Travel Nurse Jobs

There are a few independent souls out there who like the idea of managing their compensation packages. These are nurses who deal directly with human resources departments and nursing departments on their own. These nurses arrange their own contract details. There are not many of these nurses around yet and when you do a search engine review for “nurses” & “independent contractor” the hits mostly return programs offering to teach you how to be a legal nurse consultant. The advantages of this approach are that you can sometimes negotiate a slightly higher wage for yourself vs. using a travel agency or registry company. Something to keep in mind are issues concerning workman’s compensation, vacation time, sick time and the other benefits that may or may not be included in the package. This type of traveling nurse job may not "travel" very far from home. Often the independent contractor type will stay with a particular facility on a semi-permanent basis.
Travel Nurse

This is the type of travel nurse job most nurses think about when they hear the expression travel nurse. This is a temporary contracted nurse position. A nurse contacts a nursing agency or travel agency and goes through their employment process. She or he then becomes an employee of the nursing agency. The nursing agency maintains a list of employers that have expressed a need for traveling nurses. They match the nurse with an employer based on the nurses experience level, skills and type of facility they have worked at in the past. As a general rule an ICU nurse would only work ICU and a Med-Surg nurse would only work Med/Surg. Travel nurse jobs with travel agencies typically last from 4 weeks to 26 weeks. The typical contract is for 13 weeks with multiple renewals possible if the employer continues to need the nurse. It is possible to work for the same employer for years simply by renewing the contract each time it comes up for renewal. The benefits of travel nursing vary by agency so always check for current details.

Agency Nurse

This is a type of travel nurse job that most people don’t think about when they hear the world travel nurse. An agency nurse is a nurse who agrees to work on a casual basis. The hourly wage for this type of nursing can be the highest of all the nursing jobs available in travel nursing. They contact their regional or local nursing agency on a regular basis and sign up for work on short notice (as little as right now!) up to a month in advance. This type of casual nursing has several names ranging from agency nurse to per diem to pool. The main difference between an agency per diem and a per diem employed by the hospital is the amount of money the nurse makes and the certainty of the work. Additionally, the agency nurse will work at several hospitals while a typical per diem will be employed at just one facility. The benefits of agency nursing can sometimes outweigh the disadvantages.

Registry Nurse

Technically, this nurse is an agency nurse. The primary difference between a registry nurse and an agency nurse is more one of regional employment vs. local employment. Registries evolved in areas where there were several hospitals in need of casual nurses. You have a sick call or an expected hole in the schedule but you do not have steady employment or a complete FTE to hire into. Enter the registry. A registry can be managed by a nursing agency (the most common today) a single hospital or a consortium of facilities ranging from hospitals to clinics to home health agencies.

The registry is a list of nurses who have agreed to be available with in the local area. If you think about larger metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles or Seattle you can see how this works. It is still typically a per diem or casual working arrangement. The benefits and disadvantages are essentially the same as Agency Nursing except the registry nurse can usually expect to stay closer to home.

When you look at the strictest definition of a traveling nurse job you might argue that an agency or registry nurse does not belong in this category. The reason I feel that agency and registry nurses belong in this category is the temporary nature of the work. While a traveling nurse may be guaranteed employment for 13 weeks it is not permanent. All of these types of nursing jobs are benefiting from the nursing shortage in that they can be full time work for those who want it. The cautionary note is that these high cost temporary nursing jobs are the first ones administration typically tries to eliminate and the traveling nurse jobs that are the hardest impacted when the current nursing shortage is over.

Of course, the experts are saying the current shortage is not only going to get worse but it will continue for a very long time due to the collision of two factors; a large number of nurses reaching retirement age as our own population ages and an ever increasing demand for medical care spirals upward.