Travel Nursing Hard To Get Assugnment
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Taking the shifts you are handed comes with the territory when you’re a traveling nurse. Sometimes that means saying sayonara to the scheduled you are used to and taking the dreaded night shift. Getting through a night shift at work can feel like an eternity. Be ready to tackle the twilight zone with a combination of proactive and reactive techniques. They will help you achieve a happier and healthier work-life balance and ensure you stay alert when patients are counting on you. Here are some surefire ways to get you through the night shift.
Create Consistent Sleep Patterns
The National Sleep Foundation released the results of a two-year study that found adults (24-64 years old) should get at least seven hours of sleep, but six hours is acceptable. When working the night shift, it is crucial that you create sleep patterns, and stick to them, to ensure you get the necessary amount of shut eye.
The rules that govern good sleep habits at night certainly apply to daytime snoozing. Avoid distractions like cell phones and computer screens when it’s time to sleep. While many believe a hot bath or shower will relax you for bed, science may disagree. Taking a hot bath or shower before bed can raise your body temperature, a natural signal to the body that it is time to wake. You may also find it helpful to invest in a pair of blackout curtains or an eye mask to help drown out the sun’s rays. And if you still find yourself struggling to stay asleep, get up. Yup, you read that right. Five or six hours of solid, deep sleep can prove more beneficial than toss and turning for a restless eight hours.
Become Friends with Other Night Shift Workers
Having friends who work the night shift will allow you to keep a more routine schedule. You can make plans with them on your days off to stay active during your normal work hours and sleep during the day. Try a movie marathon or hitting the local 24-hour gym to keep yourself awake. Plus, having a shift buddy always makes work a happier place!
Stick to a Schedule
While this is hard to achieve, regardless of when you work, it’s important to stick to some type of schedule when rocking the night shift. If you get off at seven in the morning, make sure to be in bed by eleven and sleep until five or six. This gives you a window of time to be social and taking advantage of traditional works hours for sleeping ensuring you don’t miss out. you’ll be sleeping when mostly everyone else is at work.
Don’t Overdo the Caffeine Products
Downing loads of coffee can be an easy fix when working the night shift because our brain is telling us we should be sleeping but it can also be a dangerous trap. If you drink five energy drinks before your shift is over, falling asleep will be very hard. Try to stick to your normal intake of caffeine. Be sure and drink plenty of water. It will keep you hydrated and won’t give you the jitters.
Stay Active at Work
While the night shift is typically a slower time for nurses, be sure to stay active on the job so you can keep your brain alert and aware. Chat with co-workers or try to learn a new skill like knitting. You could even listen to podcasts or download an app to help you learn a new language. Whatever you choose to occupy your downtime, make sure it’s something that won’t make you feel even more tired.
Monitor Your Health
Working the night shift can have a detrimental effect, so it’s important to effectively monitor your health. The NSF reports shift workers face a higher risk of insomnia, daytime sleepiness, high blood pressure, diabetes, menstrual irregularities, colds and weight gain than day shift employees. While we know taking care of your patients is your number one priority, check in with yourself from time to time throughout your assignment to evaluate your well-being both physically and mentally.
Bonus: Relish in the Benefits of Working the Night Shift
Travel Nursing Hard To Get Assignment Template
- Shift differential. With extra hourly pay for nights (and sometimes more for weekend nights) you can see a significant bump in your paycheck.
- Good team spirit. Staffing levels are often reduced on nights, so you and your co-workers help each other get things done. And since things are less hectic, you’ll get a chance to talk and learn about each other. Many co-workers go to breakfast together after their shift ends for their own unique happy hour.
- More availability. School activities, medical appointments, and hair stylists can be easier to schedule. You must be careful about overdoing it, but you may find it easier to make time for life’s little things when working the night shift.
Whether you love working the night shift or are just barely surviving, these tips will come in handy during those long evenings. For additional wellness tips or advice on kick-starting your career as a traveling medical pro, head over to Triage Staffing to speak with one of our expert recruiters.
About the Author:
John Maaske co-founded Triage Staffing in 2006, a full service staffing solution for traveling nursing, laboratory, rehabilitation therapy, and radiology professionals. His successful profession in the healthcare staffing industry spans 17 years, with a deep interest and drive to connect and assist people. John built Triage with intentions to get to know each of this travelers to create an exceptional travel experience for all with a bottom-line of: “Build Trust, Go After It!” When the DePaul University Alumni isn’t busy helping traveling medical professionals expand, grow, and spread health throughout the nation, he enjoys running, hiking, and spending time with his family. Connect with John! Interested in becoming a traveling healthcare professional? Take a look at what Triage has to offer.
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Travel nursing holds a lot of appeal for many people interested in the healthcare field because it offers perks like the chance to visit new places, competitive pay, and career flexibility. It’s also the perfect opportunity to gain valuable skills, get out of your comfort zone, and of course, make a difference in the lives of your patients.
But what exactly does it take to become a travel nurse?
Learn more about travel nurse requirements to see if this career choice might be right for you.
What exactly is a travel nurse?
Your immediate vision of being a travel nurse may be traveling to exotic destinations, but that’s not necessarily true. Being a travel nurse simply means that you are employed by an independent nursing staffing agency instead of a by a single hospital. That means that you could travel as far as a different country, or you could work at your local hospital in need of temporary nurses. The choice is up to you on when and where you work, but travel nursing doesn’t necessarily mean faraway travel.
License Requirements for Travel Nursing
The very basic requirement to become a travel nurse is to have an active RN license. Nurses who have completed a diploma program, are a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and those who hold an Associates or Bachelor’s degree in nursing are all eligible to become a travel nurse. In general, travel nurses are usually RNs instead of LPNs, although that can vary based on the exact location and staffing needs of the assignment.
Pro tip: A Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree is not a formal requirement to become a travel nurse, but some hospitals and facilities may prefer to hire BSN-prepared nurses. If you have a specific facility in mind, you may want to check their official requirements before signing on with the staffing agency.
If you will be working domestically within the United States, you may also need to get additional licensure in the state that you will be working as a travel nurse. If you obtained your original nursing license in a Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) state, such as Florida, Texas, or Arizona, and you will be working in a fellow NLC state, you have what’s called a compact license. This means your nurse license is good in all NLC states, so there is no need to seek additional licensure. If the state you received your original nursing license in is not a compact license state or the state you will be working in isn’t, you will need to get an additional applicable state license; the staffing agency you are working with will be able to help you procure it.
Credentials to Become a Travel Nurse
Along with a nursing license in the appropriate state, you will need the basic certifications of Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) to sign on with a travel nursing agency. If you know you plan on specializing in a specific unit, you may also want to be sure that you have credentials in that specialty; for instance, a CCRN certification for critical care, or NRP for labor and delivery and postpartum care. Most travel nursing agencies require nurses to obtain and maintain all of their certifications at their own expense, so it’s to your advantage to do some research ahead of time and make sure you’re as prepared as possible to enter into your specialty field choice.
Taxes for Travel Nurses
Travel nursing recruitment often focuses on the benefits and perks, such as housing stipends or sign-on bonuses, but it’s also important not to overlook the tax implications that come with travel nursing. In order to become a travel nurse, you will need to have what’s called a “tax home” in the eyes of the IRS. That simply means you have to prove that you have a full-time residence when you’re not working as a travel nurse.
If you don’t have a full-time residence that you maintain and pay for when you’re not working as a travel nurse, don’t worry — you can still work, but you will have a tax status as an itinerant worker, which means you have to pay taxes on all of your income, including any stipends or reimbursements. For non-itinerant nurses who do have a tax home, your base wage pay is taxable income, while all “extras,” including meals, housing allotments, or travel reimbursement is non-taxable.
That means that you will save on paying taxes on that income, but it also means that your adjusted income will not be as high in the eyes of say, a loan officer or for Social Security purposes. If you anticipate needing a loan soon, or are approaching retirement, it may be more advantageous to you to have a higher taxable income reflected on your paycheck.
Read More: Comprehensive Guide to Travel Nurse Taxes
Years of Experience You Need for Travel Nursing
In general, most nursing staffing agencies require nurses to have at least one year, but often two, of bedside experience before signing them; if you will be working a specialized unit, such as labor and delivery or ICU, the agency may require more time before you can work as a travel nurse in that field.
Maintaining Your Nursing License as a Travel Nurse
For nurses with a compact license, maintaining your license as a travel nurse is no different than meeting the requirements of the home state that you received your original license in. Once you renew your home state license, your license for the new location is considered updated too.
If you had to obtain an additional state license, however, you will have to renew your home state license (if you want to keep it, that is) and meet the requirements for license renewal in the state you are working in as well. Certain states, such as Florida and Washington, also require all nurses to obtain Continued Education Units (CEUs) in the specific areas of pain management and HIV awareness, so you will need to make sure you fulfill the CEUs for your home state and/or work state as well.
In general, while it’s also good to prepare yourself as much as possible, becoming a travel nurse can be a straightforward process. Once you’re a nurse with an active license, have at least one to two years of bedside experience under your belt, and are ready to take on the challenge of a new location and work environment, you can take on the adventure of being a travel nurse.
If you’re interested in becoming a travel nurse, you can take the next step by learning more about travel nursing here.
Chaunie Brusie is a Registered Nurse, journalist, and busy mother of four. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Real Simple, and more.
She’s also a published author and the founder of the Stay Strong Mom Project, which donates money to mothers struggling to pay their medical bills following a loss or miscarriage. Find her at chauniebrusie.com.