connie12

I am moving back to my home state after 5 years away. I am only doing so to reconnect with family for a couple years and then plan to return to travel nursing. My current job is in a cardiac ICU in which I have worked for 1.5 years and have gotten crap experience because one must "pay their dues" so I yet to take a heart right out of surgery nor learn CRRT. So I am not that confident in my ICU skills to do traveling in that area yet. (I was a previous traveler on med-surg and tele floors). I have two offers on my plate and don't know what to do. Which will make it easier to travel again in a couple years: 1. Well-known university hospital in a big city. Cath lab position. Pay is pretty decent for the area. This hospital's ICUs usually only hires internally so I could try for an ICU job in about a year or later. 2. Another well-know university hospital, this time in the middle of the state. So pay is approximately $7-8/hr LESS than the city hospital. Yes, cost of living is cheaper, but not THAT much cheaper. This position interests me so much more b/c it's in the cardiac ICU, and I'll get to learn LVADs, Ecmo and heart transplant patients which the manager said I'll be trained on from the get-go. Just the money and location stink.... which causes me some anxiety. So... I know where I'm leaning, you probably know where I'm leaning. What are your thoughts. If I was to learn the cath lab, are there cath lab travel nurse opportunities out there? Thanks so much! Connie

I think you should travel now because the opportunity might not come later once you finish your MSN. I believe everything else will fall into place when you are ready. If you can get a job through a staffing company at a later date, then that's a nice cushion. A great way to save money when I travelled was to but into my savings account whatever I would have been paying in rent. When I left for my first travel job (and took the housing), I was paying $1000/month in rent in my home city. I pretended I still had a $1000 monthly rent when travelling and paid myself instead. In 1.5 years, I saved $20K! Of course, except for a student loan, I did not have any other debt. I have been a staff nurse, then travel nurse, then staff again and now taking another staff job. I think having a travel background may have helped me get future positions because it showed I am adaptable. As for traveling alone.... do you make friends easily wherever you work? Travel nursing will be no different. Also, try meetup.com to find local things to do in the area you are moving to. You'd be surprised how much travel nursing can boost your confidence and sense of adventure.

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