{"id":5651,"date":"2018-07-05T09:15:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/?p=5651"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:15:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:15:07","slug":"things-only-travel-nurses-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/things-only-travel-nurses-understand","title":{"rendered":"The Struggle is Real: Six Things Only Travel Nurses Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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You forgot to pack your favorite pair of scrubs. Your agency-selected housing smells similar to the hospital \u2013 but, hey, at least it\u2019s clean. Your new co-workers have accents so thick you can barely understand them, and apparently, you\u2019re not allowed to have your hair dyed pink at this facility. Let\u2019s face it. Sometimes when you arrive at a new travel assignment, the struggle is real. It\u2019s not always how you imagined it in your mind, and there are times when you\u2019re not as prepared as you thought you were. Although all nurses share a special bond and common struggles, there are certain things only travel nurses understand.<\/p>\n

Six Things Only Travel Nurses Understand<\/h2>\n

\"things<\/p>\nFind Travel Nursing Jobs Here!<\/a>\n

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Here are the top six things only travel nurses understand \u2013 from adjusting to a new place to what to pack before you go.<\/p>\n

1. I\u2019m not allowed to\u2026 what? Unpredictable policies and procedures<\/h3>\n

Every hospital is different. When you travel to a new place, there are usually some quirky policies and procedures that you have to learn. Sometimes you catch on to them pretty quickly \u2013 like when you show up with pink hair \u2013 and other times they catch you by surprise later into your stay.<\/p>\n

2. Well this is awkward: Joining a new team<\/h3>\n

The awkwardness of joining a new team is one of the things only travel nurses understand. Joining a new team as a travel nurse isn\u2019t quite the same as starting a new job on your first day. Most people are very accepting of travel nurses, but you\u2019ll always have the similar questions: where all have you traveled to? Where are you originally from? On top of that, no matter how friendly people are, our country is huge and cultures change drastically from region to region. There\u2019s always some adjusting when you\u2019re the new person in a place you\u2019ve never visited before.<\/p>\n

3. Home sweet home: Agency-selected housing<\/h3>\n

Agency-selected housing<\/a> is always unpredictable. Sometimes you have way more space than you know what to do with, and other times your living quarters are fairly small. No matter what the situation is \u2013 even if the housing is perfect for you \u2013 it\u2019s still not home.<\/p>\n

4. I know it\u2019s only been a few weeks\u2026 but I\u2019m attached<\/h3>\n

\"things<\/p>\n

Travel assignments are usually only 13 weeks, but one of the biggest things only travel nurses understand is that a new place can quickly feel familiar. Sometimes you get to a travel assignment and everything goes right. You love your housing, you make lots of new friends, and the area you\u2019re staying in feels just right for you. Plus, you\u2019re getting attached to your patients. There are patients who change your life during a brief encounter, and saying goodbye to them can be hard. Suddenly, you find yourself attached to the assignment and don\u2019t want to leave. That\u2019s a good thing! This is what traveling<\/a> is all about.<\/p>\n

5. Routine: What does that mean?<\/h3>\n

You can plan all you want, but as a travel nurse, a routine is pretty much unheard of. You may develop mini routines from assignment to assignment, but overall the unpredictability of your career will feel start to feel routine. Plus, you just never know what you\u2019re going to experience<\/a> when you go to work each day.<\/p>\n

6. I\u2019m only going across the country: Deciding what to pack<\/h3>\n

The hardest thing about traveling \u2013 knowing what to pack. You can check the weather where you\u2019re going and do your research, but 13 weeks is a long time to plan ahead. Packing for a travel assignment is somewhere between packing to move and packing for a long vacation. You need your work clothes and all that good stuff, but then you also need your fun outfits, pajamas, etc. Only travel nurses will understand the packing dilemmas they experience. Do I really need all of these shoes?<\/p>\n

Travel nurses \u2013 what are some things only travel nurses understand that are missing from this list? Share with us in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You forgot to pack your favorite pair of scrubs. Your agency-selected housing smells similar to the hospital \u2013 but, hey, at least it\u2019s clean. Your new co-workers have accents so thick you can barely understand them, and apparently, you\u2019re not allowed to have your hair dyed pink at this facility. Let\u2019s face it. Sometimes when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1007,130,108],"class_list":["post-5651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-nurse-career","tag-things-only-travel-nurses-understand","tag-travel-nurse-assignments","tag-travel-nurse-tips-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5651"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5653,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5651\/revisions\/5653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelnursesource.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}