Travel nursing is a lucrative career option for nurses who love traveling. The sector requires dynamic people who are always ready to handle situations under pressure and a diverse work environment. Travel nursing jobs offer attractive paychecks and require a highly flexible schedule. As a travel nurse, you get plenty of opportunities to boost your nursing career, but there are some things that nurses need to keep in mind.
Selecting travel nurse assignments should be done carefully. It is a full-time commitment that healthcare facilities need to meet their shortage of nurses. There is always a high demand in the industry for these nurses, making way for a wide range of options. However, as a fresher in the travel nursing industry, you do not have too many choices. Nevertheless, you need to understand the assignment and its requirements before accepting it.
Read today’s article to learn more about travel nursing assignments and their whereabouts.
How are the Travel Nursing Assignments Determined?
Nursing professionals need to connect with travel staffing agencies for recruitment. The agency decides the destination and the assignment after the recruiter does the following things-
- Analyzes your educational background
- Checks and analyzes your overall work experience as a nurse/travel nurse
- Evaluates the ideal job role based on your resume
- Creates a list of draft assignments that match your skills and education/work experience
- Record and collects your top assignment choices
- Provides you details about the perks of the best assignments from your choices
- Finalizes the interview date
Travel nursing aspirants should always get in touch with the top-rated agencies in their vicinity. Such agencies assist new travel nurses in onboarding and guide them in accommodation.
What are the Different Kinds of Assignments?
Travel nursing is a distinguished career that doesn’t always associate with a hospital setting. Travel nurses should be flexible enough to fit into the demand wherever and whenever needed. To elaborate, nurses working in the domain have different assignments to look after that include the following –
- Overseas nursing assignments
- Disaster response and relief assignments
- Crisis response and relief assignments
Each of these assignments has different requirements from various healthcare organizations. These also have different assignment durations that may or may not change as per requirements.
Are the Assignments Lengthy in their Overall Duration?
Travel nursing assignments have a fixed duration, but nurses might need to relocate if necessary. It attracts nurses because they can be shifted to a new place every few months. Some assignments also offer stability where nurses are placed for more than 6-7 months.
While looking for an assignment, it is obvious to decide whether one is capable and interested in dedicating such a long time in a different place. If the posting destination is inside the States, the average duration is around 13 weeks. However, if you are posted in a different country like Australia, Europe, or the Middle East, average assignment tenures last even for more than 1-2 years. Travel nurses must read the assignment requirements carefully before accepting them.
Should Living Costs be a Factor while Choosing an Assignment?
Obviously, living in a different country will definitely introduce you to a new lifestyle. That includes the cost-of-living factor too. Most reputed travel nursing agencies make arrangements for your onboarding and accommodations for the first time. However, one needs to understand the daily expenses of the destination location.
Living in a foreign country has different expenses like housing, utilities, groceries, entertainment, dining, etc. While it is true that travel nurses have a higher salary package, one cannot ignore the living costs.
Therefore, before choosing an assignment, make sure you research the posting destination. Figuring out the average costs beforehand will definitely be helpful.
In What Departments are Travel Nurses Usually Posted?
As you read about the different kinds of assignments, there are also different departments where nurses are posted. Hospitals are the most common places where most travel nurses are assigned to. But, if you are not looking for the fast-paced hustling environment of hospitals, some other options include –
- Nursing Homes
- Medical Clinics
- Schools
- In-home Care and Support
- Insurance Departments
- Correctional Facilities
- Outpatient Facilities
- Disaster Response Camps
Each of these departments has its own demands for travel nurses. They have different daily work schedules and varying levels of urgency.
Wrapping Up
All the mentioned criteria above are essential for a travel nurse to think about. When you choose travel nurse assignments, ensure that you are ready to dedicate yourself to the betterment of patients. It is a long-term opportunity and a prospective career option for nursing professionals. But, your judgment and decision are equally important when choosing an assignment.
