What about you makes traveling a good match?

carrie123 · Dec 20, 2006

A travel nurse needs to be VERY adaptable. Usually travelers are the first to be floated, they get very little orientation to the unit (max of 2 shifts in my experience), staff are usually not jumping to help them and are often given heavy assignments to take the load off the staff nurses (although this isn't always true). That being said, if you are the kind of person that needs a routine and gets flustered easy if the routine is broken, traveling is probably not for you. Secondly, a travel nurse needs to be outgoing and have no problems asking tons of questions and introducing yourself to staff. If you make friends easily, it'll be alright! If you have strong nursing skills and feel like you can jump into most any situation, it'll be great! Travel nursing is great for many reasons: you get to choose where you want to travel to, see the country and get paid to do it (and have your housing,health insurance etc. paid for too). I've managed to avoid mostly all the cold weather our country has to offer and am planning to continue to do that! You get to meet lots of people from all different places! If you are traveling alone, it can be kind of lonely at times until you make friends, so you should be ok with ttaking adventures in teh city alone and spending time alone frequently. Your nursing skills will be strengthened so much by the necesity to adapt and jump into any situation and you'll likely learn a lot on the different kinds of units you work on. I think it's a great oportunity, if this doesn't scare you..go for it!