Recommended experience for first time travel assignment.

Specialties Travel

Published

Hello! I was hoping to get some advice from some more experienced nurses. I am currently working on a med surg floor for about 5 months. Previously I was working at a "skilled nursing" facility in a sub acute rehab for two years. This is my first med surg job, and other than clinicals it's the only hospital experience I have. I have been in touch with a recruiter for a travel Nurse agency for a little over a year, and she has patiently been keeping up with me while I've gone from sub acute to med surg and completed my BSN. We are talking now to start looking for my first travel assignment in the next few months, but I was hoping for some advice on whether or not it is too soon to start traveling. Some people say I should stay for one full year where I am now, a few say two years. I desperately want to start travel nursing, and I am feeling much more confident in my med surg abilities. I also would feel bad for making my recruiter wait another few months for me to take an assignment with her (which is silly I know).

I just dont want my desire to start this new journey as aoon as I can as well as the eagerness from my recruiter to put me in a situation where I might be in over my head or out of my league since I am still pretty new to the field. If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you.

-Sam

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You are not experienced enough in acute care nursing to travel. You have to have good patient care and assessment skills to deal with all the BS that's thrown at you traveling. You need AT LEAST a year, more like at least two. It's to your recruiters financial advantage to place you - don't think they have your best interests at heart.

Why are you so desperate to travel? The money's nice, but the facilities have problems (usually major, though not always obvious) otherwise they wouldn't be hiring travelers. It's not the exotic experience that some like to pretend - by a long shot.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

Trust me when I say that as confident as you feel with what you've learned in med-surg, five months is not enough for a travel assignment in med-surg. As a traveler/agency/float nurse, you can expect to be assigned the worst patients on the unit.

Hopefully, your recruiter is not pressuring you to accept a med/surg assignment, and in fact, should be encouraging you to gain more experience in your current position before signing you on if he/she is truly interested in your success and longevity as a traveler with the company.

Those who recommend one to two years are providing excellent advice. Anyway, many facilities require 1-3 years of recent experience in the desired specialty. Don't rush that which is pertinent to your success.;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The recruiter has not been " patiently waiting". She has been circling like a vulture. When you take a travel assignment you will be making a boatload of money for her and the agency.

You need at least one year med-surge experience to qualify for a position with a reputable agency.

You will get minimal orientation to the facility's EMR, I have received 4 hours, or one day to learn basic charting. You will get one or two days orientation to the unit you will be on. You can certainly ask questions, but will be a big red flag if you ask too many. Your performance will be under a microscope.

If you can picture yourself able to perform in that situation, then go for it. Keep in mind, a lot of facility's only need you for 13 weeks, so you will be repeating the process often.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I know Rn's with less experience than you who traveled and were successful. If they can do it , you can. Some need 1 of 2 years to be ready if you feel confident just do it

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure what it is that makes me want to do travel nursing so badly, but I've wanted to do it for as long as I've wanted to be a nurse. I've been Doing research and speaking with a lot of people who have done it. They all love it. When I'm online and reading other people's experiences, of course there are people who hated it and would never recommend it to anyone. I guess it just depends on the individual. I'm going to continue to do research before I make any commitments.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to Travel Nursing forum

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Good advice so far. I will say you may well do OK to start now if a hospital is willing to take you and have no other options (they won't take you over someone with even just one year of experience). One successful will be golden and you will be set to go. But choose that first (and second) assignment very carefully. Do not take a high paying assignment. That will be almost certainly be a hell hole if they choose you. Shop around other agencies, we would have no idea whether your current recruiter is a vulture or really thinks you will succeed in the right assignments.

I will add to the discouragement here and say you don't even know what you don't know yet. If available locally (or even in a couple hour drive), see if you can pick up a per diem shift or two at different hospitals. That will provide you a reality check to discover how fast you adapt to a different patient population, different patient flow, different staffing ratio and assist personnel, charting, computer programs et cetera.

Fast adaptation is the key phrase here. May be just one day of orientation provided and you are on your own with the worst staffing ratio and acuity you have ever experienced.

Last thing to consider: you are starting to travel with the least experience in a very competitive specialty. Most such travelers will have a least some tele. Think about a different specialty like ED or ICU. That means two more years as staff but a brighter future after that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

I'm not an RN so I can't take assignments out of state, so take this as you will.

When I was in nursing school I wanted to do travel nursing *so* bad. But then I started working as a nurse & it opened my eyes. I have been a nurse for almost 7 years & I don't want to travel any more. Once I become an RN, if I am interested in traveling again I wouldn't travel with any less than 3 years experience, minimum.

Each facility is different, receives different patients & is run differently. I would like to feel extremely confident in my skills as a nurse before I took off anywhere & only got a brief day or so orientation on the facility & procedures.

Not only that but travel nurses are generally looked down on. You won't have the same comradare you would if you were a staff nurse. Will the other nurses as the facility help you? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I remember when I worked with an agency nurse & oh boy did people talk about her & other agency nurses that preceded her.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Think about a different specialty like ED or ICU. That means two more years as staff but a brighter future after that.

Reasoning for this recommendation?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Think about a different specialty like ED or ICU. That means two more years as staff but a brighter future after that.

Reasoning for this recommendation?

It can be difficult to find a good internship in a new specialty after several years as a traveler. The hospital reasoning is that a traveler is simply going to learn a new specialty and leave again as soon as possible without giving the hospital a few years payback. Net loss for the hospital as training a nurse in a new specialty is very expensive until the nurse becomes productive.

Finding a good internship will be relatively easy now, and the increase in your value (from the training) and the increased income (if remaining a traveler) or job portability will last the rest of your career and serve potentially as a springboard to other career possibilities (management, super specialty, advanced practice).

Immediate gratification is human, but those who have the will power and motivation to delay gratification almost always win.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

Have you explored any of the facebook groups that are out there for travel nursing? You can get a lot of good advice and recommendations there, as well as here. Good luck to you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment