FutureNurse2B

I traveled with them twice. No complaints. My recruiter was fantastic! Just remember, your required to do 48hrs/week. Its exhausting but the pay is absolutely excellent!! That overtime is a killing! Thats probably the only reason I havent' used them in a long time is b/c the 48hrs/week just became too much for me. But if Im $hungry I would definitely travel with them again.

I would stay clear away from this job if I were you. My friend went there and was cancelled once per week, hours werent guarenteed AND about half way thru the contract the hospital cancelled all the travelers contracts. Not a good rep that place.

I was in your shoes. I took an assignment by myself to Southern California. I have never been anywhere by myself before so it was sooooooooo scary! But I have a bubbly personality so I made friends quick and I feel alot better now. I am in Orange county Ca right now and loving it! The city is gorgeous and I'm so close to L.A! Moving out of your comfort zone is definitely one of those things that you just have to kick yourself to do. I know I did. I love to travel and I dont' have to option to drag anyone with me so instead I'm following my dream alone. My father used to always tell me "you just have to put yourself out there, or you will miss out on great opportunities". So put yourself out there and go for it! Good luck.

I totally understand your overwhemlness. (if thats even a word) I have been there done that. I have been traveling for 3 yrs now. I think a good place for you to start is Texas. The pay is great out there in certain cities. Do you know anyone personally that travels? It always helps to know someone in the business. Thats how I started. First off, you need to know what pay rates are good in what areas. For instance, Calfornia is a tricky one. I'm there now and the pay can be alot better but I took the housing so I'm living rent/bill free. In texas I was making $40/hr which is top pay. There is alot of good information on this forum about traveling so keep reading up. The best agencies in my opionion are Nurse choice, American mobile, Fastaff, Intelistaf, HRN, or On assignment. If you want specific recruiter names, PM me. Your going to hear alot of opinions from people about different agencies but I feel like the best way to find out is to go with suggested recruiters. So basically, just sign up with these agencies and start negotiating. You want to sign up with more than one agency b/c alot of agencies have the same job for different pay. And of course you go with the one that offers you more money but you do want the best reputable company too. Hope this helps. If you have more questions let me know : )

I started traveling with a yr and a half experience. I would suggest to have at least 1yr experience if not more. YOu need to be absolutely comfortable on your own as a nurse b/c you will be expected to hit the floor running as a traveler. Some places will only give you 1 day of orientation on the floor. After that you are expected to be independent as the nurse. Of course you can always ask questions but some places aren't as travel friendly as others are. I've heard horror stories of nursing going places where some nurses are mean and refuse to answer your questions. I have never been anywhere like this before but if you were in this situation, you risk your liscense. Good luck. Wait a little longer.

The metro would definitely be the smarter option as far as saving gas $ and the hassle of being stuck in traffic. But if you want to drive, it can be done. You just have to leave super early probably. Traffic is crazy everywhere but depending on which area your coming from it may be ok. I drove everywhere I went when I lived in the area. Personally I'm too lazy to figure out the bus schedules (lol) and I hate waiting on transportation. Are you working nights or days? Definitely do a dry run when you get there even if its a weekend you will still get an idea of how long it will take u to get to work.

I am from the DC/Maryland area. I started at University of Maryland in Baltimore Md. A little advice about my hometown: Its a beautiful place to live. Bethesda is especially a nice area to be. But you can be in one area of town and it will be gorgeous, then two blocks down its the ghetto. So just be careful and be aware of your surroundings : ) Are you planning on taking the housing? If your not familiar with the area you definnitely should. Its a very expensive area to live and you don't want to end up somewhere you regret. Theres so much to do there so you definitely won't be bored. You will be about 15min to 1/2 hr from the major cities like DC, silver springs, etc. Traffic is a mess but its not as bad as california thats for sure. Hope this helps some. Let me know if you have more ?s.

sweetgurly- I worked at Texas childrens in HOuston and Christus santa rosa in San antonio Which hospital offered you a position there? Meisha- what part of maryland are you from!?!? What a small world. How exciting! Your going to love Dallas. Good luck.

Definitely ship your car. I did this to go from Maryland to Texas. I used Red carpet auto and it cost about $700. Worth the money but make sure you give yourself a few days buffer in case the driver runs into issues delivering your car on time.

Im not sure about negotiations for the housing but I do know that the absolute hassle of looking for your own apartment and your own furnishing company is totally taken away if you just take the housing. This is my first time taking the housing, I'm in southern california and my apartment is absolutely beautiful! I can definitely say I'm living better than alot of the nurses I work with. So worth it! I always took the stipend before this assignment. Searching for apartments in a town that you don't know is extremely stressful. If you don't know the area, don't do it. You could end up somewhere you will regret for 3months or whatever your contract is.

You know your a pediatric nurse when..... you hear a kid coughing in a restaurant/grocery store/ etc and you immediately think to yourself "oh no......I wonder how long that kid has had that cough. Wheres the hand sanitizer"

I too am a young black but 26yr old female and I think you should consider texas. I have had all positive experiences in both Houston and San antonio. I really wanted to go to Dallas but I never went. The housing in houston was phenomenal from what I heard. I took the stipend instead. The weather in both Houston and San antonio is ok depending on what time of year you go. I went to houston in the summer and boy was it hot! But I had so much fun in Houston. I was single and met lots of people. THeres so much to do you cannot count on two hands. San Antonio is more laid back but beautiful scenery. The one downside to texas is allergy season. My allergies were the worst they have ever been in my life. But I stayed on my meds and when my body got used to the allergens I was ok. I traveled with American Mobile and Nurse choice. CHeck it out! I think you'll enjoy either city. I'm from Maryland and used to go to Virginia all the time. Virginia is beautiful but some areas are pretty boring if you ask me. Hope this helps : )

I went to texas childrens in Houston and that is by far the best assignment I have taken so far. The hospital is fantastic and HUUUUUUGE!!!! its such a good facility to add to your resume. I traveled there with American mobile. Had no issues and everything went smooth. However, I chose to find my own housing and wish I had done more research. I ended up finding a place near the galleria called Park at Voss and that was a nightmare. The price was right buuuuuut the area sucked! I'm a single woman with a cat and definitely didnt' need to be living there. Don't live there!! If you can take a flight or drive there first and ride around looking at apartments please do that first. Or get a friend you trust to look for a place for you. Its definitely manageable. I had so much fun in Houston. So much to do every day of the week. You'll love it if you go to Texas childrens'. I'm sad I left.

Can someone please give me the low down and nitty gritty about Unions and nurses on strikes. I don't know a whole lot about this topic and am considering doing a few strikes but I want to get educated on unions. (What they are, Reasons why nurses go on strike, etc) Please help

Dont know if I'm responding too late for this thread but I'm a pedi traveler and been doing it for 2yrs. Its always a plus to have PALS....9/10 it will get you the job over most others so I would definitely get that cert. I traveled with Nurse choice and American mobile. I would say those are basically the top two agencies although they are basically sister companies. Nurse choice is top paying. Fastaff is too. Texas always has great pedi assignments (Dallas, San Antonio). I'm currently finishing up in Tucson, az. Theres always jobs in california so you can never go wrong with that state. Hope your travels go well. Feel free to ask me more if you want

This has happened to me a few times and I have just learned that honesty is the key. It doesn't hurt to tell the truth and besides, travel nursing is basically a big competition between agencies anyway so its not like they won't ever work with you again just b/c you let a diff agency send your file over. I had a offer for a faciliity in San antonio by two agencies and I went with the higher paying one. The lower paying agency had asked me (just like in your case) "hey do you still want me to send your file over". So I told the truth and replied by saying "sorry I decided to have my file sent by another company who pays higher for that particular job" The lower paying agency asked me details of how much they were offering and blah blah blah but they were trying to see if they could match that. Turns out they couldnt' but at least they know I'm not working for pennies. These agencies are quick to take advantage of you, and when they know your working with multiple agencies to find you a job and not just them, they tend to not play with your mind as much. Be smart and honest : )

I come across it somewhat often that parents will take their anger out on the nurses. I've had some pretty difficult parents and have even had one parent request for another nurse. I'll never forget that one haha. Not a great feeling to be fired by a patient but you learn to not take things so personal and just roll with the punches. More often times than not, the parent is simply upset with the decisions that the doctors are making and unfortunately, the nurses are the ones in the line of fire so we get all the blame for that. On the brighter side, majority of the patients that I have delt with have had easy-going parents. Some very involved and some not involved at all to the point where they leave their screaming 2month old in the hospital alone

The best words of wisdom I could give you is to NEVER be afraid to ask questions no matter how silly you think the question may be. That one question just might save u from making a huge mistake. Also, always cross your T's and dot your I's on the job. Alot of nursing units are intoxicated with silliness and cattyness of the staff. Some nurses thrive off getting new nurses in trouble. Trust me. I went thru this as a new nurse. People tattling on me for silly stuff. Then I realized they are just trying to bring me down and I proved to them that I can do this! Good luck. Have fun wit the kids. And don't just interact with the IV pump. Make sure to engage in lots of conversation (if you have time) with the kids too : ) And the parents. You gain their trust that way.

I'm so glad you brought this topic up and wished I would've came across this discussion years ago when I was a new nurse. I was bullied sooooooo badly as a new nurse at my first job. My fellow nurses were running to the manager and telling her mistakes I had made and running to each other and gossiping about me. Little did I know, the whole unit knew what I did wrong and were talking about it but smiling in my face. The worst part about it is when I worked several night shifts in a row sometimes, if someone complained about me after I left that morning, they wouldn't confront me that same night that I came back!!! They would say HI and pretend like nothing was wrong. But then I had to hear it from my manager of what that person that just said Hi to me complained about. HOW TWO-FACED!!!!!! This went on for months. I was so miserable and seriously had 2nd thoughts about my nursing career period. I thought that maybe I wasn't cut out for the job since I was getting so many complaints (and it would be silly small things like labeling tubing, or documentation, etc) The worst part was that my manager AND my preceptor completely did not have my back at all. I felt like they were in on it too. Most importantly, when I asked my manager why won't these people just tell me to my face what I did wrong b/c after all I am NEW and I am open to criticism, my manager would just tell me "Oh they aren't going to confront you. Everyone is scared of confrontation". Bull***** Eventually another new nurse came along, and I was no longer under the microscope. She was now the new victim. They did the same thing to her as they did to me. They made her feel like crap and gossipped soooo badly about her. I immediately took her under my wing and encouraged her to just watch her back, triple check herself, and dot all her Is and cross all Ts b/c those women were definitely out to prove that we CAN'T be nurses. Like we aren't cut out for it. I lasted at that job for about 1yr and a half. I quit b/c I was tired of all the cattyness and could no longer stand driving home from work everyday worrying myself sick if I had forgot something, or did somethin wrong and who's going to tell on me next and if maybe I'm getting fired soon. I seriously felt as if I was back in high school and the crazy part about it is I was the youngest nurse on the unit. Majority of These women were 40+, some in 20-30s. Its so sad! I just wish nurses would realize that they need to help each other and not hurt them. Our jobs would be alot easier if we would all just get along, help each other out, and act as a team. : )

Thanks alot for your response! This is great.

I know I chose the right profession when the first Christmas I ever spent away from my family alone in another state working a long night shift, one patient/family brought the staff a ham dinner!! So unexpected. They became my family for that night : )

Travel nursing is indeed a great way to save but you do need money saved up to start of course. It all depends on which travel company you choose and how great the pay of the assignment is. But sometimes the travel reimbursement they give you is not that great to get to your destination, sometimes it is. Or like in my case, I'm shipping my car to my destination this time so thats gonna cost me out of pocket. Some companies reimburse you for it, some don't. My company paid for my plane ticket. I drove last year to my destination and they gave me a set amount of reimbursement AFTER I got there. Also, if you choose to take their housing of course you dont get the monthly stipend so you simply depend on the hourly pay. But in my case I chose to opt out of taking the housing and went and found my own housing. (way more cost effective that way but definitely more of a headache) That way I get to still pocket at least half of the stipend they give me. The money doesn't start rolling in of course until much later after u start your assignment so just be prepared to pay for expenses up front. : ) Good luck!

I agree with the above post. Well said. Get your 2yrs minimum experience under your belt and then start traveling. I am currently getting ready to start an assignment in Texas and my best friend and I are actually going together. So yes, its likely that you could travel with a friend. Tough to find but likely. We got lucky b/c the hospital was looking for a handful of travelers. We got on it quickly. We are both taking the monthly stipend that the agency is giving us and putting our money together for a furnished apartment out there. Pretty sweet deal. You can't go wrong with travel nursing, but you can go wrong if you don't have enough experience before beginning. Us travel nurses need to have tough skin b/c we are definitely the most "hated" kind by regular staff nurses. You will get a lot of gripe and nasty nurses who just don't want to help you for some odd reason. The good part is, you only have to deal with it for a few months or weeks and thats it! Never see those faces again : ) Hope that helps.

Ummm You are an RN not a Mcdonalds employee!! I think you definitely did right by telling your recruiter to come back with a better base pay. $9/hr is ridiculous!!!! No way no how!

Who is your recruiter now? Try Janet. She's pretty good : )