Recommended experience for first time travel assignment.

[Samc144]

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

[Samc144]

Thank you for all the advice. I am starting to feel like I definitely need to wait at the very least one full year... I have waited this long, a few more months or a year won't kill me.

For a little clarification: I am certified to work with tele patients, although at the moment that is it. They will ACLS certify me in the next few months, and then I will be qualified to take ISCU (surgical step down basically, those patients who require q2hr checks, etc). Our floor does pull us from time to time as needed, and everyone rotates. I have been lucky to not be pulled yet (or so I thought), but I will start to offer to float when it is necessary to get this experience.

I really appreciate the feedback. It helps to talk to more people who have done it, or at least you know more about it than the people I know in the nursing field.

(and for the record I wasn't at all offended by the suggestion to check out FB. I am following a few good travel nursing pages.)

[srworegon]

This is particularly bad advice.

Confidence is not a good measure of competence. You need 2-3 years in your specialty before you travel. Some companies will accept you with one year, but that's to your detriment.

I agree that confidence is a poor indicator of competence!

I'm sure many nurses can relate to this with similar experiences, but I remember after about a year of nursing experience that I was starting to feel pretty good. I wasn't "cocky" by any means, but I remember thinking I'd fianally gotten the hang of it and no longer felt like I was drowning. But like others have said on here, you don't know what you don't know (or that you don't even know it!) I look back on what I knew & what I FELT that I knew back when I'd only been out of school a year, and it scares me! I knew basically nothing compared to what I know now (14 years after graduating). And I'm not saying you don't know anything until then or that you're not competent until you have 14 years of experience, I'm just saying that just because you feel confident (or are starting to) doesn't mean you're COMPETENT (or as competent as you need to be when taking that next step – whether it's years of general nursing experience, years of experience within a specialty, or changing specialties, etc).

I don't mean this in a demeaning way or to belittle anyone without experience or with less experience. I just want to caution anyone who says, thinks or believes that confidence is a good indicator of competence and/or readiness. Nobody wants to end up in a situation where an accident, error or tragedy is what made them realize that they weren't ready for that situation and they didn't have the skills and/or knowledge to react/respond, and (heaven forbid) patient safety was jeapordized. I really like the idea/suggestion of taking a per diem position in the field that you want to travel in (even if that means keeping your current position to fall back on) so you can test your skills, knowledge, competence and ability to do it. I'd recommend doing that for at least 6 months (preferably more) since you wouldn't be doing it full time and might only get a few shifts per month in that per diem position.

You're already doing the right thing just by looking into it and not jumping into it on a whim because it's what you WANT to do. You're doing the smart & responsible thing by asking questions and doing your research. Good luck with everything! :)

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

So others can model appropriate etiquette? You're kidding, right? It is not rude to suggest additional routes for research, even if that suggestion is FaceBook. The only rudeness I saw was your response. Your etiquette is not such as should be modeled.

@sjalv, @DeeAngel, @Julius Seizure, @VANurse2010

Finally people have come and spoke on this topic, Thank you all. I have battled this before, alone. Thank you.