Is Travel Nursing Best Suited to Any Specialty?

Nurses are in demand across the country and that includes travel nurses in practicalluy every specialty, including areas such as the ICU, ER, OR, telemetry, labor and delivery, progressive or step-down care, the neonatal unit, pediatrics, post-anesthesia care, med-surg and oncology. Dialysis is also a specialty that has seemed to flourish over the last few years. The nurses that sometimes have more of a challenge finding assignments are psychiatric nurses and LPNs. Most travel nursing companies do not travel CNAs.

Every specialty has its own specific nuances that are performed slightly differently at each facility you go to. I don’t think one specialty is really better suited or easier to travel in than the other.

It is important for any nurse who is considering working as a traveler to have thorough knowledge of their specialty. A year’s experience is the absolute minimum, although many travel nursing agencies prefer that you have 18 months to two year’s experience in your specialty before you take your career on the road. Your most recent experience needs to be in an acute-care hospital, so if you have been away from patient care for a while, it is important that you spend a year working in a hospital before you consider travel nursing.

While working as a travel nurse, you usually need to work within your specialty. However, depending on how well your skills cross into other specialties, you may be asked to float within the facility you are assigned to.