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Travel Nursing: Is It For You?

Suppose you are an adventurous soul who loves to travel, live in new cities, meet new people, and have friends all over the country. In that case, travel nursing might be your perfect career choice. In order to determine if becoming a travel nurse is the right career choice, let's look at a few more details about the career.

What Is A Traveling Nurse?

When a hospital has a shortage of nurses, they call upon traveling nurses to fill it. A travel nurse is a skilled nursing professional that takes temporary positions in high-need locations. They care for patients across the country by working in different hospitals, clinics, and other facilities.

Travel nurses work with healthcare staffing agencies that help them get temporary contracts across the country. These agencies do take a cut out of what a hospital pays a travel nurse. Still, they help them advocate for secure housing, competitive travel nurse salaries, and all expenses paid for transportation.

Why Are Traveling Nurses Important?

Hospitals and other facilities sometimes face shortages of nurses to cover all the patients. Travel nurses fill the gap between need and supply in the healthcare industry; hence they are in high demand. In addition, as a travel nurse, you can work in all states across the country and get work opportunities outside of the United States.

How Much Money Do Travel Nurses Make?

A travel nurse makes a much higher salary than a traditional nurse. Under normal circumstances, many travel nurses can earn over $ 3000 weekly. Moreover, as a travel nurse, you can bring it up to $50 an hour, making it possible to achieve over $100K yearly.

Benefits Of Becoming A Traveling Nurse:

  • It is an excellent opportunity for you to see and experience the whole country. May it be the active life of New York or a quiet town, there is no end to the experiences you can have in your life.
  • You will have the flexibility of choosing when and where you want to work. You will also be free to take time off from assignments and spend time with your friends and family.
  • You will work in different environments, which will broaden your skillset. You will work in environments with varying levels of facilities and equipment and hence will learn to adapt quickly to new settings.
  • When you become a travel nurse, you will meet people and make friends you would not have met otherwise. Anywhere you go, you will make friends. You will become a person who knows someone everywhere.

How To Become A Travel Nurse?

The steps invoiced in becoming a travel nurse are:

  1. Get a nursing degree:
    If you have a bachelor's or associate degree in nursing from an accredited nursing program, then you are eligible to become a travel nurse. You can complete this requirement through several paths-
    • Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree
    • Associate of Science in Nursing degree
    • LPN to ASN degree for licensed practical nurses
    • Bridge program from LPN to BSN for licensed practical nurses or licensed paramedics, or vocational nurses.
  2. Become a registered nurse by passing the NCLEX
    You need to get your license to practice as a registered nurse through the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses, also called NCLEX-RN. If you need help simplifying this step, check out the ArcherReview Courses for NCLEX-RN.
  3. Gain experience:
    Before becoming a travel nurse, you must gain expertise in your favorite specialties by working as a full-time nurse. If you have enough experience in a specialty working as a traditional nurse, getting your desired specialty will be easier when you work as a travel nurse.
  4. Attain Licensure:


    As a registered nurse, you must hold a license from the state where you intend to practice. However, you can also get a single Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC) which allows RNs to have a single nursing license valid in several states. You may not need additional licensing to work as a travel nurse if you work in a state that participates in the NLC. However, if you wish to work in a state outside the NLC, you must obtain an additional license from that state.
  5. Work with a travel nursing agency:
    The last step is joining a travel nurse agency. They will make your job-finding process more accessible and provide you with various other benefits. Though the benefits may vary from agency to agency

Conclusion:

If everything mentioned above seems appealing to you, then travel nursing will be the best job for you! Hence, you should begin working on it now. And the initial steps involved in doing it are graduating from nursing school and passing the NCLEX-RN exam. Our ArcherReview NCLEX-RN course will make it easier for you to prepare for the exam and pass on the first attempt.