traveling specialties?

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2014

Get your ducks in a row. Employers want BSN educated, certified nurses with a minimum of one year current experience. I would like to suggest that you work in the ED for at least two years, take TNCC, NIHSS certification, PALS and/ or ENPC, ACLS, SAFE or SANE nurse certs ( not sure what the difference is), then take the CEN. Trauma center experience is very desirable, especially at a Level one. Not having a BSN is not a big deal if you have the certs and a solid experience.

If you have chemo/biotherapy certs and a CCRN plus familiarity with EPIC McKesson and Meditech you will be a hot ticket.

It is a lot of work but it is these credentials that will make you a desirable candidate as a travel nurse. Get reimbursement from your current employer. These classes can be quite expensive. The hospital receives many profiles for these positions. You want yours to stand out.

While you are in the planning phase start a medical file for yourself include copies of your N 95 fit test, TDAP, MMR, Varicella, Rubella and Hepatitis B titers and flu shot. Then you will need two phone references from a manager and a copy of a physical done within the past year.

Apply for a license 2 months in advance if you want to travel to Ca, AK, USVI, NJ, etc. Be prepared for a quick start. The best positions are filled quickly.

Travel nursing is truly liberating.

best wishes,

Maggie

NedRN · Jul 22, 2014

You probably will be able to travel ED with a year's experience. The more the better of course, and it is a question of your confidence in your skills.

I agree in principle with everything that Maggie says in her post with the exception of phone references. You need to start collecting written references. These are far better than phone references that may only be able to supply dates of hire per employer's policies, or that you cannot control what was said, or even who picks up the phone. You will have much better control over your professional portfolio with written references. It is difficult to overstate how important these will prove to your career. They also have the side benefit of reducing the calls to the person who provided it.

I have a ED traveler friend who unusually gets most of his references from physicians. They are beautiful one page typed on a letterhead, very impressive. Not a bad way to go if you develop a good relationship with the ED docs (as you should). But they don't have to be so much work. PanTravelers has some generic forms you can download that take just a couple minutes to fill out.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2014

Every agency that I have signed on with required me to provide the name and phone number of two management employees who could provide a reference on a hospital extension during normal business hours. The travel nurse agencies I have worked with would not accept a home number, a cell number or a reference from a manager who was no longer employed at that facility. They do this presumably to weed out people who have big problems and submit fake letters of reference.

The evaluation forms are great to have and letters of reference on company letterhead are even better.

NedRN · Jul 23, 2014

They can require anything they like. But the reality is that most employers do not allow employees to give references on the phone (or in writing for that matter), merely dates of employment and rehire status. All an agency can do with most phone references is verify the person you named actually works at the hospital. If they have a written reference, they may be able to verify that the referee actually wrote it, a huge step up.

The criteria you state agencies are demanding are so restrictive that it seems unlikely that they can do much more than verify employment. I've not seen such agency applications but I am not doubting you. And I know you are agreeing with me about written references, but I'm not sure you know how much better they are. Travelers with them are more likely to get assignments. A sentence on a written reference is about a thousand times more valuable than a not very revealing simple employment verification to an interviewing manager.

In fact, every agency collects a written evaluation (which serves as a reference) from every assignment their traveler takes. It is usually specified in the agency-facility contract as a requirement that the hospital must do, but even if not is standard practice. This makes future assignments with the same agency much easier, but since agencies view these evaluations as proprietary, they do not share them with travelers. They are considered proprietary because in the hands of travelers, it makes working for other agencies much easier.

I was lucky to learn much of this fairly early in my career when a bad eval starting haunting me. A friendly manager (who was also a traveler) allowed me to copy my entire agency file at an assignment hospital. As a result, I have written references from every job I've had my entire career. The situation was a huge heads up and I started collecting my own written references at every assignment. I start as early as possible in every assignment in collecting references as they serve a protective function as well should I be terminated.

I'm sharing perhaps the most valuable recommendation I have which is to get your own written references so you can control your own professional portfolio and your career. It is fine and dandy if you only work for one or two agencies and nothing bad ever happens and you don't care to see what others are saying about you, but that is a risk professionals need not take. You can still provide phone numbers for agencies (they should be found on your written references and indeed should be hospital numbers, not personal ones), but having your own written references provide huge value to any employer and a large measure of protection from lame comments agencies may hear from the random person who picks up the phone.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2014

Ned you are correct. All good points. I was told I received a very nice evaluation from a large hospital system in Minnesota. I wish that I had asked the charge nurse to complete an evaluation form. My recruiter refused to send me a copy and that was when we parted ways. I can see the value in the person writing a letter of reference only having to verify it's authenticity. My work friends were sick of getting reference check phone calls and told me so. One recruiter called my last place of employment and a person whom I never care to see again actually gave me a good reference. I would have never listed her as a reference. I do have a file of evaluations from both permanent and travel nurse positions and it does need to be updated so thank you for the reminder.

NedRN · Jul 23, 2014

It sucks that agencies do not willing give us our evaluations, but I understand why. It is also really hard to get written references after you have left but quite easy while you are still there.

Having written references cuts down dramatically on phone calls. I seldom hear of one being called about me. Mind you, I don't know that there is a standard for verifying references and I have no doubt agencies vary quite a bit in their practices. I would think with written references in hand, smaller agencies would take them as legitimate and better than what they can usually get. Larger agencies may try to verify the actual reference, or just go with employment verification only. Like everything else an agency does, reference verification can be outsourced to third party companies. I've heard they charge $8 per verification but for that price, they can't be doing much.

I think that references, along with much of the paperwork we submit to agencies, is just taken as originals. Just like our physicals, titers, vaccinations and such that cannot be verified at all, or only with extreme difficulty. I'm sure some travelers fake a lot of paperwork, even some agencies do so. I worked at one hospital that did drug screens on all their travelers as they had a couple of travelers with forged agency documentation (that came from the agency, not the traveler).

Anyway, the more of the paperwork needed by agencies and hospitals that we keep in our own professional portfolio, the more valuable we become. This not only translates to a better choice of assignments, but better pay and negotiating power.