Travel nursing with my experience

[WM_84]

Hi all!

What would be the likelihood of me getting a travel nurse job?

My experience: LPN for 3 years working in long-term acute care which included telemetry, vent & trach pts, IV drips (heparin, dopamine, etc) and rehab nursing.

Currently working as MDS coordinator (since July 2010) while in RN school-graduation April 2011.

The plan: Go back to floor nursing upon graduation, ideally Med-Surg, then look into travel nursing after about 6 months experience. Do you think I would be marketable to travel nursing agencies?

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Have you tried asking the travel agencies?

Thay are, after all, the people that will be trying to place you and they know what their clients are looking for.

You can also review the many threads on this BB, that indicate that 1-2 years as a practicing RN, is the bare minimum of experience accepted by most good agencies, though to 2-5 years in a marketable specialty is greatly preferred. And given the severe recession, the extreme cutback in use of agency personnel, and the large number of highly experienced/previous travelers competing for a decreasing number of jobs, someone meeting less than minimal requirements faces an uphill battle getting assignments. Because while an agency may "accept" you, that does not mean that a facility will offer you an assignment after interviewing several candidates with more experience.

But your previous experience coupled with one, preferably two years of solid RN experierence would make you an excellent candidate.

There are people that make it with less, but it really is not recommended, The market is saturated with experienced travelers for few jobs.

[WM_84]

I haven't asked any agencies yet, just dabbling here on the travel board. Thanks for your input!