Guest blog by: NurseGrid
Travel Nursing is quite the unique experience. We love encouraging nurses to try it at some point in their career, especially if they love to travel. It allows you to take the experience of nursing to a whole new level, see new places, and meet new people. It keeps the job fresh and allows you to grow in ways you couldn’t have imagined. Our last guest blog, Travel Nursing: The Basics, explained what travel nursing is. Here we’ll discuss what makes travel nursing great!
There are five unparalleled benefits only traveling nursing professionals experience:
1. Control Over Your Time & Freedom
Travel nursing is known for giving nurses freedom. The ability to choose assignments gives nurses the flexibility to plan around special events, holidays, and family needs that the rigidity of a staff position may not afford. Instead of swapping and hoping your shifts are covered while on vacation, your assignments are scheduled around future events – or are the event itself!
Want to take a month off and travel with friends? Travel nursing gives you the freedom to make it happen. Want to stay in a great city longer? It’s possible you can extend the assignment. Choose the jobs you want, when you want to take them, and enjoy the time you have off in between.
Your time and freedom are everything. Travel nursing puts the control in your hands.
2. Make More Money Making A Difference
Your assignments are in facilities that need nurses to supplement existing staff. Whether the need is covering maternity leave or turnover, these hospital’s ability to run properly is dependent upon contingent labor.
Companies hiring travel nurses pay more for temporary labor, meaning travel nurses are generally paid more than the staff nurses. In California, travel nurses are paid exponentially higher, with assignments reaching upwards of $100/hr.
The healthcare industry relies heavily on travel nurses as the dangers of short-staffing impact both nurses and patients. You are singlehandedly battling nurse fatigue and burnout, and decreasing the potential for patient injury, simply because you’re assisting fellow nurses who would be short–staffed without you. Good feelings and great pay await!
3. Professional Growth
Travel nursing gives the opportunity to acquire more certifications through their agencies and assignments. That’s right – in addition to more freedom and money, you have the opportunity to open more doors to diverse options! Unlike full-time staff positions, you can accumulate certifications, grow your skill set, and gain experience with multiple electronic health record systems.
For your next assignment, or when you’re ready to settle into FTE, the breadth of your experience puts you at the top of the hiring list.
4. Life Experiences
Beyond the nursing experience is the life experience you gain from location to location and facility to facility. The value in becoming flexible, learning new hospital systems, adjusting to different work cultures, and coexisting with numerous different nursing styles is incalculably valuable. Outside of work, you can make new friends, sightsee, experience new food and culture – all thanks to your day job.
5. Family
This one matters most to us. Travel nursing gives you the ability to spend quality time with your family. Bring them with you on assignment to experience the beauty and history of an unfamiliar U.S. city. Take assignments in locations near distant relatives you don’t see as often as you want to. Travel nursing brings you closer to the people you love and can save you the extra expense of planned vacations.
Give travel nursing a try; start by shopping opportunities on trusted sites like Wanderly. When you’re ready, start slowly with a short assignment or per diem shift to see if this lifestyle feels right for you. We look forward to welcoming you to our community and family of travelers.
If you’re new to Wanderly, welcome and thanks for stopping by our community for travel nursing. We offer a platform that helps travel healthcare professionals find their travel assignments in an empowered way. Compare fully detailed travel assignments from the top paying agencies and use 1 universal application for all future assignments. Join for free today! Then you can get started on finding your next dream travel assignment.