I am a travel nurse now, and I’ve been travelling all over the US with my best friend. I get many daily comments and questions on what a travel nurse is, how I can get started, and the requirements. So in this blog post, I’m gonna let you guys in on everything.

So, let’s get into it.

What is a Travel Nurse?

A travel nurse is pretty much a nurse (could be an LPN or an RN) who works at healthcare facilities around the world for a short period of time. If the hospital is short staffed and doesn’t have an adequate number of nurses, they need to fulfil the requirements for the patients they have, and then they will bring in a travel nurse. The travel nurse is an experienced nurse. This nurse can work without any orientation can hit the ground running and get things done. The travel nurse orientation may be a day max a week because they need someone who’s already experienced in their speciality and can hit the ground running today.

In stark contrast, a staff nurse’s (a permanent staff nurse) orientation requirement will be at least three months. The hospital ain’t waiting three months for you to learn what they need you to do. They need someone who already knows what to do, which is why they will bring in a travel nurse.

What are the Requirements?

So, the requirements for a travel nurse. You have to be a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse. You must have at least one year working in your specialty (two years is always better). They don’t want someone who they have to train additionally. If they have to train you additionally, they’re gonna say, “This nurse does not meet the requirements that we need,” and they will fire you. They will call your agency up and say, “Hey, the person you send me does not have experience”. That’s a whole other problem, so please, please, please make sure you are experienced as a travel nurse. Do not be a new grad thinking, “I just graduated nursing school, and I can start travel nursing”. Don’t do it to yourself. Don’t lose your license before you even start practising with your license.

Once you are experiencing your speciality (by speciality, I mean the floor that you’ve worked in the past year to two), you cannot switch between specialties. So if you are a nurse working in Labor and Delivery, you cannot take an ICU contract. If you’re a pediatric nurse, you cannot go and work a psych contract. Just because you’re a nurse doesn’t mean you can work all specialities. Psyche will do psyche contracts, IC will do ICU contracts, NICU will do NICU contracts and etc., etc.

Certification

Next, you’ll need your certification. Different hospitals have different requirements, but pretty much everyone is going to need the BLS, which is your basic life support, your CPR certification – that’s all across the board. Depending on your speciality, the hospital or facility may require additional certifications.

Other requirements

You’ll need the state’s license. So, once you’re a nurse, you can pretty much work in any state as a nurse, but you do have to have the licensing for that state. When I graduated from nursing school, I graduated in Florida. After I took my NCLEX, I had a Florida license. When I graduated nursing school, they didn’t have the compact license, but now they do have the compact license. Because I am a resident of a compact state, I’m eligible to have a multi-state license. If you have a compact license, you can work in pretty much 37 states. You need that one license, and you’re eligible to work in all 37 states that are under that multi-state license. To get a compact license, you must be a resident of one of the compact states. If you are not a resident of the compact state, you will have to pay each state its registration fees for that license. It can add up pretty quickly.

The good thing is some travel nursing agencies provide reimbursement. If you pay $200 for that license, the agency will give you that $200 back. Just keep that in mind when you’re choosing what state you want to pick up a contract in, and you don’t have that license see what the requirements are and how long it takes to get a license in that state. Some states take a few weeks, other states take a few months. Some states take a day. I always ask the agency if they provide reimbursement for licensing, and if they say yes – winner, winner, chicken dinner – I will work with you because I want to get this money back.