Travel Nursing Jobs

Registered Nurses (RN)

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. The median wage 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, travel nurse jobs will provide higher hourly and weekly pay than a permanent position in the same location, a especially for specialty critical care position like emergency room (ER), intensive care (ICU), neonatal intensive care (NICU), and pediatric intensive care (PICU), and telemetry units.

Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN/LVN)

LPN/ LVN salary will also vary depending on the experience, certifications, and location of the job. The median wage for a licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse was $50,090 per year or $23.47 per hour in 2020 with most earning between $42,060 and $57,860 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Entry-level LPN/LVN jobs or those with the lowest 10% salary earned around $35,570, while the highest 10% earned more than $65,520. Typically, travel LPN jobs will provide higher hourly and weekly pay than a permanent position in the same location.

Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA)

Certified Nursing Assistant salaries are dependent on the location of the assignment. The median salary for Nurse Assistants was $32,050 per year or $23.47 per hour in 2020 with most earning between $42,060 and $57,860 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Entry-level CNA jobs or those with the lowest 10% salary earned around $35,570, while the highest 10% earned more than $65,520. Travel CNAs can expect to earn higher than permanent positions, especially in a Long Term Care position where there is a need for more nursing assistants around the country.

Travel nurses are nurses who work for a short period of time to fill in where there are nursing shortages. Many nurses opt to go into travel nursing for the many perks, like the chance to explore new places, experience diverse practice environments, and make new friends. Competitive pay, the potential for great benefits, and free housing are also major positives of the job.

To become a travel nurse, you must have completed the education requirements and gained experience so you will be comfortable and reliable in a new environment. Nearly every state will also require a state license in order to practice. It is important to ensure your credentials are correct before applying for a travel nursing job. Creating a profile with Fusion Marketplace is one easy way to store and share employment history, education & certification, licenses, references, and any other professional documents. Fusion Marketplace also offers multiple agencies specializing in travel nursing, and the recruiters are available to provide support at every stage of your travel career.

Critical Care / Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

• Average Salary $77,300*

• Typical Patient Ratio 1:1-2

• Typical Certifications BLS, NRP, TNCC, NIHSS

• Subsets CVICU, MICU, SICU, Burn ICU, Neuro ICU, Trauma, CCU

• Floating Typically float to Stepdown/PCU, PACU, Medical-Surgical / Telemetry, and other ICU units

• Patients Transfer from ER Requiring Close Monitoring, Life-Threatening Illness/Injury, Patients from Inpatient Units Who Deteriorate Rapidly, Medical, Post-Surgical, Trauma, Burn, Cardiac

• Description ICU RNs use advanced skills to care for patients who are critically ill and at high risk for life-threatening health problems. ICU patients include, but aren’t limited to, heart attack, stroke, shock, severe trauma, respiratory distress, multiple organ failure, sepsis, and other critical conditions. Because of the critical nature of the patients, it is standard that ICU RNs only have one or two patients on a shift. Patients are on very specialized equipment and multiple medications.

Operating Room

• Average Salary $80,000*

• Patient Ratio 1:1

• Certifications BLS, ACLS, PALS

• Subsets Scrub, Circulation, First Assist RN, CVOR

• Patients Thoracic, Orthopedic, General, Neuro/Spine, Endoscopy, Urology, Cardio, Oral ENT, Plastics, Transplant, OB/GYN, Opthalmology ENT, Podiatry

• Description Duties of an OR RN are twofold. Some RNs can circulate and scrub, but some only do one or the other. A Scrub RN prepares the OR for the patient: sets up tools and makes sure the area is sterile for surgery. They also assist the surgical team with their masks, gowns, and gloves. They’ll often aid the physician by passing instruments. After surgery, they clear away the tools and prep the patient for transport to the recovery room. The Circulating OR RN works the perimeter of the surgical area inspecting equipment, double-checking the patient’s identity, and getting proper consent forms.

Labor and Delivery

• Average Salary $75,100*

• Typical Patient Ratio 1:1

• Typical Certifications BLS, NRP, AWHONN, STABLE

• Subsets High Risk, Mother/Baby, Postpartum, Nursery, OB/GYN

• Patients Pre-Labor, Intra-Labor, Post-Labor, Newborn Infant, High-Risk Pregnancy

• Description L&D RNs care for women when they are in labor and giving birth. They monitor and assess the mother and baby during this time and coach the women through labor. L&D RNs also assist the doctors during delivery. Some L&D RNs have a “high-risk” background and care for mothers with complex diseases and high-risk pregnancies, with conditions such as diabetes, preeclampsia (high blood pressure), and multiple gestations (prematurity, low birth weight, infant mortality).

Emergency Room

• Average Salary $78,439*

• Patient Ratio 1:3-5

• 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

• Description ER RNs specialize in rapid response to medical emergencies and are usually the first line of defense for patients. Patients usually come to the ER with allergic reactions, injuries resulting from car accidents, broken bones, COPD, CHF, chest pains, abdominal pains, and other critical health issues. Patients are either treated and released or sent to other areas of the hospital for treatment.

Telemetry Unit

• Average Salary $73,380*

• Typical Patient Ratio 1:5-8

• Certifications BLS, ACLS, NIHSS

• Subsets Level I to III

• Patients Post-Surgical, Heart Attack, CHF, GI Bleeds, Renal failure, COPD, Chest Pain, Diabetics, Advanced Cancer, Irregular Heart Rhythm, Post CABG

• Float Can Float to Medical-Surgical

• Description Tele RNs typically care for patients coming out of the ICU or who have chronic health concerns requiring continuous monitoring of heart rhythms and heart and breathing rates. Telemetry nurses use different types of technology to monitor patients’ blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, breathing patterns, and heart activity, among other things. They also record and interpret the data from the monitors and use it to assess a patient’s rate of recovery.

*According to Salary.com

Critical Access Hospital

A critical access hospital is a very small rural hospital with fewer than twenty-five acute care beds. They must provide 24/7 Emergency Room care and be more than thirty-five miles away from the next closest hospitals. There are over 1,300 certified critical access hospitals across the country. Many of the nurses who work here have to float to multiple areas including Med Surg, ER, and even Labor and Delivery.

Community Hospital

Community or General Hospital is a very vague designation given to facilities that are not part of a large teaching facility, a healthcare system, or a chain of private hospitals. They provide general or specific medical care, which is usually short-term, in a cost-effective setting, and also focuses on preventing illnesses and treating them. They can range anywhere from 50 to 350 beds.

Teaching/Academic Hospital

A teaching/academic/university hospital is associated with a local college or university. They provide patients and the community with healthcare for everyday needs and the most specialized services for complex diseases, illnesses, and injuries. They often offer unique care not available anywhere else in the region. Many develop new technology and cutting-edge research that improves lives and cures chronic illnesses. They are also heavily involved with their nursing and physician programs at the university. These hospitals typically range from 500 beds plus. They also typically have several buildings for their specialized areas of care.

Long Term Care (LTC)

These are facilities, like nursing homes, that provide services to people who are unable to care for themselves independently. Care includes medical management and personal care.

Hospice

Hospice provides end-of-life care for patients. These patients have illnesses that they will not survive, and they are no longer candidates for care in a hospital setting. Nurses here make sure their patients remain physically comfortable and help manage the emotional and spiritual needs of both the patients and their families.

Dialysis

This is a treatment used for those patients with kidney failure. Dialysis is an artificial process that functions in place of the kidneys and removes unwanted water from the bloodstream. Often patients who receive dialysis go to a dialysis clinic several times a week to receive treatment.

Rehabilitation

These types of facilities help patients regain strength, mobility, and health after damage caused to the body following illness, injury, or surgery. Physical therapists work with patients to help restore physical strength and mobility. They help their patients gain independence and a higher quality of life.

Home Health

Home healthcare includes services provided to patients at home. Often an RN or LPN specializing in-home healthcare will visit the patient in the home to help with the injection of medication, provide nutritional therapy, care for wounds, and monitor illnesses.

Because of the nationwide shortage, traveling nursing jobs are becoming more appealing to full-time and part-time registered nurses with advanced practice.

The appeal is clear: travelers can expand their employment search, multiply the number of lucrative job offers they receive, build their practice in multiple nursing specialties, and experience an entirely new locale while they're at it. Thanks to compact license agreements, a travel nurse can work in multiple locations without having to apply for a new state license, as long as their assignment is in a location that is part of the compact state agreement. There are currently 39 nursing compact state members.

Becoming a traveling nurse offers more than job flexibility or security. After spending thousands of dollars earning and pursuing a master's degree or a doctoral degree, nurses have the chance to secure a higher level of pay that suits their skills and expertise in the healthcare industry.

While compensation offers can vary greatly depending on the contract or agency offering, pay packages for travelers 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 nursing 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 to travelers in two ways. Either the company policy is to provide 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. Many recruiters may not even offer travel reimbursement and instead put that money into the per diems or housing for their traveler so they are receiving the benefits over the entire contract, not just at the very beginning or end of the contract. 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.