Travel ER Nursing Experience Needed

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 27, 2017

Hi everyone,
I have looked on several sites and boards but I have not found a consensus. I was wondering how many years of experience you need for travel nursing-ER unit? I am just starting in a ER trauma 1 as a new grad. I plan on working for 1.5-2 years or however much experience I need before I can do travel nursing. My boyfriend, a trauma ICU nurse, would also love to start travel nursing and he is very eager to start. I have found differing information on how much experience you need of nursing experience and for specific units. I have found a general rule of thumb is 12-18 months + 1 year of experience on a speciality unit. Then I go to different travel agency and it says something different. Also, would you suggest working as travel nurse in the ER 2 years out of school? I know I have a lot to learn and experience needed to even start really looking but I am huge planner. I like to know specific details so I can get planning my timeline. Thank you in advance! :)

I would say when you feel comfortable walking into any ER with one day-ish of orientation just to learn where stuff is and how to use the computer system really quickly, then you're ready. You have to be able to carry a full load of criticals without much help, often times ... there are reasons places use travelers, and the regular staff doesn't usually give them easy assignments either. There is no hard and fast rule, IMO, but I think many new grads probably need at LEAST two to three years of experience before they earn the "competent" badge on the Benner scale. And remember: while you SEE a lot at a Level 1, you often have all the hands you need (sometimes too many), whereas smaller community hospitals may have very strong nurses who shoulder a lot of the burden otherwise adopted by ancillary staff/allied health/extra peeps at larger teaching hospitals.