Travel Nurse Pay & Benefits
A career as a nurse can allow you to explore many different fields. Nurses can work in hospitals, nursing homes, research facilities, schools and even as part of a cruise ship staff. One area that a nurse may work in is travel nursing. Travel nurses travel throughout the country to fill temporary staffing shortages. A career as a travel can have many benefits including high hourly wages.
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Travel Nurse Duties
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Travel nurses work in a wide variety of settings. A travel nurse may work as a general staff nurse in a hospital filling for a nursing who is on maternity leave and performing tasks such as taking blood pressure and monitoring the health of patients who have been admitted. A travel nurse may also work in an area that has been hit by a natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado. A travel nurse may also fill in for a nurse in a specialized field of nursing such as psychiatric nursing, renal nursing or oncology.
Educational Requirements
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In order to become a travel nurse, candidates must meet certain specific requirements. Most travel nursing employers require potential travel nurses to have completed all their academic training including the acquisition of an associate's or bachelor's degree. In addition employers also require nurses to possess a license in the state where they wish to be employed. Nurses are required to pass a state licensing exam in order to be employed after they have graduated. Nurses who want to work in other states may have to sit for additional state licensing exams. Employers also give great preference to candidates who have at least a year of full-time experience in the field of nursing.
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Benefits of a Career in Travel Nursing
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A career as a travel nurse offers many potential benefits. Travel nurses can choose when and where they would like to work. Nurses who dislike cold weather can choose to find employment in warm weather states such as Florida and Arizona. A travel nurse can choose to work as much or as little as she prefers. Candidates typically sign a contract agreeing to work for a period of time. Once this contract has been completed the nurse is under no further obligation to continue working. Travel nurses may also choose to explore the type of work environment most suited to them. A nurse may discover she prefers a small, rural community to a hospital located in a busy urban area.
Additional Benefits
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Travel nurses are usually employed by travel nursing agencies. Many travel nursing agencies offer nurses benefits comparable to what on staff nurses receive. Such benefits can include a sign-on bonus, health insurance, overtime pay, a housing allowance, compensation for travel to and from the location in question, retirement fund contributions and earned paid time off as well as bonuses for completion of a specific contract. Nurses can work with multiple agencies and choose jobs that best suits their needs.
Pay Scale
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Most travel nurses are paid on an hourly basis. According to the website StudentDoc, "Travel nursing usually pays $24-$35 per hour." Travel nurses can earn even more money if they choose to work in a larger city or have specialized qualifications such as a master's degree or certification in a specific field of nursing. The website Payscale.com states that the average full-time staff nurse earns between $22 and $30 per hour as of June 2010, so a travel nurse may earn more and have similar benefits at the same time.
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References
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