Travel nursing is a very interesting field of work, particularly for those who have no desire to settle down, choosing to see the country, or even the world, instead. Registered with travel nursing agencies, these professionals are sent on assignments of between two to six months, generally all expenses paid. This means your travel to the new region and your accommodation there is paid for, as well as a stipend for your living costs. On top of your regular salary, of course.
What Do Travel Nurses Do?
Travel nurses are sent anywhere where there is a need for a professional nurse. This may be to areas where there are job openings, or to disaster areas where there is a sudden need for nurses. It is quite common for the travel nurse to be offered a permanent position on one of their assignments, but there is no obligation to accept it. However, even someone with the greatest gypsy blood will at some point find a place that they want to call home. A good travel nursing agency will also help these nurses to find a permanent position, should that be what they are looking for.
Travel Nursing Agencies
There are many advantages of joining a good travel nursing agency, not in the least the fact that they take care of pretty much everything they need to for the nurse. They get paid a hefty sum of money to find new nurses and they return a very high quality service for this. This includes looking after their travel nurses, but also making sure that only the best of the best is sent on an assignment.
Travel nurses receive a wealth of benefits such as a 401K, health insurance, and dental insurance. They often make between $27 and $35 per hour, not including their various subsidies (housing, travel costs, other expenses). Usually, the highest paid travel nurses are found in metropolitan areas such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, or Chicago.
How to Get Started
If you have just qualified as a nurse and you want to become a travel nurse, you first have to obtain your RN (registered nurse) license, which allows you to practice. Once you have that, all you have to do is find a good travel nursing agency and you will be good to go. Some of these agencies will accept newly qualified nurses, although some do prefer those with a little more experience and education, which can be obtained easily as a travel nurse by enrolling in an RN to BSN program online. However, what they like the most about newly qualified nurses is that they still have generalized skills, which means that they can be deployed in any area of medicine. This is also to the advantage of the nurse, as they can find out whether there is a particular area of practice they like more than any other.
Although the life of a travel nurse is glamorous, it is also difficult. There is little stability and it can be difficult to maintain relationships. However, for the right person, it truly is the perfect job.