Travelers in 2009 faced increased competition from retired nurses returning to work and part-time RNs taking full-time shifts to make ends meet. Lucrative travel contracts, and those based in desirable areas of the country, became rare as hospitals slashed budgets for temporary workers.

Following a difficult 2009, in which the number of travel nursing jobs plummeted for the first time in over a decade, Healthcare Traveler magazine offers ten tips to help travel nurses find their ideal assignments in 2010 and get your travel nursing career back on track.

Different states may have different licensing requirements. Some may require fingerprints while others do not and some may take a couple of days to process while others may take weeks. There are some states that are part of a national coalition that agrees for nurses who have what is called a “compact license” work in any of the states which subscribe to the “compact agreement.” However, there are currently only about 1/3 of the states that subscribe to this policy. If your state is part of the compact agreement, you can simply use this license to work in other compact states.