add one state at a time i understand your point about a specialty nurse not being able to find much work in a smaller company what specialty is most needed out there?

40-45 dollars an hour plus free private housing sounds very good do they pay the housing or reimburse you for it? is it in the form of a 1099 or counted toward your wages?

i love to read all these posts. as i stated before, i work in a healthcare staffing agency that is going to enter the travel nursing arena. i learn so much by reading about your opinions and what concerns you. we are a small company and probably our biggest assest is honesty and working hard for the nurse. i think that that will take us far. my understanding is that an agency has a profit margin, say 25 percent. they take what the going rate is for a nurse in that area. lets say it is 40 dollars per hour. they add up anything that they have to give that nurse. whether it is housing, insurnace, moving costs, whatever. they deduct that from the 40 dollars an hour over a 13 week period and come up with your salary. they add their overhead costs and their profit margin and thats what they charge the hospital. therefore, the more the nurse needs in things like a furnished house and utilities, the less per hour the nurse will make. what i think is happening is that this is not done in an upfront matter by some of the bigger agencies. i think if the nurse just looks at it as a simple math equation, it is easier to understand. every time i look at it, it comes out the same. give more, make less / give less/ make more. i would love to continue to hear your opinions on this, it helps us move in the right direction thanks sandals.

the state where i work has done mandatory fingerprinting for nursing liscence renewal. as a staffing agency, we do a state name check. we are going to start doing it by soc sec # in each state where the person has lived for the past 7 years. i was under the impression that the travel comp are doing finger print checks which are the most accurate and can be done on a federal level. is this not the case?

what type of background checks are done on travelers? do they get their fingerprints themselves? does the agency pay for the background check? i know that a federally run fingerprint check can take a very long time to get back. do you start working while the agency waits for results.

i have been working with a small healthcare staffing agency for many years. they concentrate on treating the nurses fairly with great respect. pay has always been competitive. i am now trying to help them start a travel nurse business. are you better off seeking med surg nurses or is it better to go for the specialty nurses. i dont think that they can go too widespread, so i think concentrating on a smaller group may prove to be more profitable. i also think that they will start fairly local and then branch out. how do you get a travel nurse to want to sign on with a smaller company that maybe cant offer all the perks as the bigger companies, but will always be there, play fair, and will always fight for what is best for the nurse including good salaries. any input that you can given will help thanks sandals.

when you get the housing stipend as a different entity on your paycheck, is it still considered as income and taxes are taken out of it or is it in the form of a 1099 and you will have to pay taxes on it yourself at the end of the year?

is the advantage not to the agency that is paying you a 1099. since they are not paying taxes on that money but you are. the nurse thinks she is getting more money but in the end, she will need to pay and file her own taxes on that and pay more than had she just gotten less with the company taking the taxes out. as a travel company, should i be offering 1099's?

can a nurse be paid as a w2 employee and then get a 1099 towards a housing stipend. do most travel companies reimburse your travel expenses to get around that? sandals

i hear travel agencies offering free housing. is the nurse getting hit with a 1099 that she will have to pay taxes on at the end of the year and are nurses aware of this? sandals

since i see "free housing" on all of the travel blogs, do they get a 1099 at the end of the year? are you then left paying taxes on that "free" housing? sandals

i understand that whether they are giving me housing or a stipend that my wage would be the same either way. my point is that if they wanted to pay me say 50 dollars per hour, and i needed housing. they would figure out what the housing is costing per hour and deduct that from my hourly wage. so if they are giving me a stipend, i might as well just get more an hour. doesnt it work out to be the same. ex- if i make 30 dollars an hour plus a stipen or if i make 40 dollars an hour and no stipend that is what my point is. i think everyone gets caught up in all that housing and stipend stuff that they dont realize either way they are making the same amount another ex - if my agency wants to pay me 43 dollars an hour, but i want health benefits, i will probably then make 30 dllars an hour and they will say i am getting free beneifits even though im really not do you understand what i mean? am i wrong in my thinking? sandals thanks for your input. i am enjoying the dialogue.

wow i did not know that so i guess the bigger companies can charge the hospital so much that they can afford to pay that thanks for the info, this is very intriguing to me

i never heard of a 60 percent mark up. i thought it was more like 25 or 30 percent. the reason why you would bem aking so much less per hour is because the company is paying for your housing, insurance, and travel expenses. that all comes out of it. it seems to me that it is simple math. the company can pay you say 40 per hour. they decuct what your housing costs them, what your insurance costs them, they take the 300 dollars travel expense and divide that by your hourly wage over 13 weeks and deduct that amount from your hourly salary. they than add their margin for profit and that is what they charge the hospital. the more the travel company gives you, the less your hourly wage will be. sandals

as a nurse working for a staffing agency that is entering the travel business what is it that is most important to travel nurses what do you want from your agency we are small and very sincere, we fight the hospitals for good pay and always stand up for our nurses we are available by phone 24/7 how do we get nurses to come travel for us?

im confused if you chose not to get the housing stipend, wouldnt you make more money per hour and then doesnt it all come out to the same in the end? sandals

hi i have been doing perdiem nursing since 1990 and have always loved the independence that it has provided me plus the better hourly wage. i have recently become employed with a staffing agency that is trying to enter the travel nurse business. not sure what it is that a travel nurse looks for in picking an agency. what is the nurse expected to do since they never meet with their agency. does the nurse need to do her own drug screening, back ground check, skills testing and so forth?any insight that you can give me into travel nursing would help thanks

i am surprised to hear such focus on pay. from what i see about travel companies, they all pretty much offer the same thing. am i not correct that if you want no benefits, you get paid more. if they are setting up your housing, you get paid less. so doesnt it all work out the same in the end.

i dont remember the hospital itself but the suit also includes staffing agencies that have signed onto the hospital association. there contract states that the nurses can be cancelled for shifts within a contract and they set a price cap on what the agency can charge. one of the big accusations is that price fixing is illegal and that you should not discriminate against another staffing agency that does not sign on. just wondering who won that one now since nj is using the arizona hosptial association as there role model.