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But were you prompted to do the fingerprinting? I should probably just call them but didn't want to be on hold for hours. I was never prompted after the application to complete fingerprinting and there is no mention of that when I check the application status. Where did you get the ORI# from?

Florida Board of Nursing - Licensing, Renewals & Information MQA Online Services You just log in to your current license and then there's a drop down menu where you can apply for "Multi-State Registered Nurse Upgrade Application."

Has anyone done the application to upgrade to Florida Multi-State (compact/eNLC) license? I just completed it earlier today but it wasn't very clear on instructions. I completed and paid but it didn't tell me if I need to have fingerprinting done or not. On the main page it says if you haven't had fingerprinting in the last 90 days that you'll need to have completed again, but on the actual application it says nothing about instructions for fingerprinting or next steps. I've had fingerprinting done for other states recently, I'm sure that doesn't count, but at the end of my application I wasn't prompted or instructed to obtain LiveScan.

Have you ever, or heard about someone else, renegotiated a contract mid-contract? For instance if you found out another traveler with the same company was getting a much better contract at the same facility/position/etc.

There's a lot for me to like about the contract, more like than not, and it's the best paying contract I've seen so far (for my active states) and interview was great, facility seems like a good fit especially for my first travel assignment. It's just those small things that irk me. I doubt there will be much OT to gain at this place I'm more concerned about holidays, as I will likely be to work 3 holidays as far as I know. And the basic fact that $30 OT is ludicrous. So I will be 99% likely to take it, get my first assignment in, and if they won't work with me on OT for a future contract I'll just tell them to delete me from their call list.

Do most travelers hardly negotiate their contracts? I'm looking to sign my first contract and some of the details didn't make sense to me like OT rate. I talked to a traveler that raves about the agency and has been with them 3 or so years. She's never negotiated anything and thinks a $30 total OT/Holiday rate is fair ($20 taxed at 1.5x). The agency won't budge with me on it and part of me says not to push it this is your first contract, as everything else looks good, you'll have more leverage after I have the first one under my belt. The contract language is a bit grating, but have heard nothing but good about the agency.

I was looking in Central Florida, so I can imagine that South Florida was paying even less. Best thing to do though is if you really want it, sign up with some recruiters and get some quotes. Always better than anecdotal information. :) I'd keep my eye on Fastaff though if you want the best rates. They don't have any postings for Florida right now but best to sign up so you know when openings pop up.

As someone who started in Chicago then moved to Florida, I can attest to a lot of that. You really only want to come to Florida if you want the experience more than the pay. I was an ICU nurse when I was in Chicago and ended up switching to home health here since the pay was much better for HH, plus it was a nice change of pace (not easier, mind you, I see more in home health than I ever did in the hospital). Granted this was as non-travel, but the ICU rates I was getting quoted with, at the time, 5 years experience, was the same rate I was offered as a new grad in Chicago. Which Chicago new grad rates aren't that great to start with! Nurse pay already stinks in Illinois, and it's worse in Florida. So if you decide to travel to South Florida make sure you're just going for the experience. The pay will be low and the work conditions less than ideal compared to even Chicago depending on which hospital you're coming out of. Seasonal jobs direct through the hospital systems like Ned mentioned might be slightly better pay wise.

I got contacted by a recruiter from an AMN subsidiary, should I avoid any AMN company for Kaiser or just American Mobile?

Thanks Ned. Yeah I've been a free member on PanTraveler for years but now that I'm finally rolling along I might as well get the paid membership for a year. No floating worries for me as I'll be home health. Might be floated 50 miles out of my usual patient area but that's something else altogether lol. I completely hear you on the name brand "elites." I started my career at one of these in one of the very first Magnet hospitals. Lowest paying hospital for nurses in the whole city and horrendous treatment of nurses. You better believe though when Magnet rolled through, patient ratios were top notch and every t was crossed. When they're gone? Back to normal. Good advise on the Kaiser/AM situation. I've read about the subcontracting situations with different systems with people saying to cut out the middle man but I guess in this situation the middle man is the better option, or should I say middle middle man.

NedRN - Do you recommend doing the paid PanTravelers membership? I see it mentions you have access to their contract lawyer but hard to tell if that's truly useful or not. One of my recruiters is wanting to try to get me into Kaiser for my first travel position (home health) as he says that once I've done a couple assignments for Kaiser that's golden for my travel resume, though it's also higher paid than most of the other contracts so makes me think it might be possibly trial by fire

Aiming for one specific location will definitely limit you, more so if you're only working with one agency. Your best bet might to be look at seasonal jobs since high season is about to hit Florida, then you're also cutting out the middle man and working directly for the hospital system. Seasonals will often pay the same perks as travel, others can chip in but there's plenty of threads on here about seasonals in Florida, I know I always see them for Naples.

Thanks Wolf, yeah it was actually reading your post that first got me thinking about the CA license and verification consequences, however CA is my priority which is why I didn't want to save till last. That's why I'm hoping that applying to NY and MA now won't be an issue when I turn in my app in 2 weeks directly to CA BON. Other states I'm not as concerned about. If the job pays enough the $100 fee won't stop me. Spend some to make some :)

Well my goal is to be able to start looking at assignments by November so will still do everything I can to expedite the CA license. Might just have to bite the bullet on the CA license verification but maybe I'll get lucky :)

I've already booked my flight to Sacramento it's in 2 weeks, so the next 2 days I'm working on getting my applications in for the other states. You think that should still work for timing? Also should I go ahead and initiate the Nursys verification for CA before traveling?

I think you're right about not renewing my IL license. Illinois's website is such a chaotic mess and apparently Pantraveler has outdated info. I finally found the Administrative Code on Illinois's site (the only place I could find an actual answer), they're almost as bad as NJ now. To renew an expired in IL you have to pay $50 plus all lapsed renewal fees. My IL license expired in 2014 so that puts me at about $210 just to get it re-activated for a state I doubt I'll work in again (mainly because of the low nursing pay). I actually love the idea of working in Massachusetts so think I might go for that too. So then I'll have FL, CA, NY, and MA. Debating NV as I know travel rates can be good there and long processing time. Would also think about OR and WA, though those both only take about a month to get licensed so not as worried to get those.

Thanks NedRN! Definitely food for thought and will go ahead and start my NY app and looking through the PanTraveler info. My original state of licensure is Illinois though have let it lapse (less than 5 years). If I go ahead and renew my IL license will that work for any new state applications that want all active if your original is lapsed? If that's so it would probably be cheapest to just keep my IL license up to date.

So I'm about to fly out to Sacramento to do my CA license but found out that after I get that I'll need to pay $100 to verify my CA license for any other state I would want to apply to. CA is my preferred state but I can see taking assignments elsewhere. Any chance CA will join Nursys at all? Would you recommend going ahead and applying for some other states while my CA license is pending or do some travel companies pay for the license verification fee also? Also I'm looking at home health travel jobs so any recommendations on good states for home health travel pay that I should look at getting licensed. I think I'd like to get NY at least, and any other states that are good prospects.

I'm a longtime travel lurker but looking at taking my first assignment in the next few months. I've been researching travel for years though and the biggest thing I'd recommend is just browsing through this travel forum to look at people's experiences and insights. Everyone will have different experiences and travel is not right for everyone. Travel can be well paying but not always, sometimes depending on the area you're paid better to be permanent staff. Travel is better if you like short term and seeing new places it seems, if the pay is good then that's an extra bonus to the equation. Make sure you have at least 2 years experience in the specialty you want to travel with. There's other sites like PanTravelers, Highway Hypodermics, Gypsy Nurse... take some time to read through all the info. I'm pretty sure penalties for quitting a contract really depend on the contract and company, you need to read all the fine print, some will try to get you for housing if you're using agency housing. If you bail out of a contract though you're likely to be blacklisted by the hospital/group and possibly your agency, depending on why you're terminating early.

I was just reading an article about that a few days ago: Ask A Travel Nurse: Cold Calling? - The Gypsy Nurse Honestly I would feel weird if a recruiter asked me to cold call. I would think that's their job, not mine to make a manager upset or confused why some travel nurse is randomly calling them without any heads up. At the same time I agree with Ned's points but it's still a very awkward situation.

I'd be home health though, not in the hospital. So thankfully I won't have to worry about floating. I'm sure there's other things I might worry about but not floating.

Thanks Argo and NedRN! I always value input from you guys when going through the threads. Yeah I'm aware about the no free lunch aspect, they'll make you pay them back for flight and hotel if you don't book with them. I'm completely open though as this would be my first travel assignment and want to get my foot in the door in California. I have my background in tele/ICU but have been home health the last couple years so will take home health assignment. Already spoke with a recruiter and said good chance will get Kaiser for my first position. The quotes I got were pretty good through Valley compared to the last time I was looking a couple years ago for an ICU travel spot. Granted not as good as OR spots but that's expected :) So far been really impressed with the way things are going with Valley and the COO Steve seems great, wrote me back personally which is a nice touch. Hoping that my first travel gig will be a great one! I know it can be really hit or miss your first assignment while getting your travel legs.

I've been a longtime travel lurker and finally feel ready to get my feet wet. My main goal is to get a travel job in California (currently licensed in FL). I'm just starting to go over the process of endorsement licensure for CA, and managed to come across an exciting advertisement for Valley Healthcare Staffing, offering a free flight to CA to expedite your licensure. Almost seems a little too good to be true. Now I don't know much about this company but I've been doing quite a bit of googling and searching on here. I've seen people recommend Valley but there are 2 Valley agencies in CA that I'm coming across, Valley Healthcare (Travel Nurse Jobs! - Valley Healthcare Staffing ® & Travel Nursing Agency) and Valley Medical (Welcome :: Valley Medical Staffing). Which is the one that people are recommending? Should I take up that offer or be better off just applying on my own for my licensure? Any help/thoughts appreciated!

Yeah I think I'll start doing that on Monday, though was hoping someone with travel home health experience could chime in on the actual experience. I was previously going to do travel for ICU work and recruiters I would talk to didn't want to be very upfront about the experience in the field, plus a lot of the times the rates they would give me were almost what I got starting as a new grad (factoring in stipend and everything else too). I'd love to do travel but not if I'm going to get a huge pay cut. I've still got student loans to pay off!

I'm really interested in this also. I'm currently doing regular home health in Florida but would like to see about what travel home health opportunities are out there and what it's like as far as pay, mileage, units, etc.