To travel or not to travel

ddaviddudley · Nov 26, 2015

Sure I'll share,

Earlier this year I had taken a ER travel assignment and was sent to a kaiser in Southern California. My experience there was mixed but definitely different than what I was used to. Mind you, every facility is different so this is just what I personally experienced at this particular facility.

The pros:

1. Phenomenal pay. 2. 3:1 ratio as opposed to 4:1. 3. better more cleaner patients (patients and family more polite and patient and less drug dependent compared to the population I was used to). 4. A lot of other travelers there so I didn't feel alone in that regards, 5. Doctors move rapidly fast, by the time the patient gets to the bed the doctor is already there and maintains good solid communication with the patient for the entire course of their visit. 6. Staff were friendly for the most part. 7. Great charting system. 8. The facility does not receive secured code blues from the field. 9. You almost never board or hold admit holds. Patients get beds upstairs rapidly once orders are put in.

The cons:

1. You have no tech, no phlebotomist, and no RT. You do everything for your patients with almost no help. 2. There's no float nurse that comes and give you a lunch. In order to eat you have to find 3 nurses that are able to take on one of your 3 patients(expect nothing to be done for your patients). 3. The lab is horrible, rude, and useless. 4. Because they have an army of doctors, most of the time those doctors have nothing better to do than to blow up your phone and micro-manage you. 5. Charge nurse does nothing except walk around and triage ambulances for the most part. 6. Float nurses do nothing except chit chat, room patients, and take patients upstairs when they get a bed. 7. The doctors have no regard for the fact that you have other patients. All they care about is their particular patient and can be unreasonably demanding(I noticed this was even worse among the specialists). 8. Almost nothing is done in triage for the patient. 9. The ER lacked that family home feel that I was so used to.

At the end of the assignment I chose to not renew despite the fact that management wanted to keep me. I may travel again next year but it will definitely be somewhere different.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2015

Thread has been moved to the Travel Nursing forum.

I'm interested in doing travel nursing. Several of my peers have done it and they've had mixed feelings about travel nursing. Anyone care to share their experiences in travel nursing? What they liked? What they didn't like? Please share

scoope23 · Jan 7, 2016

Thanks for sharing! You've given me something to think about before I sign up :)

Rod, Male Nurse · Jan 12, 2016

Find a good recruiter, first off.

Secondly, always always always look up the facility before you ever commit to a contract...in fact, before you even interview you should know what other travelers are saying about the facility as far as ratios, treatment of staff, etc.. Allnurses is a great place to start for that.

LucySong16 · Jan 18, 2016

Which companies do y'all suggest? One of the nurse's I used to work with said that you should use a different company for each region of the country, using the most popular and best rated in the area. What do you suggest?