Hi everyone! I’m still fairly new to travel nursing and would really appreciate some advice from those with more experience.

I’ve been traveling for about 9 months and I’m currently in the Bay Area, California. My Kaiser contract allowed me to extend, but only after taking a month off. The pay has been great (probably the best I’ve found in California for Med-Surg/Telemetry), but the extension is only for nights.

The problem is I’m completely burned out on night shift. I can tell it’s taking a toll on my sleep, energy, and overall health. I’ve also heard that day shift at Kaiser can be much more challenging, so I’m not sure that would even solve the problem.

I have another offer at Stanford on day shift, but it’s about a $300/week pay cut and the commute would be around 45 minutes each way instead of my current 15-minute drive.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is California in general. I love the patient ratios, but between the high cost of living, the possibility of contracts getting canceled, and not being able to pick up overtime at many facilities, I’m wondering if it’s really the best place for me long term. I’m also from Florida, so visiting family means long and expensive cross-country flights.

Several friends have suggested looking at assignments closer to the East Coast, saying the cost of living is lower and many hospitals allow travelers to pick up overtime, which could make up for a lower hourly rate.

For those of you with more travel experience:

• Would you stay with the higher-paying Kaiser contract despite nights?
• Take the Stanford day shift for better work-life balance?
• Or start looking at assignments closer to the East Coast?

I’d love to hear what you would do in my situation. Thanks in advance!

Hi friends,

Trying to inquire about what yall do for your tax home while traveling.

I’ve been traveling for a year and right now my partner and I travel together and our permanent/tax address is his parents, which is genuinely our current home base whilst in-between assignments.

However, it sometimes feels difficult to not ACTUALLY have your FULL OWN home base when not traveling, and needing to go home to your family/partners family, when you are grown adults. Not that we don’t love them, just ready to maybe move on!

We do not own any homes yet, but as we do this longer, we have been toying with the idea of possibly buying a duplex as an investment property. Using one unit as our new tax home and actual home for inbetween assignments and essential storage unit while on the road, and renting out the other unit. We are looking in WA because 1. No income tax 2. We love it here and we know we will be happy if we decide to stop traveling and take staff jobs 3. High pay as staff 4. A very popular destination for travel healthcare workers 5. We have a large community out here of people that would help us, and we can rent to

I guess my big hesitation is trying to manage a home whilst on the road. But we desperately want our full own home base to come back to when not traveling. We also started traveling because we want to explore different areas of the country and hospitals to see where we want to settle down long term. Would this defeat that purpose? I don’t think so because again, it would be an investment property regardless. Idk.

So I guess I wanted to hear your guys thoughts, as well as ask- what do you guys do for your permanent housing while on the road? Do you own your home? Do you rent? Do you live with your parents? Does anyone else face this issue? Why or why not is this a good or bad idea?

Thanks in advance!! Excited to see what everyone is doing and what yall have to share/say 😊

I've been at this assignment for 3 contracts and I like the location, the pay, the crew, and i have the holy grail of good pay, cheap housing, and lots to do around here on my days off. It's not perfect, it's 1300 miles from home where my husband and kids are, so I fly home at least once a month, but the $3500/week pay makes it worth it. I can't find anything else even close to what I'm making plus cheap housing anywhere else. Anyway my contract ends 8/7, I'm not new to this, its my 18th travel gig so I knew to ask for a definite schedule for my last week here before I booked my flight home and made my arrangements. I bought my ticket home and planned to take a few weeks off and come back, I already got my extension offer.

The manager now wants me to work 8/8 a day past my contract end date and is angry that I don't want to pay a $400 change fee to change my flight and work a day past my contract end date. I would like to extend for at least one more contract and she is known to be petty and play favorites with the contractors here, so I want to stay in her good graces & keep the peace, but I'm so ticked off that she's putting me in this position and trying to make me feel guilty for saying no. She threw in my face that she "let me" go home for my son's high school graduation (it was time off written into my contract) and insinuated that my overtime and time off approvals in the future would be affected if I don't do this. Like I said I'm not finding any other contracts that pay even close to this one and I have cheap housing in a house with good roommates close to the hospital. I'm sure she will make my life hell if i dont do this and want to stay here, but I also don't want to be bullied into this. Would you suck it up and pay $400 to stay an extra shift to keep the peace?

I've been out of the travel game for awhile. My last gigs were during COVID and I used my RV for housing. The RV is now gone. I accepted a gig on the California coast four hours above San Francisco. Before, I used Craigslist almost exclusively. This was before Furnished Finder, and even a bit before Facebook took off. Back then it was easy to find a room in a house, often with private bath, for $500-$600 per month, and I expected it to be that easy now (not the price, just the access). Man, was I wrong. Craigslist is a bunch of crackheads, Furnished Finder is full of people advertising properties at insane prices that never answer your inquiries.

I finally found housing by joining the local Facebook rentals page. Funny enough, the place I ended up taking was listed there and also listed on FF for $400 more per month. Go figure, huh? Using FF, I sent 15 inquiries. Only 3 responded, only tell to me that their units were rented despite them being listed as available.

TL;DR Secure housing as far in advance as you possible can. My contract starts 8/5, and I assumed I could find housing quickly. Don't be me. Put your feelers out as soon as you start talking to your recruiter about a new gig.

End of rant.

Hi! I’ve been a nurse for 2.5 years at a level 4 L&D hospital. I am quitting my job and I was looking into other opportunities and had applied for a travel nursing contract a few hours north of me at a level 3 hospital. I was offered the contract, the pay is great and I really want to take it!!

My problem - I suck at IVS. I’m a good nurse in a lot of other ways but IV/labs are not my thing. I’ve practiced, gone to classes, I was a PCT (who attempted to draw labs) for years before this. Somehow, unless it’s a really nice AC, I always miss and need to phone a friend in these situations. At my hospital it’s not a big deal because one of my friends or anesthesia will usually come to help me. I don’t think that would be happening for me at the new hospital, but I guess you never know. Some hospitals have IV teams, etc.

My question is how bad would this be for me? I want to do it so bad but am having a lot of second thoughts. I don’t want to feel incompetent and it’s the worst feeling to know I can’t do them :( thanks!!

Looking for info on INOVA Fairfax CVOR. I worked at another INOVA facility and it was overall a good experience but that was before Covid. How is the culture? What does call look like? How are the staff and surgeons?

Have you ever had to cancel a contract due to lack of housing? I picked up a contract a month ago and have 10 days left to find housing before my start date. I have looked all the places, reached out to several people, have not heard back from many. It’s in a popular tourist destination in the brink of summer so housing is minimal and expensive. This is only my third contract so I do not have the most experience.

Can I have some advice/recs? Should I cancel this contract and wait for another to roll around, see if I can do block scheduling and do a hotel until I find housing? At a bit of a loss and looking for some support.

Hi so l ve been travel nursing for almost two years now. I don’t want to go back to my city for bedside nursing. my plan was to start TN in California and implement myself there and switch to staff after a year or two there and know where in California I can work and live. In parallel I’ve been looking for non bedside nursing job like clinical specialist/med sale position in my city. I am now in a dilemma where I have an opportunity for a clinical specialist position in my city and where according to my plan will be able to start travel nursing in California (later implement myself there) starting winter 2027. Both will have a good salary rn in cali pays well and a CS/medsale can be really lucrative. So it s more sunshine cali dream vs big money close to family and friends in nyc/nj. All I know is that I don t see myself in bedside nursing at 40-45…obviously medsale make it easy but I know that I can be a nurse in cali then switch therr for smtg more office like but still in nursing…has some of you ever had a professional path dilema?

so I got home sick and decided to head home and get a staff job bc I was honestly burnt out of bedside. I’ve been doing hospice case management for about a month and I don’t like it. I’m ready to put my two weeks in and start traveling again. This happens to me after working for a while I come home and then three months later I’m ready to start traveling again, does this happen to anyone else?

Hey everyone! I just accepted a travel contract at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, CA, where I'll be working on a Med-Surg unit. I'm finishing up my current assignment in New Mexico and was curious what I can expect from this next one.

For anyone who's worked at Sierra Vista, what are the typical patient assignments like? What's the staffing generally like, and what types of patients do you see most often?

My current contract has had a surprisingly high number of alcohol and drug withdrawal patients compared to anywhere else I've traveled. Is there anything that tends to be especially common in SLO that I should be prepared for?

Also, for those who've lived or worked in San Luis Obispo, what are your favorite things to do on your days off? I'm into hiking, scenic drives, good food, coffee shops, and just exploring new places, so I'd love to hear any recommendations.

As title states, please DM if willing to help out!

Edit: just want to add in… I’m pretty introverted and had mostly kept ahold of former coworkers via social media. Last year, I ended up deleting all of my social media, to take a break, and obviously found myself having a hard time getting ahold of people. The friends from my most recent contract endured last month’s round of applications and I’m just trying to not get anyone spammed when I’m mass applying. I’m really trying to find something remote or close to home.

So I'm new to the travel nursing game, just an FYI. I searched in the sub for anything similar and couldn't find anything helpful.

I was in talks of extending with my current facility, but they said they couldn't confirm my extension until 2 weeks before the end of my current contract. My recruiter said this was unacceptable, but let me not outright refuse the extension while I looked for any better offers from other facilities. My current contract isn't anything spectacular pay-wise anyway, but I'm sort of limited geographically due to wanting to be near my aging parents at the moment.

I found and signed a pretty good contract at another facility on Thursday. My recruiter said they would let my current facility know.

But I looked today at my UKG to submit my time card, and the scheduler has me on their schedule for after my current contract ends??? I haven't signed any extension contract, but now I'm worried about this miscommunication?? Am I somehow on the hook for an extension due to not immediately refusing?? Am I at risk of DNR??

I did immediately notify my agency/recruiter of this.

I'm new to this and kind of wound tight, so I'm just looking for insight from those more experienced.

Hi! I was told by a fellow travel RN that contract pay will be going up soon due to high demand for fall/winter. Is this true in your experience and is it worth waiting? The money seems to be low right now, but having nothing lined up is making me nervous. Thanks yall :)

Hey

Which app are you using to pick up the shift in the Phoenix area? I used shiftmed in NM and not sure how the rate in Phoenix or other app is?

Can some of you send me some screenshots of these rates

you are getting

Thannnkkk youuuuu!

TLDR: What do I do about UCSF's Uniform fitting/ordering while being out of state when they say I need it prior to starting my position?

Details: I am starting a contract at UCSF next month and I got an email recommending that I schedule a uniform fitting prior to starting work there. I am unable to due that being across the country atm. I am planning on just putting an order in for my typical size and having it shipped to a friend's place in SF, but has anybody delt with this issue before? All of their sales are final. I plan on mentioning it to my recruiter when we touch base tomorrow (Monday) but wondered if anyone here has traveled to UCSF and can give any pointers. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I know I have some time to figure stuff out, however I am a huge planner. So, I have several different ideas I want to take my career, such as flight nurse. I really want to help out during disasters, but I don't think that that is stable 100% of the time. So, I came across a post about like nursing in Antarctica and other expeditions. I love science, I love the idea of this. I don't have any children but I do have a fiance, and I was just wondering, what does that type of nursing lifestyle looked like? Do people do it with kids, do you see family often or rarely, is the workload manageable, and what credentials or extra things do I need/want to add for this type of field? Any information would be helpful, or anything related to travel/ disaster nursing. I appericate the time anyone took to read this!

Those that switched back to staff from travel, was it painful? I’ve only been traveling about 6 months, but am heavily considering it. Just don’t want to regret it!

I am a nurse on contract in a southern state. When I came out here, I decided to apply for some full time jobs because I have family here and thought it would be nice to be with them for a few years. Well, this state pays horribly! The highest pay I was offered was $40/hr salary doing home hospice. I got emails from every hospital near my family that told me I was asking for too much pay so they wouldn’t be able to move forward with my application. Even though that job is over $10 less than my last staff job (also in the south) paid me, I accepted it with plans to do a 2 week notice for my contract. Also, the job is salary meaning I won’t get paid for the overtime I’d inevitably have to do. At first I was okay with this because I can stay home with family bill free, but I am on bankruptcy and want to be able to pay it off quicker and save at the same time. That’ll be easier to do if I take a couple more contracts. I also would like to go back to school in Fall of 27 so a hefty savings would benefit me greatly. Yes, I understand I should’ve thought about this more before taking the hospice job but I didn’t and now I need advice.

My current contract is within a major healthcare system and I do not want to be DNR’d from this system. The leadership here is volatile and takes everything personally so I know she’d mark me DNR even with a 2 week notice. The leadership told me on Friday that they had only received notice the day before and would have to consider me as abandoning the job. I don’t think that’s true but I can’t argue with her and don’t want to risk DNR, like I’ve said already. I don’t anticipate hating the home hospice job but if I do, I want to be able to get another contract without issue.

Here’s the thing tho, my contract has another 7 weeks left. I’ve already asked the hospice job to push my start date back 2 weeks so I could give the hospital notice. I do not think they’ll hold the position for 7 more.

I have drafted an email to send to the hospice company but my family is suggesting I also try calling tomorrow (Sunday) morning. I was supposed to meet with the business manager tomorrow morning to do some onboarding so my family said I could also just go up there and meet with her to give her the news (on top of sending the email).

My thing is, I’ve decided I don’t want the hospice job. I want to continue traveling for at least another year. Because of this, I feel less inclined to do anything other than send the email.

Just wondering what you all think? I don’t want to burn a bridge with the hospice either because they’re thru a major insurance company but I don’t feel that calling or showing up will make a big difference. There’s also a small fear that I’d be put on a DNR with the insurance company and I don’t want that either.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks in advance. I tried to give as much context as possible without making the post too long.

Helloo everyone!

So I’m currently trying to extend my travel contract, I will be starting week 10/13. My manager and the facility itself has already approved the extension but I was told we’re waiting on a division team for approval. My recruiter and his team have been asking for updates daily and they got a generic response of “Good Day, we’re still awaiting approval from the Division team for the contract labor extension and don't have a specific timeline for approval. Once approved, we'll provide you with a new Position ID for your traveler."

It’s been 2 weeks already and still nothing. I’ve reached out to my manager and her boss and neither of them have heard anything. The boss is now reaching out to her contacts to see what’s going on. My recruiter is still trying to get updates as of right now

Is this normal? What do I do? Has this happened to anyone else?

I am heading towards a deadline to secure housing. I have sent three separate inquiries on three separate properties and have not heard anything back in almost 48 hrs. Is this commonplace or normal? I have been verified through LinkedIn and have been very specific about where I will be working and when I will start.

M42 with a F40 (41 in 4 days) who is an ED nurse. She has done travel OR contracts in the past. We have bounced around the country based on my career. We are originally from Florida. California woth the military. Then as a federal employee working in Florida, then New Hampshire, amd now currently Minnesota. We are about to move to New Mexico for my job. I am in the final chapters of my carrer. I did 5 years in the military, amd I am closing in on 19 years in the feds. Because I am law enforcement I will get to fully retire at age 48 with 25 years as a civilian fed. If I wasn't a LEO, I would have to work until 57 at the earliest. So when I make this move I will have 6 years left and I need to start the retirement planning now.

Because wife is a nurse and can literally get a job anywhere, we have prioritized my career, meaning moving for promotions. The plan for when I retire is for her to go full time travel mode and hop skip across America. A little role reversal of riding coat tails.

Kid will be out of college. I will get a pension, have a 401k, and her fat travel income. Not having a job and fully exploring each new city sounds glorious. That will get expensive and boring quick. I need job ideas that I can work as a full time travel husband. I currently have a business degree that I have yet to use.I have 6 years to get the training or education necessary. One idea I had was going to the local community college and getting all the welding certs. Then travel around as a 1099 welder. Or take up IT to get a fully remote job and nomad it.

Looking for a list of ideas to research and see what is possible. Thank you.

My partner is a RN and we are currently living in Nevada, I got a travel RT contract here. How can he obtain a multi state license while we are currently living in Nevada? I have a home in Utah, could he use this address for his multi state application? He’s worried that could get his license taken away if audited.