Travel Nursing in Texas

Texas is often flush with open travel nursing assignments. With approximately 8% of the nation’s population, there are plenty of hospitals in the state. Travel nurses will find jobs in big cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin as well as rural settings and smaller cities like El Paso and Brownsville. Texas is a great destination for several reasons. Understanding some of the basics of the Texas travel nursing job market will help you formulate a strategy.

Travel nursing in Texas for compact license holders

Texas is part of the Nurse Licensure Compact. So if you have a nursing license from a compact state, then you are able to work in Texas without jumping through any additional hoops. While this is a great thing for all travel nurses, it is particularly beneficial for new travel nurses. This is because the initial jump into travel nursing can be a bit of a logistical nightmare due to timing issues.

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You see, hospitals typically require a valid nursing license verification for the state in question in order to even consider a candidate for an open assignment. Some state licenses can take in excess of 8 weeks to obtain depending on how you go about securing them. If you’re a new travel nurse looking to hit the road in a flash, then having a compact nursing license affords you a little more freedom.

And because Texas is the most populous state of all the states participating in the Nurse Licensure Compact, it has a lot of job opportunities. Once you’re there, you can begin the process of obtaining your license in another desired state like California, Washington State, or anywhere else for that matter.

Travel Nursing Pay in Texas

Similar to California, bill rates have a pretty broad range in Texas. Among the larger metropolitan areas, my experience indicates that rates are lowest in Austin and Dallas and higher in Houston and San Antonio.

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The rates in Austin and Dallas can be pretty grim. I recall staffing ICU nurses in Austin where the best we could do was offer $26 per hour plus a $500 travel stipend and company provided housing. And the housing we provided was at an Extended Stay where we had somehow worked out an amazing deal.

Had we provided a furnished apartment, the pay rate probably would have been in the $23-$24 per hour range. Dallas was similar, give or take $1-$2 per hour. That said, you may find better rates in the Austin and Dallas markets, but overall they will be lower than San Antonio and Houston.

The pay rates in Houston and San Antonio were typically $4-$7 per hour higher than those found in Austin and Dallas, with San Antonio typically $1-$2 per hour higher than Houston. That would translate into a nurse receiving $26-$33 per hour plus free company housing and a travel stipend.

Hospitals That Use Travel Nurses in Texas

Knowledge of the hospital systems in Texas is helpful in understanding your options. There are approximately 175 acute care hospitals in Texas with more than 100 beds. The Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) operates 35 of them. You can view a list of HCA hospitals in Texas here.

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HCA owns Parallon Workforce Solutions, a healthcare staffing agency that acts as HCA’s Managed Service Provider and is responsible for filling HCA travel jobs nationwide. Like all exclusive providers, Parallon uses sub-vendors to help them staff the open jobs. Parallon’s recruiters typically have first crack at filling the open jobs. After a certain period of time, HCA’s unfilled travel jobs are released to the sub-vendors. Parallon utilizes a very large number of sub-vendors, so the travel jobs tend to fill quickly once they are released.

There are a few important things to know from a travel nursing perspective about HCA hospitals in Texas. First, like all HCA hospitals, the Texas HCA hospitals widely use Meditech computer charting systems. While I have heard rumors that HCA will be converting to Epic, this transition may take a decade to complete. The important thing to note here is that many Texas HCA hospitals require previous Meditech experience. Some even require previous HCA experience.

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Second, many HCA hospitals require passage of the PBDS exam prior to starting an assignment. If you fail the exam, your contract will be cancelled. My experience indicates that this is common among the HCA facilities in the Dallas area. I highly recommend asking your recruiter prior to signing a contract if the PBDS is required for the particular facility you’re considering. I’ve offered my thoughts on these exams before and you can read more about them here.

Third, many HCA facilities in the Texas market engage in “float pool” nursing. In this scenario, Parallon/HCA may guarantee a certain number of hours per week, typically 36 or 48. However, in order to meet the guarantee, they’re allowed to schedule you at any number of hospitals within a general vicinity. Again, my experience indicates that this is very common in the Dallas area. The bottom line is that you’ll need to be very flexible with your scheduling dates and times for these types of assignments to work out for you.

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While HCA certainly accounts for a significant percentage of travel jobs in Texas, there are many more jobs outside of HCA hospitals. As in all cases, this is why you want to work with multiple agencies in an effort to gain maximum exposure to the job market and increase your bargaining position with all agencies. BluePipes is a great tool to help you accomplish this. BluePipes provides members with everything they need to control their own submission profile. This way, when someone contacts you with an ideal job, you’re ready to go immediately. You can send them your BluePipes generated submission profile immediately, and they can use it to submit you for the open job much quicker. And you’ll end up filling out much less paperwork in the long run!