Trying other specialties as a traveler

[HospiceRN08]

Question for the travel nurses out there. I'm finally at that point where I think I have enough nursing experience under my belt to start branching out as a traveler/agency nurse. I have med-surg and critical care experience, but my specialty is palliative care. I'd like to branch out and try my hand at other specialties, but I wonder is it wise to step into an unfamiliar specialty as a traveler? One the one hand, I know that as a traveler, you don't get much orientation/training. The expectation is that you hit the ground running, so I figure it wouldn't be smart to step into an unfamiliar specialty as a traveler. On the other hand, I figure I have the basics down and I'm a quick learner, so go for it. Nursing is nursing right... or wrong. What do you guys think?

[Hex, LPN]

I don't have travel experience yet but I would think that being a first time traveler is already stressful enough even when you'll be practicing within your scope of expertise.

Like you said, most likely you won't have the luxury of a long and thorough orientation period since they expect you to be able to hit the ground running.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[elkpark]

I'm no expert in this area, but the point of hospitals/facilities paying a fortune for travelers is that they're paying for a seasoned "pro" who can hit the ground running and do the job with minimal assistance/supervision. Placement/contracts are based on your experience/expertise within a given specialty (agencies will sign up nearly anyone, but the hospitals/facilities typically require two, three, or more years experience in the specific clinical area/specialty). If they wanted to orient someone to a new specialty, they could just hire a new staff nurse.

As far as I know (not much! :)), I don't think you'd be able to get a travel job in a new specialty ...

[Spiderella]

I agree somewhat with the 2 above posters, however, I have been able to try out something different than what my core specialty is. My nursing experience was predominantly Telemetry & Stepdown, and I've done stints in the CCU and from there MICU, Oncology clinic (even though I wasn't chemo certified) and the ER. As long as you have a solid base of experience, you can try something else. Just make sure that it's something that is as close to the old job as possible.

There was a traveler I knew that worked exclusively ER Fast Track for 9 years. She got put on a Med-Tele floor and totally bombed and was let go after only 2 weeks. The facility felt that she was a safety risk to the patients, she wasn't able to hit the ground running, and kept making alot of mistakes and couldn't handle the high demands and patient load. If she had gotten a travel job say in ER or even the outpatient clinic setting, she might have been more able to perform her tasks. Now she works as a traveler in an ED in TX and has no problems whatsoever.

Traveling is difficult, but I love to learn and have new experiences. Perhaps once you become a 'seasoned' traveler, it will be easier to take on a new specialty. However, I would only suggest this if you are very strong in your clinical and assessment skills, and are considered an experienced nurse already.