For a nursing professional looking for a stable career that offers adventure, a suggestion is travel nursing. The opportunities are numerous regarding where you can go, the work you can do, and the exceptional pay. The career is one that is in demand, with the need expected to rise “as high as 6% by 2023.”
When trying to discern how long can you stay travel nursing, the statistics according to “Zippia” estimates that travel nurses in this country work in the field until “approximately 44 years old.”
That isn’t an indication that you must stop when you reach that age; that’s simply an average of when many people choose to root down.
While there are a vast number of travel nurses, many RNs hesitate when it comes to making the change from fixed employment to traveling. A primary reason more individuals don’t take advantage of the opportunity is “fear of the unknown.”
It’s an almost nomadic experience that could be extreme for people who might have never stepped outside their comfort zones.
Plus, you’ll find you need to be exceptionally organized and up on all the details and facts on the role to achieve the greatest benefit. Go to https://nursejournal.org/articles/ways-to-prepare-for-a-career-in-travel-nursing/ for guidance on preparing for a career as a travel nurse, and then we’ll look at a few tips to lead us to that end.
What Are Tips To Follow For Efficient Travel Nursing
When you decide travel nursing is the path you want to take, it’s wise to research to be prepared. You’ll want to establish an ideal relationship with a recruiting agency responsible for getting the assignments.
In some cases, some companies will promise ideal locations and come through the first time out as a way to bring you in to work with them. After that, it’s more difficult to get the sort of work you hope for. Check these tips for making travel nursing work for you.
● Flexibility is key
Flexibility will be your best asset as a newbie to the career path. You’ll find more positions available if you become flexible with the sort of facility you’ll work with, the location, the pay scale, and the setting.
Once some time has gone by, and you establish a reputation, you can become more selective with where you go and what you do.
If you have the opportunity, it’s wise to try to pull a location familiar to you the first few times, somewhere where you might know a few friends or have some relatives. This will relieve the jitters from the newness of everything and help squash some of the stress.
● Pay attention to the agreement
The travel nurse agreement is a vital document you need to pay special attention to when it’s presented. The suggestion is “if it’s not in the agreement, it’s not existent.”
If you hope to get specific holiday pay and it’s verbalized that will occur, that’s not good enough. It needs to be put in writing in the agreement to be recognized.
There are no such things as verbal agreements when it comes to travel nursing. Everything you want to be effective must be in the written contract.
● Packing should be light
When going on an assignment, you’ll be gone for a matter of weeks, not years. That means packing lightly, ensuring you have access to washing facilities, and making sure the things you don’t take you can either do without or have access to buy small amounts while there.
You will want to feel comfortable and at home in your new environment for the time period that you spend there. That means bringing familiar and soothing things, maybe your favorite mug, fuzzy slippers, a worn bathrobe, or anything where you can relax at the end of a long shift.
The idea is to make this list short with only a few bare essentials to avoid lugging too much with you. Those items that are simply a must-have. The less you travel with, the less you’ll be responsible for. See here for details on staying healthy and safe as a travel nurse.
Final Thought
When working as a travel nurse, the priority is to research optimum recruiting agencies with the ideas in mind of where you want to work, a pay scale, and the assignments you hope for.
Good resources to find the best agencies are other travel nurses who will be a wealth of information on contacts like recruiting agencies, plus speak to their vast experiences. These professionals are ideal sources to discuss the career in general.
You can check out varied forums or look on social networks to find seasoned travel nurses with whom you can discuss your transition. Who better to ask than a professional who has lived and breathed the lifestyle?
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