My Life as a Travel Nurse

Many of my non nursing friends don't understand my schedule or my job and how it affects my life. I am a travel nurse.

As a RN, I'm qualified to practice nursing in any state or US owned place. So all 50 states and US Virgin Islands count. Now, to go to most of these places I just have to apply for a license and have my home state verify that I'm an active practicing nurse and not a criminal. So with that, I can 'travel' to any state and work in hospitals in my specialty which is in the Intensive Care Unit.

What do I do...

My job in the ICU is intense at times. No, it's not what you see on TV's 'ER'. More like what House and Grey's Anatomy's doctors do when they are in the patient's room and something emergent happens. That's more my job than any doctor. It makes me laugh when I see the TV docs hanging medicine or drawing blood. Yeah, docs don't do that. And in most cases, when a patient 'crashes' (tries to die), it's the nurses who react and the doctors come in later. That's more what I do when I work. My job has it's ups and downs. Some days all I make a difference by just talking with my patients, giving them their medicines, help them reposition in bed or in a chair, draw their blood to test and yes help them when they need to go to the bathroom. (Hospital food, disease processes, and antibiotics do not often agree with the body's digestive system so things can get messy.) On other days, I'm crazy busy trying to save a life and provide special medicine to help the heart do it's job better, giving blood products when people have more blood coming out than they have in and even pumping on the chest and shocking it with pads when the heart stops or spasms. And in rare days, I'm there when a patient or family decides that the body has had enough and we are there to make the patient in their last moments of life. I love my job. I may be physically exhausted some times, but I LOVE what I do. I'm always learning.

Where...

I love it when my friends on facebook ask me "ok, which city are you in now?" Yep, that sums up a travel nurse. I'm a contract nurse in simple terms. I work through an agency where hospitals have submitted short term contracts seeking nurses of all sorts of specialties. Most of these contracts are 13 weeks. Yes, I can potentially move to a new job every 3 months. Sometimes hospitals need nurses to fill an opening if a staff nurse takes family/medical/maternity leave. It's when they need someone now! Yes, hospitals should be hiring new staff but that takes time and budget approval and training time. Travel nurses are experienced nurses. You can't travel nurse if you just got out of nursing school. I have to be able to walk into a facility and do my job. I usually get a day or two to shadow someone so I can learn policies specific to the hospital and where things are located. Recall the saving a life scenario I gave, yeah, I need to be able and run and get something within seconds. Basically I need to be ready for anything.

My first travel position was in my hometown of Houston, then once my California license came through, I loaded my car and moved to San Diego. My contract was allowed to be extended and I did so for a total of 10 months, then it was San Jose, CA and now San Francisco, CA. I'm now in the process of applying for a Hawaii license. It may not be ready when I need a new job/contract but it's next in the plans. So in the meantime, I talk with my agencies and work on submitting my file to hospitals. Yes, I said agencies. It's not smart to keep all your eggs in one basket. Some hospitals have agreements with certain big travel nurse agencies. The pay with one agency can be higher at another. In the end, I'm selling my skills to the top bidder. I also value my relationship with my recruiter because he/she is the one that is busting ass to get my the jobs that will fit what I want and try to make it for when I want. That's the crazy part of my travel nurse job. I may not know if I have a job after the present contract til maybe a couple weeks before it is to end. So far my average has been 2 weeks. So yeah it can be a bit nerve racking. Hey I love a challenge!

The great thing is that I AM A NURSE!!! I rock at what I do and there is always a need for me. I may need to settle with a position in a city that may not be on my top 20 just to get me close to where I want. I did this with San Jose in order to see San Francisco. Now I may wait in SF until Hawaii comes. We shall see. The good thing is there are amazing hospitals here in SF and I'm meeting fabulous people and making friends.

My goal...I'll have done my research in the cities that I love or think I'd love and make up my mind if I want to stay and plant roots. Who knows? I have my ideas for now but things change as I change. I look forward to my future, but I'm enjoying my present in the here and now.

I'm a goofy nurse at times...and sometimes stethoscopes should be worn on the head!!!