Most travel nurses find that the best answer for seeking out temporary nursing assignments is working through an agency. Some nurses develop relationships with institutions that will recall them for temporary assignments on a periodic basis. There are also large HMOs and PPO organizations that will keep a file of temporary RNs with whom they have worked and who they know are competent.
Travel nurse agencies provide a number of services for nurses who enjoy the travel nurse lifestyle and do not have a network of contacts on which they can rely. Within limits, travel nurse agencies will accede to your requests or preferences for placement. You can designate parameters for the length of assignments, designate areas of geographic preference, and define what sorts of staffing assignments are acceptable and which are not.
Travel Nurse Agencies Bring Contractual Expertise
That does not mean that the agency will be able to fulfill all of your prioritizations – the point is that you can ask. It is probably best to leave it to the agency to negotiate your financial package, although you can certainly set a minimum hourly rate that you will accept.
Keep in mind that the agency is taking a percentage of what the hospital is paying for your services and accordingly, your net salary may not be as high as can be found in the high cost of living markets such as New York and California. Compensating for the moderate salary range may be a number of perks that are real cost items such as a housing allowance and health insurance. All of those have to be factored into calculating the net value of the contract.
Good Travel Nurse Agencies have a Wealth of Contacts
Like every industry, job placement in the temporary nursing business depends on relationships. Travel nurse agencies build their business by developing a customer base and keeping that group of customers happy. If an agency has quality working relationships with twenty hospitals, they’ll be hearing from each one of them when there’s a sudden nursing shortage materializing in their facility.
More valuable than relationships with single hospitals are working agreements with HMOs that have multiple facilities which must be staffed. An HMO that operates five clinics, a couple of hospitals, long term care facilities and rehabilitation centers is going to have constant staff turnover just by virtue of its size and diversity.
Most agencies do not require contractual relationships of their travel nurses beyond the current assignment. However developing a relationship with an agency is of value for the travel nurse, as it gives you a chance to develop a solid reputation. That may, in turn, lead to particularly lucrative or opportune assignments being offered to you. When you are looking for an agency relationship, it is probably worthwhile to review the agency’s list of clients and the length of the relationship that the agency has had with each. If possible, a third party opinion on the agency from a health facility that knows the industry would be worth seeking out.
