Travel Nursing

You might be wondering, what exactly am I doing out in the desert in the dead of summer?

Here is a brief description of what travel nursing is and specifically what I signed up for:

With the nationwide nursing shortage many hospitals across the U.S. hire travel nurses to fill in the gaps for seasonal or long term staffing needs. Usually nurses are required to have at least 2 years experience in their specialty area since they are given approximately 2 days orientation and then expected to jump right into the mix. A typical travel nursing assignment involves a 13 week full time commitment to work at a particular hospital, clocking three 12 hours shifts/week in exchange for free housing in an apt. with generous amenities, heath insurance, travel compensation and a nice salary. When the 13 weeks are up, the nurse has the option to sign on for an addition 13 weeks or go on to the next city of choice to work a new assignment.


I am working three 12 hour night shifts(7pm-7:30am) a week as a Float Nurse at Phoenix Children's Hospital. A Float Nurse works on whatever floor has need that night excluding the ICUs and Emergency Room. I work on 5 different floors, orthopedics/rehab/neurology(lots of child abuse :( so sad), oncology/hematology, gastrointestinal/diabetes, respiratory/cardiac, and then the 5th floor is any other random illness that a child could contract(I call this floor the funny farm-mainly because of the staff-not the patients).

For my musical theatre friends, being a float travel nurse is comparable to being a swing on tour with 2 days rehearsal! A little tricksy and challenging to say the least. Not something I'd sign up for again, but hey, live and learn!!!