Travel Nursing:  Where Are You Going?
How Successful Travelers Choose Their Next Assignment

Travel Nursing: Where Are You Going?

Every day, I talk to travel nurses who call looking for assignments. Almost always, I am asked to tell them the assignments I have based on location, money, and shift. Rarely do travelers ask the questions that will help them to make informed decisions as to whether or not the facility they are choosing is a good fit for them based on their professional skill set and experience. 

The team of travelers that I work with require detailed facility information from me before being submitted to an assignment. They are also interested in money and location, but they know that the most important task when choosing a travel assignment is finding the right facility. This team ended 2021 with a 80% overall renewal rate and 6.5% overall default rate. High renewal rates let me know the nurse is comfortable and satisfied with the facilities where they have chosen to work, and the low default rate lets me know they are completing contracts successfully. 

Select a travel agency that keeps some type of facility scorecard, and make sure you have a recruiter who understands the importance of sharing that information with you. What is important to one traveler may not be important to another. Make an effort to get accurate data regarding travel facilities where you have agreed to be submitted.

 Before being submitted to a facility, ask your recruiter:

  1.  How many nurses have you placed in this facility over the past year?
  2. How many beds in this facility? Is it a teaching hospital? What is the facility's trauma level?
  3. Have any of your travelers defaulted or walked off a contract at this facility? If so, how many?
  4. Have you received excessive complaints from nurses regarding staffing levels? Do you know the average nurse to patient ratio?
  5. Did any of the travelers renew their contract at this facility?
  6. Does this facility guarantee hours, or is there a guarantee with a cancellation clause?How often has this facility cancelled shifts due to low census?
  7. Does this facility typically allow travelers to request days off?

Asking your recruiter these questions about a facility you are considering for your next assignment can greatly improve your travel experience. Money and location are important, but are often non-negotiable for the traveler due to lifestyle and family demands.

Hopefully you will have a choice when selecting a facility for you next assignment. Choose wisely.

Awesome article Jan, would love to connect and talk more!

Jan Steele ADN, BA, BS

Senior Travel Nurse Recruiter with TRS Healthcare

6y

Really great comment, and I am hearing you. What we are after here is nurse/facility "fit" and defining the "care culture" within the facility. For instance, I have worked with Jenna for 12 years. If I share with Jenna, a M/S traveler, that the facility she is considering is a Trauma I and a teaching facility with 600 beds, she is going to know that most likely there are going to be nursing students and residents on her floor. and that the overall acuity of her patients may be higher. When Jenna interviews with the facility , she is going to ask if there are multiple M/S floors with sub specialties. ( for example, M/S ortho, M/S onc, and M/S neuro). She will ask the manager if she needs to be prepared to float to each one. She will start reminding me a week ahead of time to find out which parking lot to use so she doesn't have to find out upon arrival and end up late for orientation. The nurses I work with don't always complain about staffing levels. In fact they rarely do. They know that it's all about the acuity level of their patients and not the number of patients assigned to them. When a traveler is overwhelmed, I encourage them to speak with the charge nurse or nursing supervisor on behalf of their patients. Because the bottom line is that really is their concern. Example of an honest and amazingly successful way for a traveler to approach a facility manager about short staffing: " I know you provide a high standard of patient care here, and tonight I feel like I'm not providing that kind of care. I am swamped. I want to change that. Can you give me any suggestions how you teach your nurses to organize patient care when this floor gets so busy? I really like this hospital and I don't want to fail." Often it actually strengthens the relationship between the traveler and facility. They can always call us 24/7 if needed, but rarely do. For nurses, it is always, always, about the patient. And that is a good thing.

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