3 Ways to Gain Experience as a Travel Nurse
Do you want to become a travel nurse and gain valuable experience caring for patients across the country? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Use this article to learn about the top ways you can get the training you need to advance your nursing career as a traveler. Pre-pandemic, travel nurses made an average of $1,673, according to Becker’s Healthcare. Now, in some cases, they can earn more than $4,000 per week. Here are a few ways to gain experience as a traveling nurse.
1. Take Advantage of Specialty Training Programs
One great way to gain experience as a travel nurse is to take part in training programs offered by many leading healthcare and staffing agencies. These intensive training courses boost your skills and understanding of high-need nursing specialties like ICU, ER, labor and delivery, and more. Completing a specialty training program qualifies you for more travel nursing jobs across top hospitals nationwide. Investing time upfront in these courses pays off tremendously down the road.
2. Sign Up for High-Acuity Assignments
Seeking out work in high-acuity departments is another excellent path to gain top-notch experience as a traveler. Look for assignments in settings like trauma centers, surgical ICUs, cardiac care units, neuro care, and burn centers. These demanding hospital units will test your abilities and require you to perform at a superb level while managing complex cases. The skills you build there provide experience to list on your resume. Assignments in high-acuity settings also tend to offer increased pay and benefits compared to other travel nursing jobs.
3. Build Your Skills Through Extended Assignments
Rather than hopping from place to place every few weeks, consider signing up for longer 13-week or 26-week travel assignments at major medical centers. Extending your contracts allows you to deeply immerse yourself in one healthcare system for months at a time. This deeper dive gives you the chance to become a valued member of an interdisciplinary care team, take on leadership roles like charge nurse or preceptor, and get trained on new equipment. This prolonged engagement builds superior competencies to become an expert travel nurse.
Keep these pointers in mind as you peruse different job listings to find the best fit based on your experience goals and desires. Before you know it, you’ll have an impressive background that prepares you to handle any assignment that comes your way. Once you have experience, our staffing agency can help to connect you with travel nursing jobs. Reach out to Concentric Healthcare Staffing when you’re ready.
Posted 2/27/24
