Travel ER Nurse Jobs

The salary of a registered nurse can vary significantly depending on the experience of the nurse as well as the experience, certifications, and location they are working in. The median salary for a registered nurse was $ 80,010 per year or $36.22 per hour in 2020 with most earning between $61,630 and $93,590 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Entry-level registered nurse jobs or those with the lowest 10% salary earned around $53,410, while the highest 10% earned more than $116,230. Typically, a travel nurse job will provide higher hourly and weekly pay than permanent positions in the same location, especially for critical care units like the emergency room.

Emergency Room Nurses (ER RN) specialize in rapid response to medical emergencies and are usually treat patients with serious injuries or illnesses when they first arrive at the hospital. Patients usually come to the ER with allergic reactions, injuries resulting from car accidents, broken bones, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure or congestive heart failure (CHF), chest pains, abdominal pains, or other critical issues. Patients are either treated and released or sent to other areas of the hospital for treatment. Emergency Room Nurses are responsible for providing emergency care to adult and pediatric patients.

Typical Emergency Room RN Responsibilities:

• Provides emergency care to adult and pediatric patients

• Assesses patients and determines appropriate course of action

• Administer medication and treatment as directed by physicians or nurse practitioners

• Monitors patient vitals and rapidly responds to changes

• Documents all treatments administered in patient records

Patient Ratio 1:3-5

Floating Typically does not float

Certifications BLS, ACLS, PALS, TNCC, ENCP, NIHSS, SANE

Subsets Trauma Level 1 to IV, ER Holding/Fast Track

Patients Trauma, Fractures, Auto Accidents, Farming/Industrial Accidents, Chest Pain, Heart Attack, Stroke, Acute Exacerbations, COPD, Asthma, Mental Illness, Withdrawal, Overdose

Education & License Requirements

To work as a Travel ER Nurse, Registered Nurses must complete their associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing and take the National Council Licensure Exam NCLEX -RN Exam, which is a requirement to practice as an RN in the United States. Once the NCLEX exam is passed and you meet the board of nursing license requirements in your state, then all that is left is to do is gain the necessary experience in your specialty and explore additional certifications.

Certifications

Common certifications that could be required for an emergency room nurse include Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), and Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course (ENPC) certifications. Nurses interested in or currently working in the emergency room can also pursue additional certifications including the Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC), National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), and others.

While compensation offers can vary greatly depending on the contract or agency offering, pay packages for ER travel nurse jobs typically have four major components: hourly taxable wages, meals and incidentals, housing, and travel.

Hourly Pay

Full-time nurses working at healthcare facilities receive a salary, but most travel nurse employers offer hourly wages. Every pay package must include a taxable hourly wage, and the amount can vary depending on the shift, location, and specialty required of the assignment.

Housing

Housing payments can be included in a payment from a staffing agency. This is typically offered in two ways. Either the company is providing housing, or the traveler is taking the housing stipend. It is more beneficial for the traveler to take the housing stipend for two primary reasons. First, they will have a choice in where they stay. Everyone’s definitions of comfortable and acceptable are different. The second reason the housing stipend is more beneficial for them is that it can be given as a nontaxable amount.

Meals and Incidentals

Also known as per diems, meal and incidental stipends provide a daily budget for daily living expenses. These standards vary depending on the cost of living in cities and states across the country.

Travel Expenses

Travel is the last portion of the pay package. While a travel stipend can be used to cover the cost of a flight for the traveler, it is more often than not used to subsidize the traveler’s expenses to and from an assignment. Travel expenses can be offered as a reimbursement rate per mile, though many agencies will opt to offer a flat rate to and from an assignment.

Many travel nurses find work through recruitment agencies and marketplaces, which means you have better access to job boards to choose your schedule, location, and salary. When you begin browsing for jobs, be sure to consider the housing options, the benefits, the guaranteed hours' policy, and the recruiting company’s overall reputation.

The good news is that Fusion Marketplace has everything you need when it comes to finding the perfect traveling nursing jobs. Here, you have the freedom to compare benefits, packages, and staffing agencies—all in one place. So find your next job today.