Travel nursing, an outgrowth of seasonal nursing shortages, especially in places like Florida, where snowbirds flocked in the winter, today has grown both in demand and popularity so much that there are now blogs and websites dedicated to the practice, and a professional organization. There’s even a conference for travel nurses.
The Professional Association of Nurse Travelers was formed just five five years ago and now has several thousand members. Besides the social connections it provides members who may work at multiple hospitals in three or four different states in a year, it offers a wealth of articles dealing with everything from the the basics of becoming a travel nurse to such technical matters as tax deductions and what to bring on an assignment.
Before the recession in 2008, industry estimates put the number of travel nurses at 30,000. A year later only about 15,000 nurses were still working on travel assignments, according to PAN Travelers, the professional organization. Since then, the numbers have risen, though PAN Traveler says the “total number of travelers on assignment in early 2011 is still only a bit more than half the number in 2008.”
With the improving economy, travel nursing is seeing new vigor. TravelRNGab, a travel nurse blog, says, “Currently, the most popular travel nurse jobs are in large cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, in California. Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York City, Seattle, Washington, and Las Vegas, Nevada, are other large cities where travel nursing jobs are readily available.
Elsewhere, especially in smaller locales and particularly in more rural areas, hospitals are practically begging for nurses to fill shifts and cover specialties. The online magazine Healthcare Traveler has an entire series on destinations, both small and big. One recent post describes Yuma, Arizona, a small desert city, while another details all that Durham, North Carolina has to offer visitors.
While most assignments pay living expenses and a per diem, in addition to an hourly rate, some travel nurses prefer RV living. It’s popular enough that Epstein LaRue, an RN and author of Highway Hypodermics, an early how-to book for travel nurses and now a blog, recently wrote about selecting an RV.
The appeal of travel nursing to anyone with wanderlust is obvious. You get to travel the U.S. (and even Canada), working for 13 weeks at a time (typically), while exploring the area on someone else’s dime. Who else might enjoy the travel nurse lifestyle? Travel Nursing Central has an article outlining the characteristics that make for a happy travel nurse. Professionals who are adaptable, fearless, bored with doing one job or the same job or one place, and are go-getters are most likely to enjoy the travel nurse lifestyle.
But those not so sure they want a peripatetic lifestyle may enjoy the variety of being a travel nurse, says the article:
If you don’t really fit the profile of a traveler, you can tailor traveling to fit your personality. You may want to take traveling a little slower… travel to places that have a consistent need so you can extend your assignments for a longer period of time.
Recently, David Morrison, a travel nurse for two decades who writes the Ask a Travel Nurse column, advised a 52-year-old ED nurse to read through the issues he’s addressed over the years to get a sense of what life as a travel nurse is like.
Travel Nursing Central has a substantial library of articles that cover nearly everything from how to find a job, to care problems on the road. One article, “A Travel Story: How one nurse got started,” details the experiences of a newcomer to traveling, and what she’s learned:
I believe traveling has made me a better nurse actually. I am an ICU nurse and I am constantly learning where my limits are… I like seeing the different way things are handled in different places. I also like avoiding all the politics of a facility. If I start to get involved in the politics, I know I have been there too long and it is time to move on.