Traveling!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Apr 1, 2015

Hi there.

According to your profile, you're a student - so that's the perspective I'm adopting for this info.

There are a lot of nurses who just love travel gigs, so you'll be in good company. In order to have the best chances of success, you should aim for qualifications & certification in an 'in demand' specialty such as Critical Care, ED, OB, or periop. There is always a market for those specialties - to cover for vacations or help an organization fill in until they can fill their vacancies. In order to achieve this, you're looking at at least 3 years of experience. You'll need at least one year (in that specialty) in order to take the cert exam. Usually, traveler gigs are in multiples of 30 days... in our facilities, the most common arrangement is for 90 days.

There's a bit of a Catch-22. Facilities are most likely to use travelers when they have been unable to recruit qualified candidates to fill their vacancies. Why are they unsuccessful? Bad working conditions (workload, leadership, etc), undesirable part of the country? So - in order to continue in career pattern that you like, you may have to deal with some gigs that are miserable. Travelers are expected to hit the ground running, so there is very little orientation - it's all on you.

I hope it all works out just the way you envision!