Stressing About Finding An Assignment

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Hi there! So because of personal reasons my plan to start my L&D travel nursing career has been very last minute. I planned on taking the month of April off in hopes of doing my research and not feeling rushed, and beggining my 1st assignment in May. I thought maybe I could start out with trying for compact states while I wait on license verification in WA, CA, and DC to go through. However, I've been talking my recruiter and it seems as though some places require you to have at least one travel experience under your belt. Another factor in not choosing me is the charting system we used in Dallas is different than the ones most other hospitals use. A lot of openings in the states I wanted are only small ones that do deliveries of 50-60 babies a month so there's a higher likelihood I could be canceled. I just wanted people's opinions on whether I should take whatever comes along next that's offered to me. I still don't want a state that I didn't originally want to go to such as Iowa, Utah, North and South Dakota, etc. I wasn't planning on Texas either, but think I may have to lean on that just to have something. What do y'all think? I'm majorly stressing myself out as well because jobs I want are filling up before I can even get my application sent.

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Before your application is sent? If you have signed up with an agency, it takes them seconds to submit you. Two issues here, bad agency, and only one. Get several and be choosey. Some hospitals do require prior travel experience, however L&D is a hot enough specialty that that shouldn't impede you working where you want to work. You represent easy money to any agency, get one (several) that will work for you.

That said, don't get too fussy about working your bucket list in the order you want to. I've enjoyed every place I've been.

You may just be saying it wrong, but license verification also only takes seconds for most states through Nursys. Perhaps you mean actual licensure. DC is still a walk-through board I believe. You can also work in the compact states of MD and VA in the DC suburbs and live in DC.

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Oh my word!! I thought going through nursys would be all I needed. Just get verification & that be it. Will I need to apply to each state separately?? (Referring to WA, Cali, & DC) This just shows how much I know.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, PCU, Neuro, Telemetry.

I don't have a compact license but it is my understanding that if you hold a compact license that you can work in another state that is also compact for 30 days but you still have to apply for licensure in the state you are working.

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Oh my word!! I thought going through nursys would be all I needed. Just get verification & that be it. Will I need to apply to each state separately?? (Referring to WA, Cali, & DC) This just shows how much I know.

Yes, you need an active license for each state you work in. The exception is compact states if you live in a compact state and hold a compact license. Nursys just shortcuts one small portion of the process of getting a new state license.

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If you have a compact license because of living in a compact state, you do not need another license to work in any other compact state. But if you do not live in a compact state, you must get a non compact license for every state you work in. Make sense?

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