Nursing can be an extremely demanding and difficult job. Not only do you have to know a whole lot about medicine, but you also need to be able to jump in and be a conflict resolution expert – whatever a day of nursing throws at you. And you need to be able to do it all for long, long hours, under a lot of pressure. It’s no wonder, then, that nurses experience some of the biggest percentages of burnout, and travel nurse jobs are created. People simply cannot withstand the pressure of such a responsible job and leave.
Even before the pandemic, nurses had a considerably higher resignations rate due to burnout than average. However, once the pandemic started, the numbers truly soared. However, there is one niche in the nursing profession that saw a considerable uptick in this period – travel nurses.
To realize why that is the case, you need to understand a bit more about travel nursing posts. If you are interested in applying for a job, reach out to us, and our recruiters will help you find the best posting. If you’re here just for the information, read on.
The Chance of Scoring a Job in Your Dream Location
Travel nurse jobs exist pretty much in every state and territory of the US, as well as some international options. This means that a qualified nurse has a wide-open selection of jobs and locations to pick from. If you happen to choose a state that is a part of the nursing compact, your application process can be even simpler. Thanks to the usefulness of the program (and the relentless support from nurses themselves), the number of members in this useful organization grows each year.
Some of the most popular destinations, such as California, Hawaii, and Alaska currently aren’t a part of this compact, but the benefits in those states tend to attract a huge number of applicants. However, you can rest assured that no matter where you want to go, you can find a travel nurse posting nearby. According to a recent New York Times article, as many as 30,000 postings were available to travelers in December 2020. And the number of postings has only gone up since.
The Compensation Is More than Adequate
Nurses are in such high demand, that hospitals and other medical facilities are practically competing against each other to attract talent, not unlike in professional sports. Essentially, that means that a travel nurse can earn a staff nurse’s yearly salary in a matter of months.
Even though most travel nurses don’t cite earnings as one of the top 3 reasons why they decided to become a travel nurse, it is certainly a welcome compensation for the hard work nurses typically do.
Thanks to a quirk of the tax system in the US, a large part of the travel nurse’s salary is not taxed. Seeing how the workplace is more than 50 miles from their homes for most travel nurses, they fall into this category.
The Adventure Spirit and the Chance to Experience Different Areas
It is often said that the United States is not really a country, but a collection of vastly different countries stitched together. And when you consider the differing climates, cultures, and environments, it does seem true. A person from Minnesota might feel more of a foreigner in Florida or Nevada than they would in Canada.
However, this means that you have the opportunity to explore your own country and experience everything from the frozen Arctic climate of Alaska to the subtropical and even tropical climate of Florida and Hawaii and just about everything in between.
And while travel can be very expensive, combining work and travel might be an elegant solution. Travel nurses are certainly a privileged group that can earn good money in just about any part of the country and enjoy all of the natural beauty of the region for a short period of time. Most travel nurse jobs are somewhere between one and 12 months – with the average being around 3 months.
Earning Valuable Work Experience as a Travel Nurse
For most nurses, the first few years on the job pretty much consist of entry-level jobs. This essentially means that they will be doing the jobs that nobody else wants to tackle. While these might be less desirable, what they do offer is a learning opportunity.
As a young nurse, you can learn a lot from your colleagues and supervisors. These lessons will inevitably be useful to you in your future career no matter how you decide to continue it. However, being exposed to different practices and different conditions provides the opportunity to learn from more teachers.
Travel nurses tend to have a bit less work to do than staff nurses, which means that you will have more time to dedicate to improving your skills as a nurse while at work, and exploring your new surroundings during your downtime.
If travel nursing is something you feel you would be good at, or it’s something you are keen on trying, don’t hesitate to reach out to Ventura MedStaff, and we will help guide you through the whole process of application, traveling to your destination and beyond. Because once you sign up with Ventura, you become a part of the Ventura Family – and we take care of each other.
