What is a Travel Nurse?
Nursing is a great field, and there are many specializations in it. There is an exciting field of nursing that let them travel across the country. The travel nurse is one such position which provides help to the people while traveling the country. They work as the temporary nurse to fill-ins the position of the absent nurses. If a nurse is on leave then these nurses fill their jobs for that duration. A medical setting has the shortage of staff hire them to assist during emergencies. It is a good career option, and thus here you will get the job description of the travel nurse in detail.
How To Become a Travel Nurse?
To join this field of nursing, you need to have a license of registered nurse and experience of at least one year of working. They have the same qualifications as those needed for another specialty. They get excellent benefits and have good chance to get experience in this unique profession. This field of medical opens new opportunities and challenges for them where they learn to work with new people and how to adapt the new environment.
Travel Registered Nurse
The minimum qualification is RN license and an associate degree from a recognized university. To Work in any agency, minimum of one year experience is also required. An additional certification is a definite advantage as they may be asked to fill the vacancy of the specialist. Those having these requirements can work in different area of specialties such as wound/ostomy care, psychiatry, dialysis, obstetrics and many more.
These nurses are RNs and don’t come under the APRNs. But APRNs can also work as travel nurse under a contract in different settings. Travel nurses have freedom of choice of work area and time. It is one additional benefit that other nurses don’t get and thus it is becoming a preferable career option among the medical students.
Travel Nurse Job Description
They are the healthcare professionals, and their job is to assist the homebound or chronically-ill patients, help medical facilities. An individual trained in this field has to travel from one place to other including to home of patients. They have to move to hospitals, clinics, and even schools. Their duties and responsibilities are same as that of a regular nurse. The only difference is that they have to travel to provide medical care in different locations while others work at the same medical facility and need not leave their hometown to assist others.
Job Duties
They have to perform the wide array of tasks such as preparing nutritionally specific meals, administer medication, following surgical procedures, administer physical therapy, etc.
Roles And Responsibilities
They are responsible for providing medical care, emotional support, and assistance to the patients suffering from illness. They assist in the recovery process; also they have to educate patients related to the illness. They make treatment plans and help in executing them and provide the answers to any questions raised by the patients. It is their responsibilities to record the progress of patients, deliver right medicine, and participate in rehabilitation programs for patients.
The travel nurse cannot leave the patients in the middle of the recovery process and has to work until patient regained the good health. They are the independent workers in any healthcare agencies or organizations. As they are also appointed in schools thus their role is to administer students about the specific medication.
They also work as the volunteer in the area where there is a great need for medical assistance to the patients in huge number. Those injured during war or famine or area where there is the sudden outbreak of any diseases, travel nurses are in high demand. Thus, their most important responsibility is to serve the patients as soon as they arrive. These nurses have to assist the fewer fortune people who are in great need of medical care.
Summing up their role and responsibilities, here are the some of its highlights-
- Deliver care to sick people and put all efforts to help them recover soon
- Oversee treatments and medication and also manage the use of drugs and medicines.
- Analyze diagnostic reports of the patients. Evaluate and analyze them, also explain the same to the patients.
- Records symptoms and medical history of patients
- Follow-up and keep the updates on the recovery progress. Inform the same to the doctors.
Educational Requirements For Travel Nurse
There is variation in the educational conditions of travel nurse according to BLS, US. Employers may hire the registered nurse or licensed practical nurse. Certificate of a nursing training program, a high school diploma is must to become an LPN. Diploma degree, an associate degree in nursing is the necessity to become a registered nurse.
The licensure standards and certification vary according to the need of employers and local jurisdictions. Candidates must pass the exam of NCLEX to complete the certification which is governed and administered by the state agencies.
One year of experience is required before applying to any travel nursing agencies. Nurse licensure compact that is an agreement allows the RNs to work in many states until their license is valid. Candidates must be familiar with this agreement to work in multistate.
In short, following are the requirements:
Associate degree, 2-3 years of initial study in nursing are essential. Fresher students and working professionals can opt for it.
Bachelor degree – it is a 4-year program that serves the students with excellent communication abilities and let them explore the subjects like social science, history, natural science, and math.
Master degree – the master program can be a full time or part time course.
Travel Nurse Job Salary
In the United States, the earning of travel nurses is around $31.69/hour. Two factors have the huge impact on this occupation- career duration and residence. The impact of the second factor is much more than the first one. The work is enjoyable, and they also get many perks and benefits. Those working in this occupation receive the high level of job satisfaction because of the additional benefits they gain.
Pay, Benefits, and Compensation
The first and foremost advantage is that they get the freedom to work anywhere across the country. They can change the location of their work and get the job easily because of their nature of the occupation. They can explore different cities and enjoy their as long as they work. The agency that hires them manages the traveling cost and arrangements for their stay. Thus, their living cost is less than others. No need to pay rent for houses or to travel. They save lots of money. Their travel allowance and other payments are included in the agreement they make with the nursing agencies.
- Tax-free travel reimbursement
- A rental care for traveling
- Sign-on bonuses
- Increase pay/wages
- License reimbursement for education courses if they are interested in further education
- Paid luxury housing
- Guaranteed pay
- 401k contributions
- Relocation pay
- Freedom to choose assignments
- Permanent job offerings
- On-the-job support
They are blessed with the above benefits. Unlike other occupation, travel nurse enjoys freedom in a realistic manner. Perks and benefits of these nurses highly depend on the agency or organization they choose to work with. Medical insurance, dental coverage are some of the other advantages for them.
Average Travel Nurse Salary Description
| Basis | Pay Scale |
|---|---|
| Hourly Rate | $19.45 – $49.64 |
| Hourly Tips | $19.12 |
| Overtime | $29.61 – $70.06 |
| Bonus | $200 – $5,087 |
| Total Pay | $44,012 – $105,491 |
Hourly Wages
As per the latest survey, the hourly rate for a travel nurse is $19.46-$49.16. Similar to other nurses, they can also earn additional income by making the tips, and it is around $19.12/hour. For their overtime work, they are paid $29.61-$70.06. They can get up to $200-$5,087 as a bonus. Summing up all these, their total pay is $44,012-$105,491.
Pay By Experience
As per a survey, nurses having experience less than 5 years can earn between $49,994 – $77,936 as an average total compensation. Tips overtime pay and bonuses are included in the compensation they receive. Those were having experience of 5-10 years come under the category of mid-career travel nurses. They receive between $53,627 – $84,061 as an average total compensation. Those with more than 10 years of experience get $56,811 – $88,982 as compensation. And the more and well-trained nurses with 20+ experience gets compensation of $57,915 – $92,662.
Salary By Experience
| Experience | Pay Scale |
|---|---|
| Entry Level | $49,994 – $77,936 |
| Mid Career | $53,627 – $84,061 |
| Experienced | $56,811 – $88,982 |
| Late-Career | $57,915 – $92,662 |
There is the increase in demand for travel nurses across the world. Due to lack of qualifications many of the health facilities and hospitals are suffering from the shortage of nurses thus they are in greater demand. Medical facilities cannot run without nurses and staffs thus any vacant seat is filled by hiring travel nurses. They are hired on the short term agreements and assignments that can be one week long or a yearlong depending upon the need of medical settings. Some of them also offer the permanent job to those performing well in their work and thus they get good career opportunities.
In few cases, they may have to fly overseas as a part of their assignments. Their salary as an international travel nurse is very high than those working on the same land. In the growing time, there will be vast opportunities for employment in this field.
Job Outlook
Traveling to unknown areas, living far from the family to take care of the sick and ill people is not an easy job. But nothing is tough for the travel nurses. Those who are interested to accept new challenges and can adjust to the new environment can opt for this career. On the one hand, where they have to change their workplace, on the other hand, they receive many great benefits. This occupation offers wide chances to explore the different country and gain some hands-on experience to work with the professionals of different countries.
Shortly, immense growth is seen in this profession. Those looking for the bright career need to work hard to avail the benefits of this unique profession. Healthcare industry is spreading at the faster rate, and thus it is anticipated that the need for travel RNs will be huge in demand. Many health agencies are paying excellent salary package to the highly experienced as traveling nurses. So, candidates should get all the basic and necessary educational requirements and skill to serves well in this profession. Maximize experience and get additional certification to enjoy working with the reputable organizations offering good perks and benefits to the travel nurses.
Know more –