Starting a career as a traveler is an exhilarating journey filled with opportunities for adventure, personal growth and professional development. One of the most common questions healthcare professionals ask is, “When can I start traveling?” There are a few things you need under your belt before you start your traveling journey.
The first thing that our agency requires is that you have at least one full year of experience before you start traveling. For nurses, this means, once you graduate from nursing school, pass your NCLEX, and have at least one year of experience working in a hospital you can start traveling. An externship does not count as experience.
This one-year requirement goes for each specialty and allied health profession, too. For a CVCST, you need at least one year of experience scrubbing in on cardiovascular cases for us to staff you as a CVCST. If you have 6 months of experience working on cardiovascular cases and 6 months doing general surgery cases, we would only be able to staff you on general surgery cases.
The same goes for nurses. If you have a year and a half of experience and the first year you worked ER, and the last six months, you have worked L&D, we would only be able to staff you as an ER nurse. To staff you as an L&D nurse, you would need a full year of experience working on an L&D unit.
Some hospitals might require two or more years of experience before they will accept someone as a traveler. Facilities have this requirement because as a traveler, you are expected to come in with little training and hit the ground running.
Keep in mind that some hospitals also require additional experience. For many level 1 trauma hospitals, they will not accept travelers who do not have enough experience working in a level 1 trauma facility. The same goes for many OR specialties. If an OR circulator does not have enough experience working ortho cases, a facility might decline that traveler based on the amount of ortho cases they perform.
For this reason, it is important to include all your work history on your resume when applying to positions. It’s important to include if you have experience at a teaching hospital, a trauma center, specific charting systems, any special equipment you use regularly, and any special skills you possess.
You likely will only have a day of orientation followed by a few precepting shifts. Then you will be on your own. You can always ask questions, but they will expect you to have limited questions. Keep in mind you might need to learn a new charting system. You will be shown how to use a new charting system, but you will also be expected to pick it up quickly.
Once you have the right experience, the world is your oyster. You can explore the country while getting paid to do it. Contact us today if you’re ready to start your traveling adventure. Email us at thisisfun@travelnursesinc.com to connect with a recruiter
