What's the salary for Travel Nurses?

C Queen · Jan 13, 2003

Leah!

What is your specialty, years of experience, and travel company. I am looking to travel in so. CA in L & D. Thanks

Dee

The One · Jan 28, 2005

Hi! I am from the Philippines and is about to go to America. I have a signed a contract with TravMed USA. Have you heard of it? Until now, they did not confirm yet regarding our schedule of deployment. They did not even bother to inform me if they have sent my Stateboard application.

I would appreciate to receive your reply. Thanks. Take care.

The salaries for RNs and LP/VNs range greatly, depending on many diffferent factors.
1. The agency you work for. All agencies aren't created equal. Each offers different pay, housing, and benefits. You would need to do a search on which one meets your needs. Do not go with the first one you hear about! It's a difficult task to pick the right agency, and without doing your homework, you could end up being in a big mess...and on the losing end! There are those agencies out there...to whom you're nothing but a number, and a warm body! The most important thing you can do is interview a prospective agency and the recruiter you're assigned to. That recruiter is your best advocate, and can make or break your assignment with any agency!
I have been doing this since 6/92, and I have worked with at least 5 or more different agencies. The first one I was with for 5yrs. But when the company changed hands...and my recruiter was changed...so did my experience with them!
Everything in travel nursing is negotiable, and if the agency or recruiter won't negotiate with you, then more on to the next!
The pay on any contract is determined by the contract that the agency and the hospital signs. There are many factors that go into the contract between the hospital and the agency. Your pay is also determined by the fact of whether or not you're a "green traveler" or an experienced one. How desperate the hospital is, what area the hospital is in. The cost of living in a certain area many times determines who much the pay is.
Some agencies have a tier system...as in they determine pay by how long you have been with that agency. They also determine bennies the same way. Some agencies only provided shared housing, and some have pathethic benefits!
You must do the research before you decide with agency to take an assignment with. But never just sign up with one...find at least 3! Also check out this forum...as they're are thousands of posters about agencies and hospitals, that could keep you from making some big mistakes!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/travelnurses/start
This forum is invaluable...because you can talk to recruiters, and to experienced travelers, and find out a wealth of information, that if would take hours for me to communicate to you!
Just remember.... DON"T jump into signing a contract with any agency until you have done your homework! There are waaaaaay too many horror stories out there!

quiltingnurse · Feb 8, 2005

Have you thought about being an independent rather than working for an agency?
Pay rates for independent nurses vary, as do regular pay rates, throughout the country, according to demand and the RNs available to meet that demand. If you are offering ICU, NICU, OR or something of this expertise/experience or are willing to work in underserved inner city areas, you are looking at pay rates starting around $65 per hour and climbing above $100 for certain areas, expertise, shifts etc. Working in the sun/fun in med/surg may not go higher than that.
Find out where the agencies are staffing (state/city/and specialty areas) and what they are paying their own nurses. Plan on negotiating 1.5 to twice that amount. Independents are not trying to undercut the agency/traveling nurse - just willing to do a little more on their own to earn more in order to be able to disperse income as they wish.
You will note that many agency nurses do not mind 'paying' the agency to do the ground work for their accommodation etc. But do not overlook that you can be an independent while remaining where you are. Business licenses and taxes take very little of my time and I like the idea/feeling of doing these things for myself. Because I earned more, I worked a little less and so taking a half day a month to sort out this sort of thing was fine with me.
The National Assoc. of Ind. Nurses (NAIN) has a wealth of info available at ******************, but membership is needed to access the intelligent, fact based, supportive forum. (No, I am not an officer of this org. - I just believe that one of the ways RNs will move into appropriate professional standing and pay is by being independent - as are many PTs, OTs, music therapists, dietitians, CPAs, etc etc.)
There are many appropriate ways to be an RN and earn a respectable living commensurate with training, education, experience and expertise. My experience with independence seems to be rather different from others. I'd like to encourage others to look at independent nursing and find out for themselves. Power to us all!

Hi Can you tell me more about this subject?? I have had 2 travel assignments with 2 agencys and have thought I might be able to myself a better contract on my own but dont know how to go about it. quiltingnurse

CAguy22 · Feb 13, 2005

Hi,

I am also interetsed in doing travel nursing. I will be teaching elementary school during the week, and working as a per diem nurse on Friday and Saturday nights. During the summer would be a perfect time to travel. I can do 8 week assignments, but probably nothing longer than that. Is it possible to to do per diem AND Travel nursing? I just started taking my prereqs for my ASN.