Many people associate travel nursing with …. You guessed it, traveling! While the traveling lifestyle is exciting and new to some, others might have some questions around it. Some of these frequently asked questions include “Can I take a travel nursing assignment close to home” or even “What is the allowed distance to travel from your home to be considered a travel position?” Maybe you have a bunch of questions and aren’t sure where to start, and that’s okay! Read our article on travel nurse FAQ’s.
“The good thing about travel nursing is it gives you the option to choose.”
We understand that there are some benefits to staying close to home such as being close to family, the ease of visiting home whenever you want, and simply the familiarity of one place – we get it! No need to stress, TravelNurseSource.com is here to help you with each assignment, so you can still live your life at ease and enjoy the luxuries of travel nursing close to home.
Incentives and Travel Nursing Close to Home
Travel nursing might be exciting to you as it comes with many benefits such as living in cool cities around the country or receiving higher pay, housing stipends, and bonuses. While these incentives are fun, they are in place for a reason. These incentives are used to ease some of the hardships that come with travel nursing. TravelNurseSource.com works with many agencies that are more than willing to work with you and your family to help you understand location requirements and more for your next travel nurse assignment.
Travel Nursing Close to Home – How Far is Far Enough?
In order to be a travel nurse, you will need to travel (a little anyways). There are some rules that exist and are common among many healthcare facilities that you might run into. Many hospitals have what they call radius rules which can vary per location or facility. The most common radius rule is about 50 miles, but they can range from 40-200 miles. Regardless, if you find a travel nursing job within this radius and nearby your hometown, you may still want to consider getting travel nurse housing so you can establish tax free stipends and incidentals pay.
Rules are adapting due to COVID-19
A few years ago, radius rules were much more common for most hospitals. Many healthcare facilities regulated 50-mile radius rules, so their local employees were not able to adhere to the travel nurse benefits. Now however, the market is evolving. Many different facilities are changing rules and more willing to make accommodations to meet their staffing needs. The pandemic has brought forth many challenges for hospitals to meet their staffing needs and therefore, many facilities are willing to work with travel agencies to find local travel nurses for short term travel nurse jobs to fill the vacancies.
Additional Tips and Advice for Travel Nursing Close to Home
With a wide range of information on the internet, it can be overwhelming to know what to look at first. Check out this blog from Travel Nurse Across America and look at their three main tips for local travel nursing. Let us help you in your search and answer your questions when it comes to finding a nursing assignment close to home.
- See if your travel nurse agency can arrange for you to work three consecutive days. This way you can stay at your travel nurse residence for work and enjoy your off days at home.
- Look into short-term travel nurse jobs – there could be more options as many hospitals are looking to fill vacancies as fast as possible.
- Communicate what your needs are. If you and your spouse are both travel nurses, see if the travel nurse agency you’re working with is willing to accommodate both of your schedules.
- Stay flexible! You might not always land a travel nurse assignment as close to home as you’d like, but by traveling further you can set yourself up for success and less sacrifice in the future.
- The location has an impact on your pay as pay rates tend to reflect the cost of living or regional trends.
The Bottom Line
As a travel nurse, we encourage you to fully commit to whatever assignment you take. Whether it is in fact close to home, or if it asks you to uproot and move across the country. We know that leaving the comfort of your hometown can be hard, and it’s definitely not for everyone, but staying open to all opportunities will leave you with a better experience in the long run. Are you looking for your next travel nurse job? We have already compiled a list to make your next assignment easy peasy lemon squeezy. Check out all opportunities for travel nurse jobs here!
