Travel nurse jobs offer an interesting combination of opportunity and interests for workers willing to take a little bit of a chance and who seek adventure. Modern travel nursing finds its roots in 1971 to supply a need among hospitals and clinics for temporary help. Many hospitals have times where they experienced a shortage of staff due to travelers or vacationers. A classic example of this would be people from the South traveling north to get away from the hot summers while Northerners traveled south in the winter to get away from the cold. These population shifts really stressed out hospitals and clinics prior to travel nurses being available to pick up the slack.
Today, travel nursing has taken on a whole new meaning, in addition to continuing to supply a temporary need for those who move from north to south or vice-versa for the sake of comfort, travel nurses also serve cruise lines and thousands of resorts and popular worldwide tourist destinations. Today, travel nurse jobs also fill a vital gap caused by the current nursing shortage in much of the country.
If you’re one of the types who love to travel, adventures, and new challenges, a travel nursing job will allow you to take care of all of these issues. Travel nurse jobs give the nurse the power to decide what hours they want, what locations they want to work in, and what types of work they want to do. All the new people met and skills learned are just good bonuses.
Travel nursing enables the nurse to constantly be challenged as they have to keep on learning new skills and staying up to date on the most recent technologies and practices while getting hands-on training across a wide range of hospitals and fields within healthcare. Assignments can range between 13 to 26 weeks on average, giving the nurse time to be acclimated to a new setting to be effective but also still offering new experiences, which can prevent boredom and feelings of ‘being in a rut’.
If you decide to take a travel nurse job, you become your own travel agent. These jobs are posted or staffed by over 300 travel nurse companies in the U.S. alone who match needs with willing volunteers. This gives you the ability to really dictate which assignments you want such as where, how long, and type of assignment that you want to take. Being a travel nurse allows you to look for details such as working with children, or the elderly. Maybe you want to work in surgery or another department but can’t because of seniority at your home hospital? Being a travel nurse can bring you to a place where this is not the case.
However before you jump completely on board you need to consider several important questions. Do you have at least one year or more of experience in acute care? Are you prepared for something new, or not? Can you work independently or do you need directions? These questions are important to consider before you make a final decision on whether or not to become a travel nurse.