r/TravelNursing

Hello fellow nurses! I’m currently in a position where I have an opportunity to move to Philly and I wanted some insight into the nursing world here. About me: im 30, female, single and would come as a travel nurse. I’ve been a nurse for going on 4 years now, working on my bachelors and have been working endoscopy the last 1.5 years.

What do my options look like? Areas that are better than others, hospitals that are recommended, city life in general.

If anyone has any contacts or information about good nursing agency’s as well (I have one just always shopping around)

Thanks :)

hi everyone! im still a relatively new nurse (2.5 yrs) currently @ hopkins in one of their imc/icu stepdown units. a lot of my colleagues have been travelers and are encouraging me to consider. i plan to be charge trained by the end of the year and am thinking of next steps once im comfortable charging. i really want to go to cali at some point and a recurring suggestion has always been “do a travel contract and vibe check the hospitals until you find one you like.” i know that the experience from travel and stepping out of my comfort zone will force me to grow and become a stronger nurse.

is it worth it for me to delay another year (even 2) to get icu experience before making the jump? i know training isn’t really expected in traveling since youre expected to be seasoned anyways. i just feel like im restless and unsatisfied with where i am right now and need a change in something.

any advice and personal experience is helpful! thank you!

Hi everyone. I’m an ICU nurse in NJ and I’m thinking about going into travel nursing. Would any of you mind sharing your experience of making the move from a staff nurse to travel nursing? Also, what a travel agency would you recommend?

Hello, Is there a strong travel nurse market in Jacksonville/Jacksonville Beach? We're thinking of buying an investment property in Jacksonville Beach and wanted to know what our options are for the mid-term rental market. Appreciate any input! This would be for a single family home.

I will be driving to my assignment instead of flying and bringing two indoor cats with me.
My main challenges are:
I have limited funds until my first paycheck
I may need temporary housing for a few days during transition
I need to safely transport two cats long distance
I’m trying to plan this as safely and realistically as possible.
For anyone who has done travel nursing or a similar move:
How did you handle housing before your assignment housing started (if there was a gap)?
Any advice for traveling long distance with cats?
Did your agency help with any upfront housing or accommodations?
Any practical advice is appreciated.

I don’t know what to do and would appreciate any advice.

I am on my first ever travel contract at a hospital I actually love. Unfortunately, my husband and I received news today that our baby girl (7 year old lab mix) likely has osteosarcoma. We have a biopsy scheduled in a few days, but all of her symptoms and X-rays are pointing to cancer. We may only have weeks left with her, and I’m not even halfway through this contract yet.
I can’t imagine not bringing her home. The idea of coming to a new state with her, and going home without her, is almost too much to handle. Is it worth it to cancel the contract? I don’t want to be blacklisted because it truly is a fantastic hospital and I’d like to come back at some point if life circumstances allow. And of course the pay is far better than my home hospital, which is nice for paying vet bills. In the last 2 weeks we’ve spent over $1400, and I’m sure that number is going to continue to climb.

For anyone who talks about treatment: We’ve already decided to go the palliative route if it’s confirmed. I wouldn’t want to go through amputation/chemo/radiation for myself, so I just can’t put my girl through it.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I truly am at a loss. All input would be much appreciated.

Well, first week is over of my first contract ever started. The company just went live with epic two days before I started. Luckily I've been using it for a few years already. I have been a resource in teaching people epic the first week. Training was mostly the first day with showing me flow of the Dept (ER) and location of specific supplies.

We'll see how the next few weeks go. Majority of the Dept has travelers in some sort of way there. But being a small community hospital and the average of 6 to 1 or 7 to 1 nurse the patient ratio makes me remember why I took up travel nursing.

Not a single nursing position I applied for at a conventional job would allow me to be able to pay my bills and also pay down some student debt. Only travel nursing gives me a decent chance in paying off student loans and making a living.

Overall pretty sad State for nurses and the state of the economy and cost of living.

So current contract has a 98% consistent score needed for medication scanning compliance or they terminate your contract ! …. Has anyone heard or dealt with this at your hospital? If so, tips ? Epic hospital

Hi everyone! I finally got my license for a state I wanted to work at and have started looking into travel assignments through Aya.
I noticed one CVICU assignment is listed as $2,181–$2,411/week.

From what I understand, the lower amount is with benefits and the higher amount is without benefits.
I was wondering how accurate those posted rates usually are. Also, is that weekly pay before taxes or after taxes? Or is it the total compensation package (taxable hourly pay + stipends)?

This will be my first travel assignment, so I’m still trying to understand how everything works. Thanks in advance!
also any advice would be tremendously appreciated!!

I have been at my first and current assignment for 15 months and already extended til November. Had to take a month off after the first full year, which sucked, but otherwise love this place and the people here. If it weren’t for the pay cut I would become real staff.

How long has your longest contract been? Do you guys move as often as possible or are you happy to find a place and stay as long as you can?

EDIT: Thanks for the concern everyone, but according to my tax person (she has worked with travel nurses before). As long as I continue to keep my home in my original city, things like pay rent, collect mail, use it as my home for address and such, I will be good for tax purposes. It is still my “Tax Home”. But I will look into more. Thanks again for the heads up.

How do I get this off of my record? I currently have a DNR status at a hospital that I want to return to as a traveler. I’ve been away from that hospital for over a year. I accepted a contract last week and then was told this week the hospital rescinded because of DNR. Apparently I had some negative feedback from a manager that said I had a bad attendance. I called off from work 5 times during a 13 week contract. 2 days from being ill with the flu and the others were because of bad weather (snow storms).
What can I do the clear my name/record?

So I started on Monday with all of the onboarding and shadowed for 4 hours afterwards. Today, Wednesday, was my first and only day of orientation. My first day on my own was to be Saturday, the 4th of July. So literally one day of orientation. I know that's not uncommon and have been told by many some places only give you 1 day of orientation, but I had been frequently told you usually get 2 or 3 days.

I was told I'm "resistant to..." I think it was training? Direction? I forget exactly the word, but yeah. That people gave feedback about me, but I barely spoke to many people about anything at all? I didn't want to say something that people didn't like and report me to get me cancelled. I knew just to keep to myself. Guess that wasn't good enough. I had asked my preceptor about it and she said she didn't think it wasn't exactly what I was thinking it was, but that it's just I may seem to not want to do things the way *they* do it. After discussing with her, she actually went back to the manager and maybe clarified things, I wasn't expecting her to do that at all (I genuinely don't think she was saying anything bad either as she was a tiny bit confused at first when I asked her about feedback too, and I got her contact information too to keep in touch).

I honestly don't know what exactly this all was about, but it's whatever at this point. How am I supposed to know *everything they do* in just 12 hours? "That's interesting you guys do it that way, okay", "hmm, that's odd, but okay!”. Things of the sort. I'm making observations of the differences because I listened and acknowledged the difference. I do have autism and I get that I can come off differently, and I brought it up to my recruiter and said she can tell the manager about it if need be when they talk tomorrow, and I informed my preceptor too afterwards so maybe this way there could be an understanding so that maybe it's just the way I come off (it's not an excuse at all), just so it maybe wasn't a misunderstanding or something. She said it really wasn't and that it's just I'm a new traveler and I'm not up to par like experienced travelers are. That she saw I was smart and a good nurse and knew what I was doing, but just clearly not in the travel aspect of it, and this might not be the place for it. (Which is fine, I get it, but we all literally have to start somewhere).

Apparently the manager said they typically don't take new travelers for this reason too but the contract I applied to said no travel experience was required. I even remember asking my recruiter about it when looking at other contracts and she said the facilities usually are firm on not having new travelers if it's listed in the contract as so, so I know for a fact I only applied to places that said it was not a requirement. Then I thought it was a cardiac PCU (where all of my adult experience was on), and when I get there, it seems more like telemetry with a touch of PCU in certain aspects. Whatever with that. I can deal with it, but just not what I was expecting, but every hospital is going to be different so I also wasn't that upset about it, just mildly annoyed. I absolutely would have stayed with this contract even though it's not what I was anticipating it to be.

I'll find out tomorrow if I'm staying here on the unit, being moved to med surg (I offered to go there if the manager thought it reasonable/appropriate for me and they would take me, but there's no openings at all on med surg posted at this hospital, and all the surroundings want travel experience). I think I'm mostly upset about the money I spent on a few days in a hotel here (expensive cuz of the holiday coming up 🙄) and getting an apartment. Landlord thankfully is chill and I think he'll let me leave after a month. We didn't have a lease signed or anything, it was just reserved for 3 months and the posting said minimum 30 day stay. Just a week in any hotel here was going to be close to/right around 1k, and it was cheaper to get an apartment right away at 2k instead of being in a hotel/Airbnb like people usually say to do. Couldn't find a private Airbnb that took pets. I refuse to have my cat in a shared space as she is stressed AF around strangers (even on gabapentin), but she does well acclimating to new places with just me around.

Basically most important thing I want to ask about is this - how common is this to happen? The only 1 day orientation and contracts saying no experience is fine but expecting you to be able to function as an experienced traveler? Did I just pull the shirt string as my first contract? I wouldn't necessarily call it bait and switch, but I can certainly see aspects about it.

Hi my fellow nurses, thinking of accepting a position at Kaiser Downey NICU but I heard so much horror stories of that NICU, staffs and management. I need some input of what to prepare please.

I have 6 months medsurge and 6 months psych. I have a few years of law enforcement that crosses over with psych. How much more do I need before I become a traveler?

What's one thing that will guarantee you don't extend a contract?

Who here has gotten their CA license? I have a unique travel opportunity but they want me there quickly. I see the CA board of nursing said they’ll expedite for honorably discharged vets, which I am. Anyone know just how fast their “expedited” process is?
I’ve requested fingerprint cards, which I know sets the process back time wise.
Just worried I’m going to lose this opportunity due to wait times.

Had to renew my BLS while on contract. Before I started I clarified they’d reimburse and they said yes. Now they won’t reimburse because their max is $250 which they let me use at the beginning of the contract for scrubs?? Why would a job requirement / licensing be part of a scrub credit

Hey everyone! I'm 24, single, no kids, originally from Georgia, and I'm currently a travel nurse. Right now, I’m on assignment in New Mexico, but I just signed a new contract for San Luis Obispo, California. I’ve always dreamed of living in California, and I’m hoping to make a more permanent move soon.

I wanted to get some insight from any travel nurses who transitioned into a permanent staff role in California especially in Northern California. I’ve heard that pay rates are comparable between staff and travelers in some areas, but on the San Luis Obispo site, I saw rates around $55–$80 an hour. That would be plenty for me as a single person.

If you made that switch or have any advice about the process like how stable or different the lifestyle is, or how the benefits compare, I'd love to hear your experiences! Thanks so much!

Hi guys! Just curious, do travel nurses typically try to find roommates when traveling, or do most typically live by themselves?

What resources are out there that help travel nurses find roommates, and how effective are they?

Are there any challenges you’ve come across when trying to find a roommate?