The Lowdown
Travel nursing offers advanced practice professionals the opportunity to do what they love and choose where they do it. Organizations are struggling to fill positions and the shortage of practitioners is negatively impacting the quality of healthcare in the United States.
Travel Nursing is commonly used:
- To fill in for vacations, maternity, and other leaves of absence.
- To provide coverage for a practitioner who is obtaining advanced training.
- To supplement practitioner staff levels during peak seasons.
- To staff rural facilities and other locations where full-time staff may be hard to recruit.
- To ensure mandated coverage based on patient census.
- To relieve the workload (and stress) on existing staff to reduce burnout (and turnover).
Why Travel Nursing?
In a word…coverage. In three words…cost-effective coverage.
Hiring travelers is the ideal way to ensure continuity of care and prevent lost revenue while a permanent staff member is out of the office or a position is being filled. On average, it can take up to nine months to locate a permanent staff member. Using travel nurses allows facilities to continue serving patients while maintaining the highest standard of care and as a result, maintain a positive referral network for new patients.
In the wake of practitioner shortages, travel nursing is playing an increasingly important role in care delivery. It also helps balance workloads, mitigates stress on permanent staff, and reduce burnout.
Who uses travel nurses?
Any facility or healthcare organization that employs advanced practice providers including RNs, PTs, OTs, SLPs, and other allied professionals. This can include a wide spectrum of healthcare systems and entities including but not limited to hospitals, medical centers, outpatient clinics, physician practice management groups, long-term acute care, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, federal and state government and military facilities, community health centers, correctional facilities, and other healthcare organizations.
Why do advanced practice professionals travel nursing?
There are many reasons and motivations including but not limited to having both the freedom and flexibility of work schedule, earn competitive pay rates, extra, avoid politics and bureaucracy, travel opportunities to see various geographic locations and practice settings, gain professional and clinical experience, and identify permanent employment opportunities.