how to become a travel nurse

Travel Nurse

By EveryNurse Staff on February 01, 2021

Travel Nurse

Travel nursing is a relatively new but booming employment option within the healthcare industry. Travel nurses work short assignments at hospitals and other healthcare facilities to fill high-demand positions where there is a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals.

An individual becomes a travel nurse by finding employment with an agency or organization that specializes in placing traveling nurses in jobs around the country. These jobs may be permanent positions lasting one or more years, or they may be temporary positions, lasting anywhere from a few weeks to a month or more.

If you're looking for a lucrative way to hone your skills, get out of your comfort zone, and acquire experience in a variety of settings, travel nursing may be a great option for you. Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about this exciting opportunity.

What Is a Travel Nurse?

Travel Nurses are registered nurses who are employed in short-term roles by independent nursing staffing agencies, instead of a by a single hospital. They typically work on a contract basis for a specified period before transitioning to another assignment. Their assignments may be in a variety of clinical settings, including hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing facilities, or independent living locations.

Travel nurses may be sent to work at facilities throughout the United States, as well as in other countries throughout the world. Because of the short-term nature of travel nurse assignments, those pursuing this career path must be able to acclimate quickly to new work environments and new people. They must also be willing to relocate to a new area as dictated by their assignment.

Important Facts About Travel Nursing

The standard travel nurse assignment is 13 weeks, but contracts between eight and 26 weeks are very common.
38% of travel nurses say they do the job for the adventure.
The Affordable Care Act is credited with a 20-year high in demand for travel nurses.
Travel nursing jobs grew by 44% year over year from 2018 to 2019.
The top four growing specialties within travel nursing experienced a 60% rate of increase and all belong to critical care nursing positions.

Travel Nurse Requirements

Travel nursing is an appealing option for many people because of perks like competitive pay, career flexibility, and the opportunity to travel and explore new places. If you are ready to become a travel nurse, here are some of the requirements you should know about before you begin exploring job opportunities.

License Requirements
Certification Requirements
Years of Experience

License Requirements

The most basic requirement to become a travel nurse is a current and unencumbered RN license. Nurses who have completed an Associate's or Bachelor's degree in nursing are eligible. Some travel nurse agencies may prefer to hire BSN-prepared registered nurses, but a BSN degree is not a formal requirement. If you have a specific facility or assignment in mind, you should check the official job requirements before signing with a staffing agency.

Certification Requirements

Along with a nursing license in good standing, you will need certifications in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) to be hired by a travel nurse agency. These basic certifications are necessary for travel nurses to perform routine healthcare tasks and procedures.

Additionally, if you plan to pursue assignments in a specialized care unit, it is recommended that you hold credentials in that specialty. For example, nurses pursuing roles in critical care should hold CCRN certification and nurses who work in labor and delivery should hold Neonatal Resuscitation certification.

Years of Experience

In general, nurses should have at least one year, but often two years of hospital-based, bedside experience as a registered nurse before they apply with a nursing staffing agency. Nurses who will be working in a specialized unit should have experience commensurate with that specialty. For example, a Critical Care Nurse must have several years of experience working with critically ill patients before they are eligible to work in an ICU.

Growing Demand for Travel Nurses

Hospitals have long relied on traveling nurses to meet temporary needs for additional staffing. Travel nurses have provided safe care for millions of patients across the country for years by seamlessly integrating themselves into the workforce of hospitals, often filling in for sick or absent nurses. Yet, had it not been for the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, by far the worst of its kind in years, it would be unlikely that traveling nurses would enjoy the public recognition they do today.

COVID-19 coverage catapulted travel nurses into the public eye and now travel nursing has the potential to be one of the most important parts of the healthcare workforce. Since travel nurses have demonstrated their importance so capably, hospital executives are already taking action to entice them to their facilities. Sign-on bonuses, completion bonuses, and increased pay are just a few of the incentives offered to entice travel nurses to work at hospitals that now recognize travel nursing as vital to patient care.

The Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act is credited with significantly increasing the demand for travel nurse positions. After millions of people gained healthcare coverage via the ACA, the demand for healthcare professionals at hospitals, clinics, and other facilities hit a 20-year high. In addition, the ACA's Medicaid expansion allowed hospitals to offer more generous pay packages to attract and retain more qualified candidates.

Benefits of Travel Nursing

Excellent pay, career advancement, and new adventures are just a few of the benefits of travel nursing. As a traveling nurse, you have the opportunity to experience the world, earn great money, and take on new challenges. Read on to discover additional benefits of working in this industry.

Explore New Places
Freedom and Flexibility
New Challenges
Earn Great Money

Explore New Places

Travel nursing gives you a chance to explore a variety of environments and new cities. Whether you want to travel across the United States or take a quick trip overseas, travel nursing offers you a chance to see new places and meet new people. You can experience different cultures and gain a unique perspective on life, something few professions can offer.

Freedom and Flexibility

Travel nursing provides nurses with unbeatable flexibility and greater control over their careers. Travel nurses can choose when and where they want to work, a a benefit that does not exist for permanent nurses. A travel nurse can also take as many days between assignments as they want, which means they can take time off when they want to. This flexibility provides nurses with more time to explore their hobbies, take care of themselves, stay healthy, and enjoy other interests.

New Challenges

Travel nursing allows nurses to accept new challenges and responsibilities that permanent nurses may not be able to take on. Working at different facilities, from large hospitals to small, rural offices to urban facilities, traveling nurses have the opportunity to learn different skills and gain experience in different areas. Additionally, travel nursing allows you to showcase your adaptability, which can benefit you when you apply for full-time positions later on.

Earn Great Money

Traveling nurses are well compensated, with hourly pay rates that are typically higher than those of permanent staff. In addition to competitive hourly wages, nurses on travel assignments typically receive housing stipends or free furnished housing, sign-on bonuses, and health insurance starting on the first day of their assignment. They may also receive perks like catered meals and airfare reimbursements, which are just a few examples of how lucrative travel nursing can be.

Top Travel Nurse Jobs

Over the past decade, the travel nursing industry has experienced amazing growth as employers are becoming increasingly reliant on travel nurses to fill skilled nursing positions. From labor and delivery to the ER and PICU, top travel nurse agencies are seeing aggressive recruiting across many nursing specialties. Here, we will list several of the top specialties for travel nurses with the highest demand and the highest pay.

Labor & Delivery
Telemetry
ICU Nursing
Perioperative / Operating Room
Neonatal Nursing
Emergency Room Nurse

Labor & Delivery

Labor and delivery nurses provide comfort and coaching to women before, during, and after their babies' birth. Care includes providing epidurals and other forms of pain relief, instructing the patient during delivery, timing contractions, and cleaning, and evaluating the baby immediately after his or her birth. Labor and delivery nurses tend to the new mother for the rest of her hospital stay, while a neonatal nurse cares for the baby.

Telemetry

A telemetry nurse connects machines to patients that monitor their heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, heart rhythm, and blood-to-oxygen level. The computer automatically transmits data from these machines to a nursing station or remote location where a health care professional can closely monitor the patient. Another member of the nursing staff uses this data to develop an ongoing treatment plan for the patient.

ICU Nursing

Patients in intensive care require complex, specialized care in cardiac care, pediatrics, and neonatal nursing. The demand for experienced ICU nurses is always high because these patients need the most care. Because of the focus on preventive health care and patient wellness, hospitals try to keep patients at home unless they are extremely ill. Those who end up in the ICU often require nurses who are experienced in providing extremely complex care.

Perioperative / Operating Room

The travel nurse who works in the operating room assists surgeons during various procedures and cares for patients before and after their surgery. He or she must pay special attention to proper sterilization of surgical instruments as well as to disinfection. Some of the other duties of a surgical nurse include preparing the room for surgery, getting the patient's anesthesia ready, and prepping the patient for the surgical procedure. A major driving factor behind this demand is the average age of current operating room nurses. Many are planning to retire in the next few years, and replacing them immediately isn't always possible.

Neonatal Nursing

Neonatal nurses work with newborn babies during their first 28 days of life and sometimes longer. Babies born healthy require only basic care from neonatal nurses, such as feeding, bathing, monitoring vital statistics, and diaper changes. Those born prematurely, with a congenital disability, or illness need a neonatal nurse's services to help them recover and receive the best possible start in life. The newborn intensive care unit, or NICU, provides the highest level of care for newborns.

Emergency Room Nurse

The emergency room nurse treats patients who report to the hospital for immediate care. Some walk in, while others are brought by ambulance. Accidents, sudden symptoms of illness, assault, and heart attack are some of the common reasons patients seek treatment from their local emergency room. Emergency room nurses help triage patients and provide direct patient care. Some situations are not as difficult, but the patient was forced to seek emergency care because they had no other treatment options at the time of the injury or illness.

What Are Travel Nurse Agencies Looking For?

Travel nurse agencies typically begin their recruitment of RNs by looking for a good balance of experience and education. They want nurses who have experience working in a variety of settings and prefer candidates who possess strong communication and interpersonal skills. Simply put, they want to make sure the nurses they hire are responsible and reliable workers.

Additionally, agencies and employers look for personal attributes that will enable the nurses they hire to succeed. They want employees who are pleasant, honest, and trustworthy. They also want nurses who can easily adapt to new work environments and people, as well as the ability to integrate into a new team. Below, we list several important traits of successful travel nurses:

Flexibility
A Positive Attitude
Competence
Maturity

Flexibility

When a nurse receives a new assignment, they have very little time to acclimate to a new setting, new people, and new protocols. To be successful, travel nurses must adapt quickly to a new environment and forge effective relationships with hospital staff. Travel nurses are expected to be well-situated in their new environment within one to two weeks.

A Positive Attitude

An important quality of successful travel nurses is the ability to maintain a positive attitude. Travel nurse agencies often screen new applicants to ensure they possess an upbeat, cooperative personality and work well with their co-workers and managers. They want workers who accept their assignments with a strong sense of optimism and energy.

Competence

Another key quality of successful travel nurses is the ability to be competent in their duties. They must be able to perform all procedures that are assigned to them efficiently, quickly, with minimal supervision. Additionally, they must have the ability to acclimate quickly to new workflows and protocols.

Maturity

Travel nurses should have a mature, professional, and respectful attitude when accepting an assignment. Travel nurse agencies prefer candidates who have a high level of emotional coping skills and can interact with patients and co-workers in a manner that is appropriate to the situation.

Travel Nurse Salary

The average salary for a travel nurse in 2021 is over $99,000 per year, which is the equivalent of $48.00 per hour. This average is almost $25,000 higher than those reported just a few years ago, in 2018. Wages for travel nurses have increased significantly in the past two years as a direct result of nursing shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused tremendous demand for travel nurses, especially in areas of the country that have been most severely impacted by the virus.

Competitive Employment Packages

In addition to increased hourly wages, travel nurses also receive competitive employment packages, which provide them with medical insurance, housing, meal allowances, stipends, and travel reimbursement. Employers are eager to attract and retain nurses due to the high demand for their services, which can make the total earnings of a travel nurse even more lucrative.

Highest-Paying States for Travel Nurses

STATE	HOURLY MEAN WAGE *	ANNUAL MEAN WAGE *
New York	$56.80	$118,145
New Hampshire	$55.16	$114,727
Wyoming	$50.63	$105,304
West Virginia	$49.35	$102,645
Massachusetts	$48.74	$101,389
* Zip Recruiter, Travel Nurse Salary by State, October 2021

Helpful Organizations for Travel Nurses

American Travel Health Nurses Association (ATHNA)
National Association of Travel Healthcare Organizations (NATHO)
Professional Association of Nurse Travelers
American Nurses Association

Travel Nurse FAQ

Travel nursing is one of the most popular and fastest-growing sectors in nursing, and for good reason. Travel nurses can work all over the world and earn a much higher salary than those who stay home. Other common reasons for the popularity of travel nursing are the abundance of job opportunities, the flexibility to work as much or as little as you want, and exposure to different places and cultures.

Yes, you can bring your spouse and/or pets with you on a travel nursing assignment. Travel nursing agencies can usually make recommendations and provide you with options to accommodate spouses, family considerations, or pets if you communicate your needs in advance of your start date.

Travel agencies typically offer medical and dental benefits and may offer retirement benefits like a 401K and 401K matching. Over the past two years, employers who have felt the strain of nursing shortages from the COVID-19 pandemic have gone to great lengths to entice travel nurses to their facilities. This has led to a significant re-thinking of the value of travel nurses and how travel agencies can partner to offer benefits that appeal to the travel nurse.