Why Should you become a Travel Nurse

Why did I consider making this decision? Other than being impulsive, curious and a full blown Sagittarius,… I really think it’s for the love of putting myself in uncomfortable situations. You know, those types of situations where other people say, “I would never do that”. I take that as my cue to execute. I am BETTER because of people like this. If they did not exist would I? I’m not sure. This is pure challenge and a gateway to knowledge that you can’t even pay for in school. However, they will pay you to get it. This is more of my subconscious reasons for considering travel nursing. Also, as a disclaimer I should say that with every job there are risks and benefits. Now lets get into the fun stuff. MONEY, free traveling, experience, different nurses and nursing styles. I am someone who loves to travel and I actually like to travel alone and sometimes just to be alone in general. No shade. Its how God made me.

1.   Money

 Traveling nurses get paid more because of supply and demand. Institutions need staff and there could be a number of reasons that they do. They either need a temporary nurse or they can’t find any qualified personnel to hire. So they mosey on over to a travel agency and contract to pay them if the agency can supply them with a qualified nurse. Usually this is a large amount of money, so the agency can be generous with the travel nurse. Much more generous than any hospital can be with their staff nurse, unless they worked 24 hour shifts 7 days a week. Each agency is different and they pay for different things. Housing transportation meals and licensing are some of the things that may be covered depending on which agency you chose.

2.   Free Traveling

 I love to travel. So I’ll pretty much take any deal that include travel. Assignments are usually 13 weeks. NOT all of them, but most. This is more than enough time to take advantage of tourist attractions and to pretend like I live there.  The reason this deal is awesome is because your plane ticket or driving mileage is reimbursed. So that’s free. You get a housing stipend so you’re getting paid for you accommodations. You also still have to go to work so you aren’t taking days off and losing money while traveling. This is not considered a vacation because you will be working and that should be fine. Only a true travel addict would understand.  

3.   Experience

  All nurses usually know that working at one facility does not make you an expert. It makes you an expert where you work. This is desirable for some because it makes things comfortable and that’s not a bad thing at all. Every facility has its own protocol, policy and procedure and travel nurses can be exposed to them. There is also more than one way to save a life and more than one medication that can be given. A travel nurse can learn multiple methods and be more knowledgeable wherever the nurse decides to go.

4.   Nurses and nursing styles.

 Nurses don’t do things the same within the same four walls so they definitely don’t do all things the same in different states. Nurses have their tips and tricks to help make things easy yet safe for them and their patients. For example, there’s more than one way to secure an NG tube and there is more than one type of intervention for pain or nausea. Traveling to different facility’s help you encounter nurses that may have been taught different tips and tricks and some of them may even work better.

         The reasons mentioned are specific to me, but there are many more great things to get out of this career choice. Some people are just not in the right situation to travel and life is better for them if they don’t. However, for those in an ideal situation and the desire to move forward in this direction, my advice would be to stop letting fear control you. It’s just an emotion that sticks around a little too much. Fear works in some situations, but most of the time its overly cautious and hindering. Be brave, be exciting and be smart because you only live one life. All the best …….