Travelers- advice please!

[Jerri_0913]

Hello! I have wanted to travel every since I discovered I could mesh my love of travel with my love of nursing! I am currently a LPN on a very very fast-paced Medical/Psych/Detox floor, I have worked on the floor for about 15 months. I will be graduating RN school in the next couple weeks. I plan to start orientating the 1st of June. My question is that I would really love to start traveling in September. Do you think it would be appropriate for me to do so? I'm very excited but nervous and would like to know if this is a good plan? Any input is greatly appreciated!!

[bagladyrn, RN]

I'd have to "put the brakes" on your plans a bit here. Any reputable agency will not take you as a traveler with less than a minimum of 1 year IN THE ROLE you will be filling - this means RN. In this case the LPN years do not count (sorry - I came up that route also). Many hospitals are requiring more experience than that - many 2 years, my current contract was looking for someone with 5+ years of experience in the specialty. In today's job climate they can get this.

Since you have a position lined up, I'd advise spending the time getting experience as an RN, getting as many extra certifications and continuing ed hours as you can, socking away an emergency fund of several months (minimum) expenses (the travel market is very uneven now) and consider looking at traveling in September of NEXT year.

It's really not that long - you'll be amazed how fast the time goes.