Travel Nurse Toolbox - Travel Nursing Help Desk

I had researched Travel Nursing for years before I finally did it. I kept talking about it with my peers at work and they said I'd never do it. That is possibly true if it weren't for a few experiences and everybody has there own reasons.

I still love my hometown. I wasn't born and raised there but did live there for years and know it like the back of my hand. The staffing levels had been getting worse and worse over the years. I like to stay busy but it was getting to the point that it was unsafe and tiring even when working with the great staff I worked with. I joked about how if the staffing got any worse we may have to get microphone/headsets to be more efficient like at McDonalds!

Then the last straw is where they made us reinterview for positions at reduced hours based on our education, certifications, evaluations and etc. . I ranked high in all of those areas but my hours were reduced drastically anyway. The other option was to be retrained for other positions in the hospital such as educator, or different specialties with the promise that you would be thoroughly trained.

I decided to go that route and go for the educator position but that job fizzled along with others one by one. At this point I lost my slot for the reduced hour position within my own specialty (Psych) because I chose door two. I then decided I was going to pursue Travel Nursing.

I had married 6 months earlier and I wasn't saving a lot of money so I had to make a move for me and my wife financially speaking and for my career. It was a depressing and anxious period knowing I was going to be leaving my hometown or what I called my hometown.

As a kid I was a military dependent and moved quite frequently until my father retired and moved to where my home is now. So having a hometown is really important to me.

The negotiating with other Travel Nursing Companies to find a good assignment was exciting at times but very anxiety producing at other times. Change can be stressful even change for the better. In a way I thank God these things happened to push me to the next level.

I did luck out though and found a good assignment in Tucson Arizona in the Fall and Winter Months as a Charge RN and when I arrived found out it was a Nurse Manager position so I adapted and learned and made some new friends. They wanted me to stay on as a Manager but I caught the Travel Bug and was eager to keep Traveling.

I lucked out again to find a RN support/educator position in Los Angeles VA working with the administration and on the units which was a good experience. I keep saying I lucked out but really it was being prepared for opportunities, marketing myself everywhere and scouring the Internet for the right assignment and negotiating the right deal.

Each new assignment I find, negotiate and work on I learn a lot about myself , others and the business. I still have a lot more to learn too. This constant change really makes you grow as a person and how to solve problems and adapt. It is an adventure. On my permanent job the routine was getting monotonous even though I enjoyed the people I worked with.

With all that said though I wanted to return home to the east coast. Basically I missed home. My wife took a Certified Nurse Aide course so she could easily find work while we traveled even though she was educated as Psychologist in her country of origin Brazil.

I searched for the next Travel Assignment but more and more wanted to find a job at home. I was torn. I loved the opportunities Travel gave me for my career and the money. In two three month assignments my wife and I had ten times more money than I had saved at the hospital I had worked at for 6.5 years. I was basically living off that money when I returned home.

I almost took a night job at the same hospital I had worked at before . Thank God the human resource department were playing games and having me jump hoop after hoop it seemed to me at least after other opportunities in other places came so many times.

I almost took a managed care position for workers comp where I would work out of my apartment using my laptop and there fax machine. It sounded great on the surface but after two days of orientation I said it wasn't for me! I'm a Mental Health Nurse and a Traveller.

After that my wife and I decided time to travel again. I kept looking and looking on the Internet for an attractive Psych assignment but Psych was in a low cycle at that time. Finally after much anxiety with money being spent and not coming in I lucked out to get the same hospital in AZ with the same position as a Traveller! Wow life was good .

I think it pays not to take the first thing that comes along but stick it out until the right one comes and to be able to do that financially. Although don't confuse persistence with hesitating which can cause you to lose an opportunity as well.

So I returned to Tucson, AZ again in the Fall/Winter months and stayed 4 months after that again I got homesick and was tiring of management work because in the Travel Business Staff/Charge Nursing is your bread and butter and management positions are much rarer in Travel especially in Psych.

I found an assignment closer to home but was blinded in my judgement because of my obsession to be near home. The company was a Per Diem staffing agency and even the contract they wrote didn't have a start and end date at first . Later the contract between them and the hospital was cancelled after I had arrived home. Looking back on that it was a bad decision to go with some no name company in the Travel business when I had something good in AZ. That comes with the territory and I still like to think of it as being on vacation not unemployed because we had plenty of money but now a new car payment too.

Again I looked at some jobs in my hometown but they were either to low pay or someone else got the job. Funny how while traveling I was getting offers all over for Travel Nursing Assignments or Perm Management positions but I couldn't get the job I wanted in my hometown.

Well thank goodness my next assignment was 3 months in the Virgin Islands which I had been working on a few times before. It was a nighthift which I didn't like at first but now I am a night shift convert. I may never go back to days. It is much more peaceful at night even at the worst and more removed from politics. Just make sure you have a quiet place to sleep, cool and dark. I would say in my own opinion the best shifts are 3 12 hour shifts. You have 4 days a week to enjoy the place you came to enjoy. 12 hours goes by quickly at night if you keep yourself busy.

In the Caribbean everything is on Island Time and the people can be rude at times just like in the states but sometimes their reserved nature gets viewed as rude or their indifference to our now! now! now! ways. I'm learning that myself. I've lived many places including overseas but everywhere you go there is a different culture even within the United States.

You have to adapt or remain unhappy. It's a process you go through and if you start to panic you lose your ability function well, negotiate well and troubleshoot problems.

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