Catherine "Cat" Price, RN, BS, isn't your usual snowboard enthusiast. Price lives to snowboard and might even be called a snow bum, but she is unlike many snowboarding devotees who often work for a pittance in snowboard rental shops and sleep in rusty campers in order to afford their lift tickets.
As a perioperative travel nurse, 66-year-old Price has far brighter career choices and living accommodations than most boarders. She can pick from many winter job assignments that provide challenging career options, good pay, and cozy housing right in the heart of some of the nation's best snowboarding areas.
Benefits abound
Travel nursing offers nearly limitless and unique opportunities for perioperative nurses who want to tackle new challenges, both personally and professionally. Benefits offered by many travel agencies can include:
* free housing
* paid utilities
* 401(k)
* paid liability insurance and health/dental insurance premiums
* workers' compensation coverage
* opportunity to earn bonuses
* travel reimbursement
* competitive pay rates
* paid continuing education credits.
Travel assignments are typically 13 weeks long, and if a perioperative nurse demonstrates quick adaptability and good problem-solving skills, there's often the opportunity to extend a favorite travel assignment and even turn it into a permanent position.
As a perioperative travel nurse for 18 years, Price prefers to remain a rolling stone. She has crossed the country 21 times to work and snowboard from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Georgia to Colorado, New Mexico, California, and Washington.
"I started traveling so I could see the country. A lot of travel nurses go where they can get the higher bucks, but I go to places I have never been," says Price.
Points to consider
If the adventure of travel nursing sounds exciting, nurses who are considering this career option should weigh the pros with the flip side. For example, travel agencies may not offer sick time or vacation pay benefits, and nurses can be financially penalized if they don't complete a 40-hour work week. In addition, travel nurses are usually expected to stay to complete cases that take longer than anticipated, just like the permanent staff. Taking call is often part of the job, but there are travel assignments available at outpatient surgical centers where nurses don't take call or work weekends and holidays.
"Travel nursing is all pros for me, and if there is a con, it's that you don't come home to a family," says Price. "You have to know that you will do a lot by yourself."
Although perioperative nurses considering a travel career should feel comfortable being on their own, the ability to make friends quickly is an important skill for a successful travel experience, according to Mary Selgrat, RN, a perioperative travel nurse with Supplemental Health Care, Inc.
You can do it
If you are shy and the idea of traveling seems intimidating, Selgrat stresses that almost anyone can become a successful travel nurse.
"Travel nursing is not hard, it's just a matter of being open to trying it," she says. "If you're convinced that you can't make changes, then you probably won't last-99% of the key is a willingness to try."
Quickly establishing mutual respect and a solid working relationship with new surgeons on a regular basis can also be a challenge. However, Selgrat says that this isn't as difficult as it appears. She advises perioperative nurses to stay professional at all times, take responsibility for their mistakes, and not to take negative temperaments personally.
"As a perioperative travel nurse, you can quickly build good relationships with surgeons by being accountable and honest and refraining from becoming defensive," says Selgrat.
It can also be stressful to rapidly adapt and function efficiently in an unfamiliar setting.
Hospitals and surgical facilities are paying top dollar for travel nurses and do have high expectations for them.
"As a traveler, the expectation is that you are going to quickly be up and running," says Price.
Because orientation time can vary widely between facilities, nurses should ask potential employers about the type of orientation provided before accepting a travel assignment. Other good questions that will help you evaluate a potential assignment include:
* How does the staff get along at your facility?
* How does the department work together as a team?
* What kind of supplies, equipment, and resources are available?
* What type of orientation is provided?
To increase the chances of picking the right travel assignment, travelers should take advantage of the expertise of travel recruiters, according to Mary Kay Hull, vice president of recruitment for American Traveler. She recommends that nurses who are considering a travel career seriously contemplate and let recruiters know why they want to travel, such as for recreation, professional growth, or for financial reasons. Hull says that knowing what's motivating nurses to travel helps recruiters to meet their personal goals.
Mutual back scratching
Once you have chosen an assignment, you will need the support and cooperation of permanent nurses and staff to help you get your bearings in a new facility. Price advises travelers to be friendly and show new coworkers that if they help you, you will return the favor.
On the flip side, permanent staff at traveler-friendly hospitals will try to include travelers in the unit's activities and camaraderie in order to maximize the entire OR team's effectiveness.
"You're never alone in the OR-there are always people who can help you," says Price.
In addition, traveler-friendly hospitals know that welcoming and supporting a good travel nurse may influence that nurse to take a permanent position. Sup-portive permanent staff will also help travelers to get their bearings in a new OR and, according to Price, surgical suites are generally set up the same way everywhere, although there may be small differences in equipment.
Travelers can also expect to encounter differences in procedures between various facilities and perioperative departments. Under-standing and accepting the similarities and differences between facilities is an important survival skill for perioperative travel nurses, says Price.
It's also a good strategy to be completely honest when filling out the skills list that is sent to potential employers. "Travel nurses who exaggerate do regret it," notes Price.
Changing your colors
For some perioperative nurses, the decision to be-come a traveler began as a practical decision rather than a foray into adventure.
Betty Reed, RN, has been a perioperative travel nurse for 5 years with AMN Healthcare, Inc. She began her travel career to take advantage of the high salaries that would help quickly pay off some debt.
"I've never worked anywhere exotic, but now that I've paid off debt, I'll be looking for perioperative assignments in parts of the country I have never seen, including Alaska," she says.
Being open to the travel experience also led Reed to discover her true passion in nursing. When she began her travel career, Reed worked in adult perioperative settings. But she soon was offered an assignment at a children's hospital that was willing to cross-train her in pediatrics. That leap of faith took her into a specialty that Reed feels she was always meant to do. "They were willing to teach me, and I was willing to learn," she says.
Reed has also found that every part of the country has something different to offer. She recommends that travelers keep an open mind when considering potential assignments.
"Every place I've been to has been interesting," she says. "Value systems, cultures, food, and the general atmosphere change when you get to a different part of the country. You don't get that broad spectrum of insight by staying in one place. But if you're not willing to do and see things differently, then you should not be a travel nurse."
Staying young
Perioperative travel nursing can also be a great part-time or semiretirement career option. Catherine Wabeke, RN, CNE, RNSA, BS, has been a perioperative nurse for 44 years and has an extensive background in direct perioperative patient care, administration, and nursing education.
Now in semiretirement, Wabeke has worked part-time as a travel nurse for 4 years in order to see different areas of the country before embracing full retirement.
"Before I settle down, I want to see as many of the national parks as I can," she says.
She also still enjoys learning new skills while mentoring and sharing her skills and knowledge with other nurses. Her assignments have made good use of her vast experience and have included stints scrubbing, circulating, and teaching.
"When we learn new procedures, new equipment, and new ways of doing things, I think we stay younger." OR