Flygaze

I drove my car from Atlanta, GA to Ventura, CA and didn't have time to drive it back home so I ended up shipping it. I went with DIYtransport and it was $875 and took 9 days. This was early May 2015. (When I was looking to ship it out to Cali in January, $1099 was the cheapest.) Give yourself some buffer room because I was on a tight schedule and only a few companies had carriers in my area around the time I needed it shipped.

Hello hello! For those who were recently in San Francisco, how much did you get for housing stipend and with which agency and facility? I heard of $4500/month (Fastaff), $2700 (Onward), and $2400 (AMN). I read back in the forum about someone getting $3000 in 2000. Not sure what I should be expecting for the negotiation. Thanks in advance!

Do you still go through hospital orientation and 1 or 2 shifts for unit orientation? I am considering a rapid response for my second assignment. Is it too soon? I'm a pretty quick learner and it only took me a week to acclimate to my first assignment.

I spoke to American Mobile, Supplemental, TNAA, Flexcare, and IPI when I was looking for assignments in Denver in December/January. There were very few assignments for med/surg. The only place was at Rose Medical and it was tele, which I don't have experience in. If anyone was/is in Denver and has suggestions for agencies and hospitals, it will be greatly appreciated!

If you get $20/hour blended rate and per diem is $100/day, should your overtime be $38.33/hour NOT $30?

Money was not my top priority in choosing my first assignment. I went with the assignment that was in a good location (10 minutes walking from the beach!) and where I thought would be a good place for a first time traveler (it is). I am making twice as much as when I was staff so that is nice. I want to make sure for my next assignment I get a competitive pay package. It makes sense to get different offers from different agencies for different locations. Using the PanTravelers calculator for the health insurance and housing, should I put in what they are reimbursing me for 13 weeks or monthly? Centfromlv, is $45-50 net or gross?

I did not speak with any managers nor did I accept the position. It was going to be my first assignment and I did not feel comfortable floating every four hours.

I did the online interview for Kaiser San Jose and another facility. The first part of the interview is a written portion that included questions about your previous work place (size, nurse/patient ratio, what kind of floor, patient demographic, most frequent diagnoses and surgeries...). The Kaiser interview also had questions about signs and symptoms of various disease (CHF, COPD, stroke). The phone part included a series of behavioral questions (what would you do in so and so situation, most difficult patient, costumer service example...). My recruiter called me a couple of hours after and said I received offers from both facility. I, too, thought it was odd that I couldn't speak to a manager to find out more about the floor I would be working on. Question: if the interview stays on file for a year, does it mean we have to work with that particular agency who initially submitted us for the interview?

I am confused as to when to negotiate. Should I negotiate before being submitted or after receiving an offer? I feel if I negotiated before, I don't have any leverage because I do not have an offer. If I wait until after the offer, I have already been submitted by that agency therefore if I turn the offer down, the other agency cannot submit me for the position anyway. I am on my first assignment and before being submitted to any position, the agencies I was working with sent me the basic pay packages and they were all pretty comparable. I'm the only traveler on the floor and from what the staff nurses are saying, the travelers before me got paid wayyyyy more than I did.

Which company did you find eye, dental and health for under $200? I have Aetna health only and it's $226. (To COBRA would have been $600/month!!!) The agency I'm working with is paying $150 a month for it since I opted out of their plan. I wanted continuity incase I decided not to go with the same company next assignment.

So went from almost nothing to three offers in the span of three hours. Any information about these three hospitals and their surrounding area would be great! Info of how safe the area is, ease of finding housing, public transportation, things to do, etc... anything! Thanks!! Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, CT (how easy is it to get a temp license?) Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hill, CA Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, CA

She's with Aureus

My friend is in Hawaii and loves it. She took company housing which is ten minutes away from the hospital, Queens Medical. She says public transpiration is good and the food is wonderful. This is her second week there so I haven't heard an update on how the job is.

That would be me. I have been looking for the past month for an assignment. I have 2.5 years experience in med/surg at two large teaching hospitals, one is a level 1. I am working with four recruiters. Maybe I am picky with my location (Denver, DC/Maryland, Florida...branching out to California now that I'm kinda getting desperate). I don't think I am picky with pay (willing to take $1193/wk takehome for Hopkins...is this low for Hopkins and Maryland??). I've been submitted to a dozen positions and only had one interview (declined the offer bc didn't have ortho experience and wasn't comfortable with the hospital and area). I'm getting frustrated. Anyone else going through something similar?? Any advice/tips??

I had an interview at Southern yesterday and was hesitant about accepting. It's a night position 1:6 ratio orthopedics, which I have very limited experience in. I'll think I'll keep looking. Thanks for responding, Maggie!

Hi everyone, Any information (good, bad, ugly) about the Medstar hospitals in Maryland? I am applying for a travel position at Medstar Southern, Medstar Union and Medstar Franklin Square. The online reviews are awful. I wanted to hear from the nurses's prospective how it is. Thanks!

Yes, research which unit(s) you want to work on and hand deliver your resumes. Also, if you know someone who works at Emory, ask them to refer you. Most of the people hired on my floor have been through referrals or internally.

That was when I was a new grad desperate for med/surg experience. If you have any questions about Atlanta hospitals, PM me. I am at Emory University Hospital and it is wonderful! I really want to travel and will be extremely sad to leave my job behind. I am currently looking for my first travel assignment. If you have any knowledge/advice on what I should be expecting in terms of housing stipend and pay in the DC area, it will be much appreciated!

I worked at Grady on a med/surg/tele floor for 7 months and absolutely hated it. We never had enough supplies (IV tubing, alcohol pads, flushes...). The staff was very mean and rude to each other and patients. It was normal for me to have 6 patients and sometime 7. On a good day I had 5 patients. There were 42 beds on my floor and only two techs so the nurses pretty much did everything: vitals, accuchecks, baths, ambulate patients, clean them up. Maybe the ICU will be different but if at all possible, I would not recommend Grady. It is also in a sketchy area of town.

I spoke with a recruiter yesterday and asked her to let me know before she submitted my profile to different facilities. She said bc of the acuity of the assignments, it is better for her to go ahead and submit instead of waiting for me to research and then okay the facilities. I read in this forum about two agencies submitting a traveler's profile to the same facility and that made the traveler look unprofessional? What are the pros/cons of letting the recruiter going ahead and submit vs me reviewing first? As a first time traveler, I am okay with the agencies going ahead and submitting then I can pick and choose when I actually get interviews.

Regarding the "historical place of work," if I change from full time to PRN at my current job, can I still maintain that as a tax home? It definitely won't qualify as "significant income at home" bc I will be making more money at my travel assignment.

Wouldn't such low hourly rates trigger an IRS inquiry? I remember reading that on this forum. Nine and ten dollars is barely above the minimum wage in most states.

Thank you! I"m going to start calling Monday and ask my heart out. Thus far Travel Nurse Across America has been great. Fastaff told me to contact them when I actually have licenses in states where I want to travel to.

I don't pay rent or any utilities. I only pay for my car note, car insurance and student loans all of which are registered to my godparents' address. If it is relevant, I was living on my own then moved back in May bc I knew I would be traveling and did not want to sign a lease.

Does this mean I should call the number on the agency website and speak to recruiters and wait to fill out the online applications including the skills checklist? I have been registering at various agencies online and some have called me back and some have not. They weren't particularly interested in speaking with me since I don't plan to travel until mid-October.