travel nursing for new grad

NedRN · Feb 25, 2015

No, nor anywhere else either. Do you not understand that a new grad is entry level? You are not competent to practice independently until you have convinced a hospital to hire you and pay from $10,000 to $40,000 to train you? A traveler has a minimum of one to two years of experience in their specialty before a hospital will take the risk of hiring them.

WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 25, 2015

I would be wary of an travel agency that takes new grads...

NedRN · Feb 25, 2015

And even more of a hospital that takes them without orientation adequate for a new grad!

Possibly LTC is an area that could take a new grad, but I have to question why even consider travel at all if San Diego is where you want to live. Just get a real job with real training at a major teaching hospital. It will likely pay more as well.

MsConstrued · Mar 1, 2015

Nope. I'd be surprised if you can travel as a new grad, nor would I want to. I went in with 1.5 years experience and sometimes I wish I waited longer to get down the basics. Some nurses look at me like I'm crazy when I encounter something I've NEVER done before and ask for help. They don't mind helping at all, but they are surprised there are basics I haven't seen or done and am traveling when most nurses can't stand to even be floated to another unit. You would be putting your license on the line every day by going to new facilities with no experience. Nursing is not easy. It's even harder as a traveler.

Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 1, 2015

Sometimes I'm surprised when nurses tell me they hate being floated. lol I tend to enjoy it just because I enjoy the occasional change and it helps to assess what I know and don't know and need to improve upon. But I agree, I don't think new grads should start as a travel nurse mostly because of safety. Personally,I had the opportunity to do a residency program at a level 1 trauma hospital that's well known and nationally ranked. In less than 8 months I was orienting someone (comfortably, I might add) and by a year in I was charge (comfortably). Honestly, I think that experience is invaluable to travel nursing and is part of the reason I got my first job so quickly. A lot of travel agencies/recruiters want you to have recommendations from managers and people who can attest to your clinical skills and experience.

A year goes by really fast. Just get a little bit of experience, feel comfortable, and then go. The travel part is the exciting part! If all I had to do was show up, I'd be set! The "scary" part is knowing what the heck you're doing and being safe enough and independent enough to do it. As a new grad, I assure you, you'll have a lot of questions. And if you didn't...I'd kind of be scared.

Glutton-4-Trauma, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2015

The idea of a new grad traveling is silly. I had a year of experience before I began and I can tell you that there is absolutely no way one could be safe and function as a new grad traveler. That phrase alone makes me shudder! I definitely wish that I had gotten atleast another year before I began, though I have excelled tremendously and

learned things that I likely would never have learned at my home facility. You have to first MASTER the BASICS and even then your first few assignments will be challenging. Shift your focus to securing a new grad position at a good hospital. Perfect your craft and re-visit the possibility of traveling when you are more seasoned.

snailszy · Mar 2, 2015

Is travel nursing different from what the NHSC offers? From the website, it seems that NHSC takes new NP grads, but not nurses.