I am glad this question has been asked. Since travel nursing is basically a temporary job assignment within a facility, travel nursing itself has also been viewed as temporary. However, a strange dichotomy exists here.
Although the assignments are temporary, the number of travel nursing assignments in the United States is constantly growing. Why? The nursing shortage that is predicted to be ongoing for years to come is what keeps driving the need for traveling nurses, along with typical census fluctuations, new hospitals and wings opening, leaves of absence, maternity leave, etc.
Travel nursing began more than 25 years ago when companies first provided hospitals with short-term solutions to their staffing shortages and seasonal fluctuations. Since then, health care facilities have recognized that travel nurses offer an ongoing solution to many of their staffing needs. The travel nursing industry has grown in leaps and bounds, and is now recognized as a highly effective staffing tool.
Once you complete a nursing assignment in one place, you can count on having many more assignments to choose from. Four key elements to staying employed as a traveling nurse include:
Maintaining a good reputation
Once you accept an assignment, you want to stick to it to show that you are a person of your word and can be counted on. You want to be a dependable employee at the hospital with a good attitude.
Signing up with large companies or several smaller companies
If you travel with large travel nursing companies, you will have more of a selection of assignments to choose from. You can also sign up with several companies and have a wide selection that way. If you sign up with several companies, take time to find out about their reputation. You don’t want to sign up with just any company. They become your lifeline once you are out on the road. You want them to be dependable and knowledgeable, with a solid reputation.
Being in a high-demand specialty
Most nursing specialties are in high demand in the travel nursing industry. However, some pysch nurses and LPNs may be somewhat limited in finding ongoing assignments.
Be flexible
The more flexible you are, the more likely you will be to always have a variety of assignment choices. As a traveling nurse, you get to make many choices about what kind of experience you want to have and can rest assured that you have chosen a very stable and secure line of work.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Is Travel Nursing a Stable Career Option?
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5 comments:
Thanks for your site. I am a travel nurse and registry nurse. I do not agree with travel nursing as a secure job. WHY? WHAT? some would ask. That answer is multifaceted. First let me say as an RN/BSN with 15 years of experience that I am appaled at the way people are behaving. As registry I have been so "nit picked" Never asked "What happened?" that there is no personal justice what so ever. Any registry nurse can attest to having at least one "hear say" moment with a DNR to follow. These types of behaviors are becoming so prevalent in the profession that some nurses have even left the profession all together. The constant harrasment , nit picking and discrimination have been just too much. The nurses are scrutinized in a way that no full time staff would be. It is as if the mentality is that there is some unwritten code to "pick on" the travel nurse or the registry nurse. WHAT? what kind of depraved mind is that? Because we make more? Well that too is a choice isn't it? As an American born citizen my rights have been violated on many occasions even by the foreign nurse. As travel nurisng is being dominated there as well. We have all attended the cultural diversity courses but I can attest that as As a Caucasian southern state citizen my rights have been violated many times by those who were not born here. Why? Because you can teach nursing but you cannot teach grace. You cannot teach someone not to be envious, jealous or slanderous to another human being. I feel that many nurses may know nursing but fail to operate in the knowledge that nit picking is harrasment and gossiping is slander. These are both ILLEGAL. Here in califonria the "at will Laws" are so overexcercised that nurses who may even be here on a work visa can run off an AMerican nurse from a job. What has happened? It would be my guess that as more and more nurses rights , that is human rights, are sliced to pieces from some unit secretary with an attitude we will begin to see each nurse taking her own course of action within a network. The network of hopsital administration has not protected the fair and "innocent until proven guilty " approach with any travel nurse or registry nurse I know. That friends is plain ole' poor ethics, not nursing job ethics but american rights and human ethics. That will not change with going to another cultural class. What a pity for us all. The callousness and slander of part time , fill in staff is abominadble here in california. Then they wonder why there is a shortage. A shortage maybe? But worse yet a shortage of not only a good nurse but one with a high personal integrity. I could right a book. Maybe if nurses start sueing other nurses the madness would stop. No one is holding these accusers accountable to how they treat travel and registry nurses. That is against the federal law for heaven's sake? I think part of any nurses training nurse's training should be a course on what kind of behavior is legal or not like slander, false or one-sided stories. We all go to oreintation and hear all about the hospital haivng a no retaliation policy and how these things will not be tolerated. Well it has been my and other nurses i know experience this applies to everyone except the traveller. What kind and how did this become legal? My advice is unless you are blond, thin, Asian,male, fillipino or indian do not become a travel nurse!!! Unless you have a lawyer and tape recorder in your pocket. Good luck. We need to pray for this profession and take our heads out of the sand. Some things are just true. Do not judge me so quickly because i know that eventually you will have a bad expereince at least once. Interview many registry and travel nurses and get their stories I think you would be shocked! Oh and dare to be Southern at some facilities they will assume becasue you have an accent you surely must be prejudice. I have even had KKK jokes made to my face and was asked why souhtern people are fat? Oh yeah and the souhtern acecent means you are stupid. HAHAHAHA good luck all.
You mentioned signing up with several agencies - I agree, and have done that - but when positions become available in my specialty and I'm contacted by more than 1 agency, their story is always that this makes me 'a poor candidate' for placement if I'm submitted by more than 1 agency for the same position. I believe more than 1 agency increases my chances of obtaining work I would like in places I want by having relationships with a few agencies because not all agencies are in all areas/hospitals. Has anyone else had this experience? I understand the agencies don't want to be 'played' against each other for benefits, etc. but hey, it's an open marketplace - no? Do hospitals really have a problem with this or just the agency?
Good for people to know.
It would be my guess that as more and more nurses rights , that is human rights, are sliced to pieces from some unit secretary with an attitude we will begin to see each nurse taking her own course of action within a network. The network of hopsital administration has not protected the fair and "innocent until proven guilty " approach with any travel nurse or registry nurse I know.
nursing careers
It would be my guess that as more and more nurses rights , that is human rights, are sliced to pieces from some unit secretary with an attitude we will begin to see each nurse taking her own course of action within a network. The network of hopsital administration has not protected the fair and "innocent until proven guilty " approach with any travel nurse or registry nurse I know.
nursing careers
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