5 Signs You Should Pursue a Travel Career In Nursing

Are you familiar with the term “travel healthcare?” If you aren’t, here’s the run-down: it’s where you get to travel the country taking on short-term assignments in understaffed facilities. You’ll work with a recruiter to find assignments that align with your skills and preferences, then take on assignments in new cities — typically with a stipend for housing and living expenses. For some people, this sounds like a dream come true. Others yearn for the flexibility and adventure of this kind of career yet are still on the fence. We get it — taking the leap can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve never lived away from home before. To simplify the decision-making process, we’ve identified five traits that suggest you’d love this kind of career. Keep reading to learn more. 

If you’re always dreaming about exploring new places or love the thrill of visiting new cities and seeing different landscapes, a career as a traveler may be just the ticket for you. This kind of career path can take you all over the country, from the rugged mountains and beautiful beaches of the west coast to the rolling hills and lush forests of the east coast. You can choose assignments based on your interests, whether you prefer destinations with plenty of outdoor activities or closely situated to bustling metropolises with vibrant food and art scenes. 

One of the remarkable things about being a travel nurse or healthcare provider is that you will get to experience many different settings in a brief period. From outpatient jobs and home health to skilled nursing facilities and hospitals, jumping from one short-term assignment to another will help you become more well-rounded, acquiring unique skills and experience you might not otherwise be exposed to working in the same facility year after year. 

Becoming a traveling healthcare provider is a fast track to growing your professional and social circle. You’ll meet new people at every facility you work at, as well as each new city or town you live in. It’s a beautiful way to foster friendships across the country and expand your network of professional connections. 

Travel assignments are typically created to serve facilities that are experiencing strain on their core staff. These facilities are struggling to maintain reasonable nurse-to-patient ratios, which is affecting their quality of care and the morale of their permanent teams. As a travel healthcare provider, you enjoy the added benefit of knowing your work is improving the patient experience while relieving overworked core staff. It’s doubly rewarding. 

Traveling isn’t for everyone. It’s certainly not a vacation (though on your off days, it may feel like one). That said, it is a unique and fulfilling way to experience new places, cultures, and people. You will likely find yourself becoming more independent and feeling a keen sense of achievement every day as you strive to forge new relationships, try new things, and experience unfamiliar places.