Questions regarding Travel Nursing

[geminiBSN75]

Hello fellow RNs. I have been thinking about travel nursing for a couple of months and reading some of these posts. A couple questions I have: how does one get started? Are there agencies you contact? On average how long are assignments? Do travel nurses receive medical benefits?

Thank you in advance!

[NedRN]

I would skip Fastaff until you have more experience.

[averysrnmom]

Highway Hypodermics: Travel Nurses Make A Difference, One Hospital At A Time is a great resource to research companies and some reviews from travelers.

[Flygaze]

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.

[dutchie]

If you google "what to ask travel nursing company" or something like that, you will get an idea of the questions you should be asking. Also sign up on PanTravelers if you haven't already. Its free and has lots of resources.

I had to use my specialty (psych) to narrow agencies because not all have psych. Check the agency's list of jobs to make sure they have plenty in your specialty.

Good Luck!

[NedRN]

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.

That is a waste of your time, and the hospitals and can also lead to a lot of bad things from a traveler perspective. You are supposed to be sincerely interested in an assignment before submission. If a hospital receives your profile, that is their assumption. Some hospitals that you might actually be interested in going to later may blacklist you based on declining an assignment now.

What if you interview and discover that another agency is paying $5 an hour more? Too bad, you have locked yourself into the first agency who submits you (invariable not the agency you would like to work for).

After you have worked with a recruiter for a while, done an assignment or two and built up some trust, know that their pay is acceptable and they treat you well, and the recruiter knows what you like, only then is it OK to be submitted for a fast moving assignment (is that what acuity means?) without specific permission.