guest4/24/17

Many agencies are very similar your best bet is to get agents' numbers that have been used by your travel nurse buddies. Also use social media to market yourself and find travel jobs in the areas you're looking for. Have more than one profile and shop around a bit to make sure you're getting the most competitive pay. Don't forget to ask for reimbursement for your license, travel, parking, etc. - those expenses can add up quick.

Very good points. I always volunteer my help as it definitely helps transition into the new unit. Thank you for the input, I will start looking at other aspects of traveling that can help with my assignments.

I can tell you after working in pretty much all of them that it depends on the type of activity / patients and cases you like working with / way your brain kind of functions and if you want to go back to school for NP or CRNA. As a new grad I would say go surgical / trauma in a level 1 trauma hospital. You get a bit of everything and you get trauma experience. A heavy trauma can affect every organ in the body from what was minutes ago a healthy person. If you want a more controlled chaos controlling drips and focusing on one area of the body go CT or CCU. Very invaluable experience also. A MICU is too general and a nero ICU is too specific IMO. There's no wrong choice, but those are just my opinions.

That's a good point. I guess I looked at it like hospitals hire travelers because they are experienced, proven nurses so they can have the tougher patients. I was at a facility where they wouldn't give travelers any high acuity patients to the point where the assignments were completely skewed. I felt terrible watching the staff running around with two heavy patients while I had two patients waiting for floor beds. If I had been told about this during the interview I would not have taken the assignment.

I have been travel nursing in the ICU for a year now and I notice the acuity has gone significantly down since I left my main hospital in Philadelphia. I have always chosen large teaching, level 1 trauma facilities because I love the acuity and working with the sickest patients. Since I've traveled I notice I don't see as high acuity and when there are these high acuity cases, they don't get assigned to travelers -- fresh CABG, CVVH, fresh liver tx's etc. Do you guys seem to notice the same trend? And if so do you hang up your traveling shoes and take a permanent position to work with the best cases? I'm starting CRNA school in the fall and I would like to be at the sharpest of my clinical skills. While the pay has been great, my ICU skills have definitely taken a hit.

Average pay in Florida would be 25-33/ hour starting, I have a friend who is starting in Miami with low 30's an hour. I think you could pull in 75,000 starting in New York City with a little OT. A quick search on average starting salary will show you where you aim for. Also important to keep in mind speciality and cost of living. You could make less but me saving more if it's cheaper to live there.

I'm actually tackling this subject - more on the ICU side of things tho. As a former med-surg nurse your typical day looks like this: -get your assignment -get report from previous shift -check on anything that requires immediate medical attention (low blood sugar, low HR, spiking temps) -do your assessments -grab your medications / get ready for bathing / breakfast -pass medications -chart -follow-up assessments ---every hospital is different, but this is kind of the gist. This doesn't include the doctor interactions, tests that are done, and other hectic things that can occur on the floor.

There will always be jobs available. Boston can be tough with no experience, but if you are willing to travel, look to the outer more suburban areas and states, those hospitals will pick you up.