The Pros And Cons Of Becoming A Travel Nurse

By Adriana Noton

A travel nurse is someone who has a license to be a health care provider, they travel all over while working different short term jobs. An agency is usually the ones that coordinate the different jobs for the travel nurse. Travel nurses work in personal residences, hospitals, and physician's offices. The assignments are usually from about six weeks to about twelve weeks long, it depends on the needs of whoever has hired them. The jobs can run longer or be much shorter sometimes.

Travel nurses can be RN's or LPN's but nurses that specialize in emergency room and surgical services are the most sought after. The education and training of a travel nurse is the same as a any nurse that works for a health care facility permanently. The travel nurse agency however may call for an extra year of clinical nursing training.

The use of travel nurses started in the'80's, due to the shortage of qualified nurses. Travel nurses are great for clinics and hospitals because of the demands they face seasonally. Some seasons are particularly busy for certain facilities so they hire travel nurses as extra help. Once the need for extra help ceases then the travel nurses move on.

The benefits of being a traveling nurse are plentiful. Travel nurses get to experience and see a variety of places while earning a great income. A travel nurse decides how long and how far they are willing to work. A travel nurse can decide to travel to the beach to work if she or he becomes tired of the snow. It can feel like a vacation while you work. A travel nurse also gets reimbursed for all expenses accumulated while traveling for a job.

A travel nurse can also get reimbursed for any pets or family that may travel with them. Some nurses choose to travel with a friend in a type of couple travel nurse team. Being a travel nurse may not appeal to everyone. It would likely be hard to travel with school aged children if the nurse was a parent.

Travel nurses have housing established for them and family members they may bring on the assignment with them. Travel nurses seem to agree that another wonderful benefit is that they do not have to sign any contracts with any one health care facility, but they are still entitled to benefits and bonuses.

As with any job there are some draw backs to being a travel nurse. When traveling alone and without family it is easy to become lonely. When you are experiencing great new places and you are alone with no family to share it with, it becomes very lonely. Another draw back is that advancement options are very rare.

There are going to be draw backs and benefits to becoming a traveling nurse. You will need to decide if the benefits out weight the drawbacks before you make a decision about this. If you do decide this job is right for you I am positive that you will enjoy it. - 30453

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