It’s Nurse Talk time again and we’re chatting with Zach Taylor, about the pros and cons of Travel Nursing. This critical care nurse is often in the mountains capturing one adventure after the next. We got an inside look into the pros and cons of travel nursing below:
Why are some pros about being a travel nurse?
I’m passionate about being a nurse because I get to serve others in my job, work on my feet, critically think, and get decent pay and time off for a good work/life balance. I am loving travel nursing because I get to see such a diversity of patients and ways of doing things. I feel like I am growing as a nurse because I come into work and have no idea what I will see or who I will take care of on a given night. As a traveler, we are first to float. I could be in the neuro ICU, the trauma ICU, the medical ICU, or the cardiac ICU on any given night. The diversity of patient populations that I have seen and cared for as a traveler is pretty awesome!
On the work-life balance side of things, travel nursing is pretty awesome because nursing is in such demand that I can pretty much go anywhere in the US for a 13-week assignment and then I never need to ask for permission to take a vacation after an assignment ends. When a contract is up I can go anywhere and do anything I want until I choose to take another assignment. After this assignment is up I am spending three weeks mountain climbing/snowboarding in the Alps (Germany, Switzerland, and France) and then four weeks traveling through Egypt and Israel. I never had to ask for permission or have enough PTO to take this vacation like I had to as a staff nurse. After that, I will come back and take another travel assignment. Life is good!
What are some cons of travel nursing?
I am on my first travel assignment. Before this assignment, I had only worked in one hospital as a staff 
nurse so travel nursing is very new for me. I think the greatest challenge is just managing the logistics of needing to step into a new job with little orientation and figure out where things are, what doctors to page for which patient, what the hospital policies/ways of doing things are, etc… Having worked in the same hospital for four years previously it was an adjustment to have to figure all this out at the beginning of my assignment.
Where was your favorite location on assignment?
Tacoma Washington is my only travel assignment so far and I love the location! I spend most of my free time mountain climbing and snowboarding and Tacoma are conveniently placed close to great places for the things I love doing outside of work.
Lastly on Nurse Talk: What’s your favorite coffee go-to?
Oh, not too picky here. I like my coffee dark and served black generally. A good French press on a cold day hits the spot!
Thanks for sharing the pros and cons of travel nursing! Each week, we’re so excited to talk to a new nurse for Nurse Talk. All your stories are so inspiring and we hope you enjoyed this week’s feature. Feel free to follow Zach to see all his upcoming adventures.