TTATN 002 : 9 Advantages, 8 Disadvantages, Qualifications and Expectations of Travel Nursing

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In episode 2 of The Truth About Travel Nursing Podcast, we discuss 9 advantages and 8 disadvantages of travel nursing. We also cover some of the qualifications and expectations for travel nurses. Below is an outline of the topics we cover.

What Are The advantages of Travel Nursing

The adventure: Travel to great locations. Meet tons of new people. Experience the culture of the country. 79% of respondents to our survey cited Adventure as one of the top two reasons they chose travel nursing as a career option.
Travel Nursing Pay: Not always Better. But it can be if you know what you’re doing. Ebb’s and flows with job market. 82% of respondents to our survey cited pay as one of the top two reasons they chose travel nursing as a career option.
You gain experience quickly and learn new processes and procedures: 49% of respondents to our survey cited this is the number 4 reason they chose travel nursing as a career option.
Flexibility to potentially take more time off
Easier to avoid office politics: 47% of respondent to our travel nursing survey cited this as the number 3 reason that they chose travel nursing as a career option.
You can use it to quickly depart a bad situation
You can use it to visit remote family for extended periods
Try before you buy employers
Professional Networking

Here are the full results of the BluePipes travel nursing survey.

What are the Disadvantages of travel nursing?

Rare for paid time off
It can sometimes cause problems when declaring unemployment
Low taxable rates make your unemployment and workers comp payments lower
Low rates make it difficult to qualify for loans
Low rates affect your future social security payments
It can be difficult to manage medical benefits
You spend a lot of time onboarding
It’s difficult to maintain relationships and lifestyle: MeetUp.com, GeoCaching, Facebook Groups can help.

Qualifications for Travel Nursing

1 year of experience within the last three
Sometimes more, sometimes less
Some agencies/hospitals maintain more stringent requirements
Many nurses wonder about Education Requirements: ASN is fine.

Certification requirements:

Be licensed before applying in most cases
Everyone needs a BLS
Beyond that each specialty is different MS should have ACLS L&D AWHONN and ACLS

Travel Nursing Job Expectations

Some of these expectations are not necessarily fair. However, they are expectations nonetheless, so it’s important to be aware of them.

Self starter: You’ll often receive minimal orientation and be expected to take initiative to get the job done.
Flexible with processes and procedures
No calling in sick?
Floating is often a requirement so ask in the interview
There will be really difficult assignments.