Ready to start travel nursing as a circulator- need advice!

[Kliska]

I have been a nurse for 3 years, my last two spent as a circulator for cardiothoracic surgery in a very busy OR. I've been doing some research on traveling, but I feel that most of the articles I've read don't really apply to operating room nurses.

First off, do most hospitals respect your specialty? For example, I'm really only comfortable with cardio thoracic, will they expect me to do neuro etc.?

Second, are travelers used for call or do most hospitals prefer their own for call?

Lastly, I keep hearing that finding a good recruiter is incredibly important, but as I don't have any friends who travel, how do I find a good recruiter?

Any extra pieces of knowledge/advice are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I have been a nurse for 3 years, my last two spent as a circulator for cardiothoracic surgery in a very busy OR. I've been doing some research on traveling, but I feel that most of the articles I've read don't really apply to operating room nurses.

First off, do most hospitals respect your specialty? For example, I'm really only comfortable with cardio thoracic, will they expect me to do neuro etc.?

Second, are travelers used for call or do most hospitals prefer their own for call?

Lastly, I keep hearing that finding a good recruiter is incredibly important, but as I don't have any friends who travel, how do I find a good recruiter?

Any extra pieces of knowledge/advice are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

If you're ONLY interested in cardio-thoracic, that may limit your options. Not all hospitals even have a cardio-thoracic OR, and the ones that do may not need travelers at the time you're wanting to travel to that area. If cardio-thoracic OR is more important to you than when and where you travel, that may be OK with you. I'm a cardio-thoracic ICU nurse, and I ended up traveling in "critical care" which means I wound up in CCU and in a mixed MICU/SICU. At that time, we needed to be near a certain city for family reasons, so it worked out.

Good luck figuring things out. I haven't traveled since 2004, so I'm sure things are different now.

[Kliska]

Thanks for the info! I do know that some hospitals don't have a cardiothoracic department, but from what I've seen it looks like most do have at least a cardiac or cardiovascular surgery department. I'm hoping that will broaden my options.