Inspired by her friend, emergency medicine registered nurse (RN) Michelle G. decided to return to her roots after years of working in a permanent position and go back to travel nursing in 2021.
“My kids weren’t home, my husband was on board with it, so I was like, ‘Why don’t I just take off and go?’” Michelle said, reflecting on her decision. “So, I did!”
Earlier in her career, Michelle had a job as a travel nurse in a hospital near her home in northwestern Illinois—she liked it so much that she took a permanent position.
After exploring a wide variety of practice settings within the hospital, such as med/surg, surgical, orthopedic, telemetry and behavioral health, she decided to take the leap and become fully certified in emergency medicine, which was her favorite due to the excitement of the job.
She worked in the emergency department for 17 years at her home hospital. Michelle found a way to make her emergency room job even more exciting—by taking a travel nurse position and leaving home.
Advice to New Travel Nurses
Many choose to take a travel clinician position either after college, or as an older adult, after their kids leave home.
After rekindling her travel nursing career, Michelle found adjusting to the challenges of leaving home difficult at first.
“It was scary, I hadn’t been by myself in years. You move halfway across the country,” Michelle said. “But, after those first eight weeks were over, I called my husband and said I’m signing up for another eight weeks, and he couldn’t believe it.”
Michelle said more experienced RNs who are looking to break into the travel healthcare lifestyle should be prepared for the initial adjustment period after taking a new assignment, because in her experience, the situation required more independence from her than she initially realized.
“I’d been at home for years and I thought I was independent, but it was a lot. You have to be ready to be by yourself,” Michelle said. “And if you’re young and single you’re probably used to that. I wasn’t used to that.”
The travel nursing experience enabled Michelle to build lasting relationships with others traveling for work, and she advised new travel nurses to start at a hospital with plenty of other travel nurses.
“We had a nice travel family in southern California. We’d go out to eat together. We would do things together. So you’re not lonely very long,” Michelle said, referring to a hospital at which she’s taken four different travel nurse assignments. “You’re just a little lonely when you get there.”
Today, Michelle has friends across the country as a result of her travel nurse jobs.
Deciding Where to Work as a Travel Nurse
To pack up and move, Michelle said she needs to make more at her new assignment than she currently does at her job in between travel assignments, which is working as a PRN in the emergency department of her local hospital.
Finding a new place isn’t all about the money to her, though—-she cares about location too. She’s gone on four different assignments to the same hospital in Southern California during winter, which granted her the benefit of leaving freezing cold Illinois.
Her dream destination is Hawaii, where she’s currently getting licensed, because “that would be a working vacation.”
Working with Barton Healthcare Staffing: Recruiting and Licensing
As a Barton Healthcare Staffing travel nurse, Michelle said she constantly keeps in touch with her recruiter, Jessica, who she also views as a close friend.
“I talk to Jessica almost every other week,” Michelle said. “I truly feel like she’s my friend. …It’s very important because I don’t feel like I’m just a person to make a paycheck for her. I feel like she really cares to put me in the right place. I will always call her first.”
When traveling to new states, one thing Michelle found helpful was Barton’s licensing team. Michelle has licenses in four states: her home state of Illinois, California, New York and Massachusetts.
Colleen, who works in BHS’ Peabody, Massachusetts office, is a member of the company’s licensing and credentialing team. She helps Michelle get licensed in different states—in fact, BHS has obtained licenses for her in California, New York and Massachusetts.
Michelle found the licensing process with Barton “completely stress-free… All of a sudden a license shows up and you didn’t do anything.”
She just had to “sign a piece of paper saying, it’s me and they take care of everything. It’s amazing.”
Since working with Barton, Michelle has discovered work as a travel nurse outside the traditional hospital setting. She has a brand new gig as a travel nurse for musical tours, and is looking at a job where she can work from home, using an app to provide care to people on tours.
Traveling also allowed Michelle to complete her master’s degree.
Michelle reflected on her time spent as a travel nurse, saying “It’s a great way to see the country.”
If you’re a nurse or allied health clinician looking to start your travel healthcare journey, check out our job board, or get in touch with one of our dedicated recruiters.