Hi! My name is Karlie. I’m a wife and mother to 2 beautiful girls. I work full-time as a travel nurse through Travel Nurses, Inc./OR Nurses Nationwide and I love my job! I knew I wanted to work in healthcare since my freshman year of high school. I was always interested in health and wellness, so I was always drawn to nursing. I really decided on becoming a nurse after I finished the Nursing Assistant Training Program in Nashville, TN. Shortly after, I began working at Vanderbilt. After about a year of working as a nursing assistant, I decided to just jump in and go to nursing school.
I chose to initially go to a community college to get all of my prerequisites done, and after I finished those, I was able to just transfer to a BSN program through a bridge program. I had to go through the acceptance process and everything before I could actually go through the nursing program.
Usually, in order to travel, you would have to work at the bedside for at least a year beforehand. I just started my travel journey and I’ve been a nurse for almost 4 years. I waited to gain more experience before making the decision to finally travel. In terms of being a nurse, obviously, you need to have a nursing degree. It’s more common nowadays to get your Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. When it comes to specific certifications and training, it really depends on where you work.
In West Tennessee, facilities require every nurse to have not just their BLS, but also their ACLS, NIHSS, and a few other certifications. Training is also based on what area you decide to work in. There are certifications and training for just about any area, including MedSurg, ICU, Cardiac/Tele, Peds, etc. It’s best to figure out where you want to start and go from there.
The weekly pay for travel nurses, as you know, changes depending on the need, the hospital, and the location. According to Americanmobile.com and our very own job board, the weekly pay for a Medsurg Travel Nurse can range from 1,700-4,000. Along with this, Salary.com states that the yearly salary range typically falls between $66,728 and $84,809. How much a travel nurse makes depends on how many contracts they take that year, the length of each contract, and the weekly pay within that contract.
It’s usually pretty chaotic. On a normal day, the first thing I do when I get on the floor is getting reports from the nurses with my patients. Then, I make sure each of them knows my name, and who I am, and see my face. I usually dig into their chart a bit (read notes, check labs, etc) and then start with my morning med pass. From there, my days look differently depending on what’s going on with my patients and new orders coming in. Some days I’m able to keep up and chart throughout the day, and some days I’m barely holding on and don’t start charting until the afternoon.
My favorite part about my job is being able to show compassion and kindness to them when they are typically at their lowest. As crazy as my days get, I try to always remember the reason I pursued this career. I take a second to talk to them, listen, and show true empathy for their situation.
GO FOR IT. Trust your instincts. Always ask questions. And stand up for yourself and your patients.
