By Erica Ronchetti

Before signing up to travel the United States as a travel nurse, there are several important things you may be interested to know. Travel nursing can be extremely rewarding as well as enjoyable; a paid vacation to the beaches of Hawaii and California is certainly appealing but before departing on your next travel nursing job, take a minute to read the following information.

Salary is very different from typical hospital employment.  Travel nurses are paid significantly higher hourly wages then staff nurses who work at hospitals.  The reason travel nurses are paid larger salaries is because of the “sacrifices” they make to uproot their lives and work away from their families and homes.   Placed in an attractive location, many nurses don’t see their travel nursing assignment as sacrifices, and many enjoy their days off enjoying gorgeous scenery, excellent weather, and interesting culture.  When negotiating salary with your travel nurse agency, make sure they are willing to negotiate the highest rate of pay before you sign any contracts to a travel nursing assignment.  Certainly don’t feel pressured to accept the first travel offer that comes your way; you may be able to find a better one.  It might be good to compare different agencies and select the one willing to assist your move, provide you with a competitive salary, and perhaps even a monthly housing stipend.

Here are some important questions to consider asking your travel nurse agency before starting a travel nursing assignment:

1.     Does the travel nurse agency I’m considering guarantee my travel assignment in writing?
2.    What hours will I be working?  Are these hours guaranteed?
3.    How often will I get paid?  (Weekly, bi-weekly, etc…)
4.    Will the travel nurse agency help me pay for my move?

Travel nurses with experience:  do you agree or disagree? If you’re an experienced travel nurse and can provide any additional information or useful questions novice travel nurses might need to know, don’t hesitate to post a response or comment.

Erica Ronchetti is Account Manager for Travel Nurse Source, a recruiting company for traveling nurses.  Travel Nurse Source is affiliated with Allied Travel Careers, a recruiting company for traveling physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists.  For more information on what we do, please visit our websites.

By Christine Whitmarsh

Epstein LaRue, RN, BS, is a seasoned travel nurse and published bestselling author of several books on travel nursing. Her “Highway Hypodermics” series of books have been best-sellers on Amazon.com. I recently spoke with Epstein by phone about her experiences in travel nursing, her books and her advice for current and aspiring travel nurses.

This is the conclusion of my interview with Epstein.

TNS: What are the greatest lessons you’ve learned as a travel nurse?

ELR: The biggest one is protecting yourself in that contract. Also, shop around for the company that fits your needs. There’s not one company that’s the best for everybody. You need to have a recruiter that fits you. Recruiters are a big part in whether or not you’re happy. They will stand behind you. If something goes wrong you need someone to stand behind you as a support.

TNS: What correlation have you personally witnessed in the last few years between the nursing shortage and demand for travel nurses?

ELR: During the last couple of years there have been plenty of assignments around. I haven’t seen any fluctuations of jobs related to the nursing shortage until the last couple of months. Hospitals pay wages for travel nurses and also your housing and travel expenses. Some of the bigger hospitals are building onsite housing plus offering RV space.

TNS: What motivated you to start writing about travel nursing and how far into your career did you start?

ELR: I started writing books about love and my experiences meeting a man on the internet, back in 1996. I published my first book “Love at First Sight” in 2001, so I was already writing by time I started travel nursing. The day I started working as a travel nurse, I started writing down everything; all the lessons I learned on the job. I published two books with those experiences and lessons and then in 2005 I started publishing my “Highway Hypodermics” series of books about travel nursing. I kept finding things that I hadn’t included in one book and would add it to the next in the series (new nursing regulations, new experiences, etc.).

TNS: What are the biggest benefits of travel nursing?

ELR: You have a lot more freedom over your nursing career as a traveling nurse than as a staff nurse. Most of the time once your cross that line over into travel nursing, there’s no going back to staff nursing. You get used to the breathing room and the freedom of doing what you want. For instance, during new assignments my husband and I take one day to go north of the assignment and another day to go south of the assignment on mini-vacations. It’s nice to be able to get out and travel and get paid for it!

For more information about Epstein LaRue and “Highway Hypodermics”, visit: www.highwayhypodermics.com. The site also features additional information and a slew of resources, forms and checklists for travel nurses.

Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.

Killer, over at Killer Rants, turned me on to another travel nurse that shares some similar characteristics to Killer. He is male, a blogger and he is a big boy! Right now Mr. Leonard is doing a stint in Roswell, New Mexico and has some pretty interesting and amusing insights into the area and his day-to-day experience.

I also enjoyed some of the other observations Nurse Leonard makes about being a nurse. There are photos included for those inclined to head right for the pictures.

Check out Adventures In Nursing. Our travel nurse friend hasn’t met any aliens from outer space in Roswell but a friend of his met someone looking to be abducted by aliens. Love the image he uses to accompany this post. My kind of humor.

I just came across this blog and I love that it introduces another travel nurse who breaks the mold and demonstrates what a varied and interesting group travel nurses really are.

“Killer” posts his thoughts on his blog at “Killer Rants.” Check out his photo. He looks like a killer…or a biker…or someone that you would not want to confront without a lot of reinforcements available. But read his blog entries and see what a thoughtful and articulate person is behind the hulking and intimidating facade.

So add another one to the list. A truly unique character among the ranks of travel nurses. Kind of makes you proud to be part of a group populated by such interesting people. I am going to add this blog to my blog roll.

Check out Killer Rants.

One can imagine a travel nurse assisting in a transplant. One can even imagine a travel nurse having a transplant. But you would think that a nurse having a transplant would have an organ transplant. And when you find out that nurse is having a hair transplant you would think that it is a male nurse addressing a balding problem. But in our never ending quest to find travel nurses in the news, we have learned of a travel nurse addressing a hair loss issue. But our nurse is a “she” and the hair loss is not on her head.

It is on her eyes.

You see, travel nurse Cherri Runde is losing the luster of her lashes and she is darn well doing something about it! She is having hair transplanted from the back of her head to her eyelids.

Read about this procedure in micro surgical detail here.