r/TravelNursing

I’ve been a nurse for about 10 years now, and I still think people outside healthcare have a hard time understanding how physically draining nursing can be. It’s not just “standing a lot.” It’s standing, speed walking, bending over beds, helping reposition patients, pushing equipment, skipping breaks, and by the time I get home, my feet are throbbing and my lower back feels completely done.Compression socks help during the shift. At home, I usually rotate between a hot shower, heating pad, rolling my feet on a massage ball, and stretching my calves/hips if I have the energy.I wonder what other nurses actually do after brutal shifts. What helps your feet, legs, or back feel better after a shift?

Nursing Background:
3+ years ER, 2+ years MS
Fiancé and I have been travel nursing for 9 months

San Juan Regional Hospital

San Juan is a level 2 trauma center with a 22 bed ER seeing around 150-200 pts per day. It’s the main hospital overseeing the Navajo reservation nearby. If not in triage, you are assigned 5 rooms, really 4 patients and a drunk tank pt (if there is one) with 1 of the rooms being a critical care room. If in triage, you send everyone you see to the waiting room and if a room becomes avaliable, that nurse will take them back (acuity based of course)….if there are no rooms, you watch them constantly eyeing you and asking about wait times. Occasionally one falls on the ground and you have to call charge to let them back. This place uses Cerner EHR and being this busy, it kinda reminds me of being in an HCA in Texas, staffing is still a hit or miss. Sometimes there are 6 - 7 nurses for a whole shift and other times I’ve been on shift with me, a new grad, and the charge nurse. There are techs, but you def gotta be comfortable managing sick pt’s all alone, start to finish. The patients are 90% adults and 10% peds. While the peds pts are super cute, the adults not so much. You will see mostly Navajo or white patients, surprisingly very few Spanish speaking patients. There are quite a few regulars and since Farmington doesn’t have a drunk tank for jail, the ED has a room dedicated for it. The techs really own this area and update vitals/ let them leave if they can walk (which is good since they are usually tucked away in a whole different section of the ED). Most of the patients you will see will have some alcohol related issue, diabetes, abdominal pain, or chest pain with quite a lack of health care literacy and even abuse of the hospital system. Didn’t see many codes, but do get quite a few intubations (intentional overdoses usually).

ER

Pros:

1. Self scheduling done in 4 week blocks, often got the schedule we asked for.
2. Friendly staff in the ER 60% of the ER was other travelers). ED Doc were easy to interact with :)
3. Chillest day shifters I’ve worked with, giving report was easy af.
4. Leave by 7:10-7:15 consistency.
5. Only send 1 pink top/ blood checked by computer, no need for 2nd nurse check.
6. Don’t feel too rushed to complete tasks or take new pts (for the most part).
7. Pedi pts were chill and cute (docs didn’t needlessly order blood/ caths for urine on these pts).
8. Docs give pain meds pretty regularly, which helps with the call lights.

Cons:

1. Adult pts (a lot of people using the ER as a primary care or to not be on the street). lots of alcohol and drugs abuse.
2. Lack of community culture between nurses (probably from so many travelers).
3. HCA type busy/ low staffing with up to 6:1 ratios, I’ve seen the charge take on 10 pts.
4. Lack of lunch aka downing it at the nurses station.
5. CT/MRI are 1 mile away from the ER and the floors are far too.
6. RNs responsible for changing pt’s out of clothes for MRI. When busy some of the techs will bring people fully clothed to MRI and YOU get in trouble….aka MRI lazy.
7. 2nd nurse scan to give magnesium.
8. On call pharmacy at night/ no neurology in house.

Fiancés Experience on MS

She had notoriously unfriendly staff interactions on floors a few times, in fact one nurse was training someone and told the trainee how not to nurse using my fiancé as an example. Most interactions were good, but there may have been some bad ones due to the fact that most of the floor nurses were staff and she was a traveler. Furthermore, she often times would get off shift at 0800 or after due to the time it took to give report to the next nurse as well as extended day shift huddles. Though it was busy, she was able to find time to take a lunch, but some nights she had sections with very confused patients. A few times, she was floated to the cards unit.

Farmington the town:

First impressions of this 45K population town feels like a drive through on the way to a bigger and better city. There is very little greenery and a lot of dirt. The buildings are 1 story, look run down, and all have flat roofs. There are quite a few chain restaurants in the area along the main road. Along the river, if the wind blows right, a water treatment center gives that nice sewage smell. This all gives off a lower income/ undesirable look. That being said, it does have its quirks.

1. Animas river runs through it with a gravel trail (running, white water activities, fishing)
2. Off roading and mountain biking trails nearby
3. Mexican food slaps here

However, the best feature of this town is the location. Farmington is centrally located to some of the best outdoor recreational spots on the continent! We spent more time outside of this town than in it. Here are the areas we went to in 13 weeks, all between 1 - 6 hours of driving.

Phoenix, AZ
Sedona, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ
Page, AZ
Chaco Canyon, NM
Albuquerque, NM
Santa Fe, NM
Moab, UT
Durango, CO
4 corners of the US (CO, AZ, UT, NM)
Zion National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

Overall, I like to call this the hiking contract cause we hiked a lot and saw many spectacular sites on our days off :) I ended up losing 13 lbs and all the weight I had gained eating food in Washington. Would we come back to work at this hospital? Hell no! But did we enjoy our days off more than any other place we have worked at? Hell yeah. It’s a trade off and we feel it was worth the value.

I’ve worked with Host Healthcare, Aya, Total Med and currently I’m with Prolink. Prolink seems to have a lot of higher paying contracts. I don’t know how their benefits are because I have private insurance. They offer $600 completion bonus after you work a certain amount of hours. BUT if I get called off by the facility, I lose $360 per shift from my stipends. I’ve seen many people say this is normal and others say the company should be making sure your stipends are covered regardless. This is my first contract without guaranteed hours so I don’t know what happens to your stipend if you’re called off when working with those other agencies.

Hello!
I have a bone to pick with furnish finder. These landlords are asking for $1000+ deposits, non-refundable, and some are even asking for lasts months rent on top of everything else. I'm not sure of any other affordable options because everything seems so expensive and people are asking for way to much for way too little. What are some other options or what is reasonable for these landlords to be asking of me. Thanks!

Curious what people’s experiences have been with:

• hospital systems
• pay vs cost of living
• staffing ratios
• city lifestyle outside of work

Seems like people either love Texas assignments or swear they’ll never do one again.

Would love to hear which cities or facilities stood out, good or bad.

We also put together a quick 2026 Texas guide for anyone considering it. Did we miss anything?

https://reddit.com/link/1tiw396/video/xsq0gn36fc2h1/player

Any tips on qualifying for a mortgage when most of your pay is non-taxable stipend money?

Could be anything:

• Things you wish you knew before your first contract
• Biggest mistakes to avoid
• Green/red flags at hospitals
• Housing tips
• Money advice
• What actually matters when choosing an assignment

Curious what experienced travelers would tell someone just getting started.

Has anyone seen the actual billing for us. I have heard the offer is less than half the billing amount.
Anywhere between 8k - 10k. Any ex recruiters can chime in ? I have an extension coming up and not buying they don’t have enough to offer me more ?
They already hit me with the new GSA increasing my taxable starting June.

Has anyone had issues with a landlord after moving out of their furnished rental? I stayed 3 months in a rental I found on furnished finder. Place was ok. There were roaches. I should have been tipped off when I saw roach bait around the place. I didn’t have hot water half fhe time I was there. It was a condo that had an HOA so anytime I had a problem, the landlord had to call the HOA which was notorious for getting back to her. She the also bullied me to end my lease early so she could move in new tenets.

I moved out. I cleaned the place to my best ability but I knew she was going to have professional cleaners come through but I still did what I could. She left me no move out instructions. I text her and asked her what I needed to do and she said I was good. I told her I wasn’t sure what to do with the bedding and if she wanted me to wash it and she said no it was fine.

About 2 days ago I got a text from her accusing me of having pets in the unit because there was hair stuck to the couch and the comforter of the bed. I have no pets. I have long blonde hair that breaks easily from damage. I also had a dog who died and said that it was possible that I still had his hair stuck to my clothes.

She said it was obviously pet hair and that I have created a “cleaning disaster” for her and that her medical clients can’t be in a rental covered in pet hair. I again told her I didn’t have a pet in there and I’m really not sure what she wants me to say. She said she had pictures of the damage I caused from the hair. And that she would let me know how much the damage was going to be cost.

I think she’s being absolutely insane. Am I crazy? Is she not washing the bedding? Can they not vacuum the couch? Can none of her potential renters not own pets for fear of possibly transferring pet hair?

Again I let a lot of shit slide with her and worked with her to end my lease early and now she is pulling this shit.

I’ve been having the hardest time getting good contracts lately cause I don’t know how to chart with Epic and it’s kind of annoying. I’ll literally check every box perfectly but they’ll hard stop me cause I don’t know Epic and then they’ll absolutely refuse to even let me learn. I’ve learned a couple charting systems as a traveler in like 3 days and they’re ones way harder than Epic (or so I’ve been told).

Anyone facing a similar issue and got lucky landing a contract where the facility was willing to orient them to Epic? I know it’s rare but I guess I’m just wanting reassurance it’s still possible somewhere. I tried self teaching with online tutorials but I don’t think they’re accurate or up to date.

Zup guys , I plan to just sleep in my car for the rest of my contract to save more money. Where is a safe place to camp in Burlingame? I work at Sutter Mills Peninsula.

So I’m on my first contract as a med/dental assistant when I get word that it’s cancelled 8 weeks in due to external hiring. I’m really pissed off, I only had 4 more weeks and I signed a 3 month lease (I know silly me) but I don’t know. I had to forfeit my deposit! I was so excited to get my first contract but after this debacle and the being home sick, I know this travel life isn’t for me right now.

I’m a traveler I understand my schedule won’t be perfect or exactly how I want but they scheduled me for every single Thursday Friday Saturday NIGHT for 7 weeks. I asked them to switch me off every other weekend and they said they would look into it. I’m not working every weekend and I’ll be stubborn about that. What do you guys recommend? I mean this is crazy. They should have it listed as a weeekend contract if they only needed weekend nights. It should be a separate listing bc I wouldn’t have signed up for this.

Just looking for an advice. I have been an ICU nurse for a little over 11 years. Presently, I’m almost 4 months in as staff at a hospital in Los Angeles and am unhappy. Prior to this I did just one contract with Kaiser. And was with an agency who sponsored my visa here in the US for 3 years. I’m an immigrant, and I’ve been here in the US for 4years. But I want to quit get back to travel where money is better. I just want a long vacation back home where my family and friends are. But everyone (immigrant nurses) I have sought advice to say it’s better to stay as staff since my job is now secured. I’m currently applying to an MSN-NP program and with that I might have to wait longer on visiting my family. I haven’t seen them for 1.5 years now.

I’m looking to get into travel nursing and I’m trying to find a genuinely solid recruiter/agency.

Not just someone who spam texts you every 5 minutes, but recruiters who actually:

• fight for good pay/packages
• are honest about contracts
• don’t disappear once you start
• help with licensing/housing/reimbursement
• are responsive and transparent

If you’ve had a recruiter you’d genuinely vouch for, please drop:

• recruiter name
• agency
• why they were good

Feel free to shill them honestly lol. I’d rather hear real experiences than random Google reviews.

do you all pay CA state and federal tax as a traveler? my permanent tax home is Florida, so should I only be obligated to pay tax in my home state?

Hi everyone

I started my first travel contract in Austin, TX and I’m feeling quite anxious/homesick and having second thoughts. I’m from Chicago and I’m so close to my family, have never lived this far away from home. I also get pre-shift anxiety so going from days to nights has been difficult. I’m having second thoughts about maybe going back home and finding a staff job again. Can anyone relate or maybe give advice?

Note: I don’t know anyone here but I love Austin, I’ve traveled with friends a lot prior to ATX so I decided to give it a shot.

Backstory: I initially had a contract prior in Denver and I got screwed over, my contract got cancelled cause the manager didn’t like me. I only had worked 1 shift and it was cancelled the following day. So this current contract is my second attempt/first contract but also my last chance at travel since my first experience was horrid so kinda scarred from that. Lost a lot of money on the move to Denver only to move back home, I wasn’t reimbursed whatsoever.