genericoxygen

I've been considering travelling for a while, now. Been hoping to move to Seattle for a while and thought to take a travel contract there to see how I like it so I can move for sure. Been a nurse for almost 3 years now, with a year of inpatient oncology with chemotherapy cert. and in hopes of getting my OCN. As I'm just starting out, I have a bunch of questions for travel. Stipend for travel vs. take home. I've read from here that stipend is non-taxed. However, someone mentioned going to the IRS.gov site and mentioned something about conus and perdiem and such. What does that even mean? (I know nothing about taxes). And, then, is the stipend something I can take with me if I don't use all of it? Do some companies even give you insurance? Or, generally, are you responsible for getting that on your own? Will a company pay for your place to live without me having to go look for it? I read so far that the places they would put you in tend to suck for where your location is. Like, "30-45 minutes" from your workplace. That true? Am I just better off finding a place on my own? How likely is it that I can get a travel allowance? Some posts say they don't. Some do. Which is more common and how much should I be expecting? Or, is it different based on where I travel to? Do I need to get my licenses before I get the assignment, or do I get the license after I've been accepted? Or, should I just get all the licenses I need for each state before I start applying? I know that's a lot of questions, and some have been partially answered on this site. I'm just looking for perhaps a new take or perhaps deeper insight to these problems I'm coming up with. So far, this site has made travelling very scary as far as money goes, but fun as far as actually seeing places goes. And, honestly, while travelling is fun and nursing is even more so, having and/or lacking money is a pretty scary situation.

Hey, all... Been meaning to post here for a while instead of just mowing down post after post. But, curiously, are there are any oncology nurses out there willing to comment? I want to shoot for UW Medical for their oncology floor. Or, at the very least, if they even have one, an outpatient infusion clinic. For sure, I want to stay in oncology and have been doing it for about a year now and been a nurse for nearly 2 and a half years. I'll be wanting to move in about a year from now. I'm hoping to continue on with it so I can pick up my OCN... then perhaps move on to ARNP... perhaps work with an oncologist... etc... Of course, my life plans are leading me towards seattle, and I really want to try and move there. So, coming back to it, anyone know about the UW Medical oncology service? Or, failing that, perhaps any other oncology specialties in the other hospitals? Furthermore, a friend of mine said to move to the eastside should I decide to move there. I asked her for an inexpensive area. Now, while I did ask her for inexpensive apartments, I've so far read that eastside housing is like throwing money away... in that it's expensive... Or something. She right? Wrong? Where should I look at? I'm taking a visit there next month, checking out whether I truly want to move or not. But if I had some suggestions and some focused areas to look at, it would really help. THANKS!