Having a profile on one or more social networks is essential to staying in touch with family & friends back at home. Keep in touch with colleagues from each of your assignments, even after you leave and move on to another. Being a travel nurse is an amazing way to network with countless other professionals in your field, giving you the opportunity to sharpen your skills and acquire job recommendations.

Today's social media outlets make it easier than ever to stay connected while on a travel nursing assignment. Rather than spending all of your free time calling or texting friends and family members, just sign up for an account on Facebook, Twitter or Live Journal and have everyone connect to you. You can then send out daily messages from your computer or smart phone, as well as photos or videos, and reach everyone at once. This is also a great way to stay in touch with fellow nurses you meet as you hop around from state to state.

Travel nursing assignments allow you to choose how long you want to stay in one position. Jobs are offered in contract form, and the length of contracts will vary. You can choose to work for just a few months a year, or perhaps select a contract that will keep you working all year.

Typical travel nurse jobs are 13 weeks, which has become the standard for the industry. This time frame, representing a quarter of a year, works best as it gives the nurse the time to acclimate to the hospital / unit and bridge the gap between the hire of a permanent RN or a temporary spike in census. Often times, hospital's will look to renew a nurse's contract for another 13 weeks as early as a month into his or her assignment if they anticipate a longer need for their services. Some hospitals may hire temporary nurse staff on a shorter than 13-week basis, however travel nursing agencies may not always be able to provide all the standard perks such as free private housing and benefits in such cases.

Auto Club Membership: Many travel nurse agencies offer a discount or free membership to an auto club. Travel nurses will have access to roadside assistance, hotel discounts, rental cars, free trip routing with detailed directions and maps, emergency check cashing, and no fee travelers checks.

Membership to an auto-club is essentially the VIP level of travel nursing benefits. Some companies may offer such plans, while others don't. Many will offer it to nurses as part of a loyalty package for completing X number of assignments. Regardless, it does not hurt to ask your travel nurse recruiter if auto-club membership is an option, as well as any other perks you may have heard from your colleagues.

Although men comprise less than 10 percent of the nurse workforce in the U.S., travel nursing remains a high-paying alternative for men seeking the adrenaline and personal fulfillment of other civil service and emergency jobs and want to stay close to home.

Whereas the median salary for firemen and EMTs is somewhere between 30K and 50K a year, travel nurses can earn between $70,000 and $100,000 depending on assignment.

While a man's choice of career may often come down to personal preference or educational requirements, this statistic is glowing recommendation for more males to consider a career as a registered nurse.

With the U.S. experiencing an acute shortage of qualified nurses for the past several of years, travel nursing companies are appearing in large numbers. Within the United States, these travel nursing companies search for qualified nurses and send them to medical centers and hospitals that are in need of and lack healthcare professionals.

As the number of travel nursing agencies continues to increase, it is important for travel nursing candidates to properly research each company before they consider pursuing employment. A couple of factors to consider are:

- How long has the travel nursing agency been in business?
- Is the company certified by the Joint Commission?
- How many open positions does the company have?
- Do the company offer a full suite of benefits to it's travel nurses?

Compare these elements as you review each travel nursing agency and you will begin to find the more reputable ones who will provide you with the best assignments, best benefits and best customer service.

While having a contract terminated can be a horrible thing to happen, it is not the end of the world. Talk to your recruiter immediately and find out your options. There are too many different things that can happen when a contract is terminated to cover every given situation (in my book, I devote about eleven pages to this single subject). The key is open communication with everyone involved to see what can be done. You might never have the unfortunate situation of having a contract cancelled, but hopefully you now have a few ideas on where to start should it happen to you.

Cancels may occur do to a change in census, hospital budget cuts, or nurses returning from absences. While they are not commonplace, they do occur in some situations know matter how good of a job you are doing on your travel nursing assignment. As stated above, the number one thing to do is to contact your agency and let your recruiter present you with the options available to you. It may be possible to start another assignment in a nearby facility or work per diem within the area if you are not yet ready to leave. In any case, your travel nurse recruiter will walk you through the process to ensure your next paycheck is not far off.

Before you accept a travel nurse position in a hospital it will pay to do a little research on that facility. All hospitals are not created equal when it comes to a good working environment. Your research can consist of simply asking other nurses who have worked at the facility you are thinking about going to, or doing an online search for it. There are numerous online nusing and travel forums available that will discuss in detail different hospitals and even differeny departments within a hospital. You can always ask your recruiter for the names and numbers of nurses they have placed there previously to get an idea of what the work environment may be like.

The importance of properly researching a hospital cannot be stressed enough to travel RNs. First time travelers should try to find a facility that frequently employs travel nurses, so they will be properly trained and given the guidance and support to make the best out of their assignment. More experienced RNs may opt for larger, busier hospitals that may be offering higher pay rates to nurses who can hit the ground running in a fast paced environment.

Friends who work together as travel nurse can also save money by sharing living expenses. Not only can the friends split the cost of the monthly rent, the pair can also split the utilities and the cost of groceries. When you are going to be living together tell your nursing agency and let them know that you will be sharing the housing, this could mean that the agency looks for a bigger space.

Nurses looking to travel together should contact their travel nurse agency and inquire about hospitals with multiple needs. In addition to the shared living expenses, travel nurse pairs can also save money on transportation costs. And most importantly, traveling with a friend means you will have someone with you to talk about your day with and explore the the sights and attractions of a new city with.

To apply for a nursing travel agency, you will have to fill some forms and present some required paper documents. The required documents include licenses' verifications, reports of previous experience, sub-specialty skill assessments, verifications of immunization status, tuberculin skin test results, chest radiology report and a doctor's statement approving health fitness for the job. Although the required paper work might seem burdensome, it is only required once per agency application.

Since most travel nursing agencies are certified by the Joint Commission, it is important that they have all the proper paperwork before sending a candidate out on assignment. Your travel nurse recruiter will usually provide you with a list of requirements weeks prior to the start of your assignment so you will have plenty of time to become compliant with the hospital's standards. Here is a list of standard travel nurse compliance forms required by most staffing agencies.

Ask For An Early Move-in An early move is suggested by experienced travel nurses because it enables you to relax and breathe a little before embarking on your new travel nursing job. Familiarize yourself with the place and the people. And best of all, enjoy the new sights because one of the major perks of having a career in travel nursing is of course... the travel.

Getting to your travel nurse assignment early is a great way to check out your new surroundings, map out your commute to the hospital, and get settled in before your first day of work. While an early-move in is not always status quo, if you speak with your travel nurse housing coordinator early enough in the process they will often do what they can to accommodate you.

Caring Today for a Healthier Tomorrow

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Nurses Week is a time to celebrate the wonderful achievements of our nationwide nurses who devote their professional lives towards exceptional patient care. The RN credited for the 2010 National Nurses Week theme describes the profession as:

"Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles – from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher – and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety."

Please feel free to post your own description of the role of a nurse in today's hospital!

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.

Onward Healthcare is excited to announce the launch of Travel Nursing Insider, a podcast dedicated to the travel nurse community. Travel Nursing Insider will act as an additional avenue to inform and educate registered nurses about a travel nursing career, as well as the latest job trends and advice for life on the road.

Onward Healthcare, a nationwide provider of travel nursing jobs, just released a new podcast series dedicated to travel nurse professionals and travel nursing job seekers. Parts 1 and 2 feature executive personnel from Onward giving an in depth discussion of how RNs go about getting started in travel nurse career.

As a nurse taking various short term positions around the country, odds are you’ll be coming and going to lots of different places. You’re most likely to need tools that can help you stay on top of plans, keep in touch, maintain your fitness, and more. Here we’ll examine 100 iPhone apps that can help make your life easier.

Useful page to bookmark for any travel nurse who uses an iPhone. CLICK HERE TO VIEW!

Registered nursing tops the health-care occupations with the greatest number of total jobs (2.5 million). Openings are expected to rise 23 percent from 2006 to 2016. Recent news reports say that 116,000 jobs for registered nurses are currently open in hospitals, with another 100,000 unfilled positions at nursing homes. An additional 587,000 new jobs are predicted to open, which makes nursing the single-largest occupation in terms of career growth.

Prepare to land an opening by completing an online associate or bachelor's degree program in nursing. The median 2008 annual wage for registered nurses was $62,450, with top earnings at $92,240.

Yahoo Hot Jobs lists Registered Nurses as one of their "6 Thriving Jobs That Are Here to Stay."

Despite the World Health Organization’s public statements of confidence regarding the H1N1 vaccine and reiterated calls for mass vaccination, a Consumer Reports poll implied that only about 30% of Americans have a definite intention to get the H1N1 vaccine. Nearly 50% of Americans are still undecided.

RN Degrees Online Nursing Education Digest examines the hesitancy of healthcare workers to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Read the whole article here.

In response to a survey by the Joint Commission, more than 50% of nurses reported having been a victim of bullying and/or disruptive behavior at work, and more than 90% stated that they witnessed the abusive behavior of others.

This feature from RNWeb discusses the damaging effects of bullying in the workplace in regards to nurses, as well as solutions to help end the trend, and the positive effects that will come as a result.

To read the entire article, click here.