Travel Nursing: Agency reviews and recommendations?

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Greetings!

I am curious as to what travel nursing agencies some of you lovely nurses use and recommend! Any advice is appreciated! Even agencies to avoid! I am in Southern California and currently working in a med surg/oncology/palliative care unit gaining my one year experience before applying to an agency!

Thank you for your advice in advance!

Specializes in Adult Psych.

Are there any travel nurses who work in psych? Or any who have a background in psych? I'm interested in travel nursing and have 3yrs background in psych but depressed to see there doesnt seem to be a need for psych RN's. I feel like I'm SOL.

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You can work full time as a travel psych nurse. Yes, as a smaller specialty than others, there will be fewer choices, but enough. Have you tried the agencies mentioned above?

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Specializes in Psychiatric, Behavioral Health, Holistic.

Try TravelNurseSouce.com there were a lot of different agencies with psych there. I was told they go quickly though. A bazillion agencies will call you nonstop if you put up a profile. Lol

Also, I am still researching! I want to work in California, but was told it could be 3 to 6 months to get the license. I also applied for a temp license. Had to get fingerprinted etc. Finally sent the application for the license in this morning. Fingers crossed it takes less than 6 months!

In the meantime, I have plenty of time to research!!

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Amen to that, you definitely don't want to put up a profile on any job board!

Most any agency will get some psych orders, but other than Supplemental and Worldwide and the very large agencies like Cross Country and American Mobile, you probably won't work steady no matter how many smaller agencies you sign up with.

Don't believe anything you read on a job board. Agencies will say anything to get you in their database, and once you have signed up fully it may drop that they don't have anything currently open in psych.

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Specializes in PACU, ICU, Acute Dialysis, Home Health, Charge RN.

I traveled with AYA Healthcare after leaving permanent ICU job from Nov 2015-Jan 2016 recruiter was good, pay always right, had to cancel contract 2 weeks early after signing extension contract as well for medical leave reasons so ended contract early, plus couldn't start 2nd contract, and missed 3-4 shifts but was not charged for either. Looking to start next assignment in June. Quoted me better pay with housing than other places I have spoken with!

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Specializes in PACU, ICU, Acute Dialysis, Home Health, Charge RN.

Which travel company do you use NedRN?

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I don't recommend agencies except for a specific need (like psych). Agency brands are not very important compared to good fitting recruiters, but I do negatively recommend agencies with poor reputations. Such as Aya (formerly Access). Such a demerit from me doesn't mean you will have a bad experience with them, just lower odds. A good recruiter at a bad agency has much higher odds of working out successfully than a bad recruiter at a good agency. To me, with so many agencies, why take a chance on one with a historically poor reputation?

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