Travel Nursing After School

guest769224 · Nov 18, 2015

I'm in. I graduate with my RN in 4 weeks and plan to do this in a year or so. I'm on here everyday reading about it in the travel forum. I plan to retire early using this opportunity.

dominiquejade · Nov 18, 2015

Love the travel forum! It sounds like you're planning on making this your career. Are you going to purchase an RV/'camper, or take agency provided housing? Any thoughts on where you want your first assignment to be? I've ALREADY started researching different companies; PPR, Medical Solutions, and TNAA all look promising.

guest769224 · Nov 18, 2015

Neither. I'm going to find my own housing and pocket the stipend. Bike to work.

I really just plan to do a lot of assignments in CA due to their high pay and staffing ratio laws, great working conditions. If you hang out on the travel forum you will learn which companies are best and which to avoid.

Where do you want to travel to? Hawaii and Alaska would be cool.

dominiquejade · Nov 18, 2015

I want to do Alaska, Washington, Texas, and one random state that I wouldn't have picked off the top of my head, just haven't decided yet. I think I'm going to alternate between a normal company, and fastaff, depending on my mood. I know assignments with fastaff are more intense, faster paced, and less leisurely, but to me it looks like the money is so good.

I figured that staying in a crap hotel rather than a nice fully furnished apartment would be cheaper rather than taking the housing provided, and like you said, pocketing the rest of the stipend. Guess I won't know until i start doing personalized research

augurey · Nov 18, 2015

I'd love to do this, but I can't imagine it'd work out with a family or to really be able to have more kids. I know families can go (and you pay their portion - or something like that), but I think it'd be too hard on the kids even though I think it could be a great opportunity for them as well (aside from dragging them around the country, new schools, leaving friends, etc). Maybe once the kids are grown and on their own?

dominiquejade · Nov 18, 2015

Absolutely! Or, you can look into doing "travel nursing" locally. Basically, you still get short term assignments with the option to extend, all the benefits through your agency (except maybe housing, depending on how far away you are), and you would have the added opportunity of possibly getting completion bonuses, OT bonuses, etc., and still be with the kids :) Just an option to think about if you wanted to try something different. Then, maybe once or twice a year, treat yourself to an assignment further away, maybe at a hospital that pays more. LOTS of options with travel nursing!

tech1000 · Nov 19, 2015

Travel nursing locally isn't all it's made out to be. First of all, not all cities are big on local contracts. (Portland was, my hometown is not.) A lot of places looking for travel nurses also actually require you to be outside of 50 miles from the hospital, so when I was home between assignments, I couldn't take an "assignment" close to home. I traveled and loved it, but then I got pregnant (by my husband!) so I'm home now for good. California I've heard can be super rough, despite the ratio laws. I stayed in rooms I rent off Craiglist and sent the rest of my stipend paying my mortgage at home (since my husband was still at home). It was somewhat lucrative, but nothing I'd say I could retire early off of. Also, if you quit traveling, you have to remember that your taxable income was low, so getting loans for houses may be harder. I'd also recommend AT LEAST 2 years of nursing experience. I got to one job and had 6 hours of orientation total before I was on my own in a whole new hospital, and I wasn't even familiar with the charting. LOVED the assignment and I did just fine, but there's no way I could have survived had I been a newer nurse.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Nov 20, 2015

I wanted to do it but I am currently living with my boyfriend and now in NP school. It is harder when a significant other has a steady job. I do not know if it is all that is cracked up to be. If you get a crappy assignment, then it can make it harder. I did local agency first and I would consider trying one or two contracts locally first.

dominiquejade · Nov 20, 2015

I wanted to do it but I am currently living with my boyfriend and now in NP school. It is harder when a significant other has a steady job. I do not know if it is all that is cracked up to be. If you get a crappy assignment, then it can make it harder. I did local agency first and I would consider trying one or two contracts locally first.

Yeah, this is a common thing i hear from classmates. I have a S/O that i live with, but he has a minimum wage job and he isn't in school right now, so the extra pay would be nice for me, and i want a way to be able to travel the country while still being able to work. I don't want to be in the midst of raising a family and regret not traveling when i had the chance.

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Nov 20, 2015

I'm also considering travel nursing after school! Short term contracts with high pay sounds like a dream

dominiquejade · Nov 20, 2015

my thoughts exactly! where are you at in your schooling? I'm at the end of my first semester in an ADN program so I have about a year and a half left, plus i'll be getting a year experience at a local hospital.