Updated April 5, 2024
Working as a travel nurse is an excellent career choice for those who appreciate spontaneity as well as traveling to new and exciting places. But this career choice is not for everyone.
To help make your decision easier, here are a few pros and cons of travel nursing to help you out. You may find that traveling all over the country and caring for patients is the best choice for you.
On the other hand, you may find that travel nursing offers too many negatives to be worth it.
Read through the following list, then decide.
What are the Pros of Travel Nursing?
It’s no secret that travel nursing offers a number of important benefits that can make for an exciting and vibrant career.
Spontaneous Adaptability Enables You to Live the Life You Want
As a travel nurse, you are not required to sign a work contract unless you specifically request to do so. As a result, you have the freedom to pick wherever you want to go. This makes it simple to relocate to any state or even elsewhere around the world. Few other jobs afford you that level of opportunity.
Imagine you are working in San Francisco, but your mother-in-law, who lives in Arkansas, becomes ill and requires your assistance. As a travel nurse, you can be on a plane within days, ready to start your new job in an Arkansas medical facility. That puts you directly within care distance of your ailing family member while you get paid handsomely in the process.
Or maybe you’ve always wanted to live in New York City but never had the chance. As a travel nurse living and working in Michigan, you have the option of requesting a transfer to New York. If you are approved for the transfer, you may be able to begin your new job immediately. If this is not the case, you can always end your current contract in Michigan and start a new one in New York, if you so desire.
You also don't have to worry about planning your vacations around other people’s schedules. Once you’ve completed a posting, you can take the exact amount of time off that you want.
Yes, the travel nurse lifestyle can be rewarding if you're the type of person who covets constant change.
You Can Often Travel with Family and Pets
One major benefit of travel nursing is the ability to take your spouse, kids, and even your pets with you when you begin your new job in the new location. While this isn’t always feasible for some families, especially those with little ones still in school, it can be life-changing for those without kids who crave spontaneity and a new way of life.
You Can Escape Hospital Politics
Many nurses complain that the politics in the medical facilities they work in make relationships difficult to manage. Rumors get started, bad blood festers, and soon you're left wanting to be anywhere else in the middle of your shift.
Working various travel nursing jobs means you can skip hospital politics entirely. Because travel nurses temporarily settle in medical facilities around the country, they aren't forced to deal with hospital politics like staff nurses. This lets you focus on the job at hand, which includes tending to the patients in your care and furthering your travel nursing career. It gives you the best of nursing without the social hassles that come with it.
Traveling to New Locations Can Simultaneously Boost Your Earnings
When comparing the salaries of various nursing roles, travel nurses have the possibility to make more money. Not just a little more money, but significantly more. You not only get paid a higher salary as a travel nurse, but the job often comes with a benefits package that includes comprehensive reimbursements and incentives, allowing you to make bank while you travel to new locales.
The perks of the job differ depending on location and the specifics mentioned in your contract. Just know that the majority of travel nurses are provided with free lodging or given monthly tax-free stipends to use toward housing costs. Talk about savings!
Additionally, all transportation expenditures, including travel to and from work, as well as any relocating charges that may be incurred, are typically paid as well.
The majority of travel nurse staffing agencies provide luxurious accommodations for their employees. They also manage cross-state or cross-country moves, which includes hiring movers. That allows you to save even more when transferring your belongings from point A to point B when taking on a new travel assignment.
Additionally, the possibility to obtain sign-on incentives makes travel nursing even more financially advantageous than staff nursing positions. For instance, when signing a new employment contract, it is not uncommon for travel nurses to receive sign-on incentives ranging from $5,000 to $10,000.
Travel Nursing Gives You the Security of Having a Stable Job
As a travel nurse, you'll get to enjoy long-term work stability. That can go a long way toward alleviating any mental and financial anxieties you may have about providing for yourself and any dependents you may have.
You Can Gain Loads of Experience
One of the most crucial benefits that travel nursing offers is the chance to work in all kinds of settings doing a variety of jobs. You get to see how facilities tackle the same task and get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.
You also have the opportunity to learn to use different tools and systems. Becoming well-versed in the various equipment options that hospitals and clinics rely on not only provides satisfaction but also makes you more attractive to future employers.
Travel nursing also lets you quickly adjust to new settings and new people, which is a skill that can come in handy in all aspects of your life, not just nursing.
Travel Nurse Jobs Give You More Opportunities to Advance Your Career
Travel nurses have wonderful opportunities to advance their careers while establishing solid reputations. With experience comes the ability to choose your schedule and work fewer weekends. That type of freedom and progression isn’t always possible as a permanent, on-site nurse. That means, if you hope to break through the glass ceiling you’ve found yourself under, becoming a travel nurse is definitely the way to go.
As you can see, there are many advantages to becoming a travel nurse. More money, greater opportunity, and room for advancement are only the beginning
Having said that, travel nursing does have some drawbacks. Let’s explore those now.
What are the Cons of Travel Nursing?
It’s not all great, however. Travel nursing does come with some drawbacks that you want to know about before making the jump into the career.
You May Become Lonely as a Travel Nurse
Not every travel nurse has the option of bringing their family along for the ride. Furthermore, at the very least, travel nurses are required to part with old acquaintances while making new ones on the road.
While travel nursing assignments let you increase your earnings, when you don't have somebody with whom to share your experiences, all the opportunities you’re afforded might feel hollow.
Socializing and networking with other nurses, on the other hand, can help with alleviating any loneliness you might feel. You can also become a member of an international nursing organization, which makes you part of a community no matter where in the world you happen to be.
Cross-State Licensing Issues Can Be a Major Pain
As a travel nurse, you must have a valid nursing license to work anywhere you provide care. As you are probably aware, it’s not always easy to get a license at the drop of a hat.
However, many travel nurses work with travel nurse agencies that can assist with obtaining the licensing you need. This helps to alleviate stress and gives you a chance to relocate quickly, even if the new medical facility is in a state where you’re not currently licensed.
You May Have Limited Career Options
Certain jurisdictions collaborate to make it easier for travel nurses to give their services to the public.
Other states, on the other hand, require you to complete demanding and time-consuming licensing requirements before you can begin working, which could end up limiting your career options.
Here is where it also pays to work with a travel nursing staffing agency. Some agencies give you exclusive access to new jobs before anyone else gets to see them. They also maintain relationships with hiring managers around the country, putting your resume at the top of the shortlist pile. It depends on which agency you work with, but the right one can give you all the opportunities you need to further your travel nursing career.
Floating Schedules Can Be Frustrating
If you’ve ever worked in nursing before, you know all about "floating timetables". This means you will "float" to different departments within the same hospital. This becomes a problem when the departments you’re required to work in aren’t necessarily the ones specified in your employment agreement or related to your primary focus.
What it boils down to is that, as a floating travel nurse, you may find yourself handling job duties you don’t prefer, which can be a drag. Due to the varied nature of travel nurse scheduling, there is a good probability that you will be required to work these types of floating shifts throughout your career.
On the other hand, if you are the type who enjoys variety in your job, a floating schedule may be right up your alley. You might learn new things, meet interesting people, and provide different levels of care than you’re accustomed to. It’s all about perspective.
As a Travel Nurse, Insurance Coverage Sometimes Changes
Another snag in the travel nursing industry is the need to switch insurance policies when you leave a job. Anxiety can arise as a result. You’ll then be forced to change to a new policy when the next job begins. Staff nurses are not required to deal with this issue in any way.
All nurses, including travel nurses, have the option of purchasing private insurance by paying out of pocket. If you decide to go this route, you won’t be left without coverage should you end a contract without immediately beginning another.
Of course, not everyone is interested in pursuing private insurance coverage.
You’re Constantly on the Move
As a travel nurse, you don’t have the chance to settle down. Usually, postings last two to three months, which means living out of a suitcase for a significant amount of your time. That can be stressful for many.
Not knowing where you’ll be next can also be a source of concern. You can’t really plan ahead, and that can get frustrating.
You also want to consider that you’ll constantly have to keep updating your CV and sending it out for postings. That can be stressful for many people. Of course, if you have an agency helping you, there’s less hassle that you have to worry about.
You Can Have Fluctuating Salaries
Not every location will offer the same salary, even if you’re doing the same work. This means that you might struggle to maintain a steady salary level, which can complicate taxes even more while also adding stress to your life.
Becoming a Travel Nurse is Not for Everyone
By now you should realize that there are both pros and cons of travel nursing. Let's recap.
The benefits of travel nursing include the ability to travel to new locations, sometimes with your family in tow, the opportunity is there to make more money, and you’ll meet all kinds of new people wherever you end up. You also have a stable job, as travel nursing is always in high demand. And lastly, the sky's the limit as far as advancing your career. Those are the pros.
The cons can be tough to take for many. Licensing headaches, insurance snags, floating schedules, and loneliness are some of the drawbacks you will likely face as you progress through your career.
With the Right Travel Nurse Agency, Travel Nursing Might Be Right for You
But as we mentioned, working with travel nursing agencies can alleviate many of the disadvantages travel nurses face. The right agency can put you in contact with the perfect healthcare facilities in locations where you would love to live. You can get assistance with obtaining licensing when you need it, and your resume is often the first to land on a hiring manager’s desk.
If you are someone who enjoys helping others and you crave novelty, travel nursing is the way to go. It’s all about finding the right staffing agency for your needs. Turns out, you’re in luck.
Become a Travel Nurse Today: Work with Prolink
Prolink helps individuals like you pursue their dream jobs like travel nursing. We can give you access to jobs before anyone else and put you in contact with hiring managers who need travel nurses ASAP.
We can help with licensing and give you advice on how to sign a contract that benefits you.
We can even help you get a travel nursing job where you won't have to uproot your life and leave your loved ones behind.
Travel nursing is an excellent career choice for you if you appreciate spontaneity as well as traveling to new places.
If you want a higher salary and all the perks that come with being a travel nurse, including housing stipends and other important perks, you will want to start the process of becoming a Prolink travel nurse right away.
To get started, create a profile to help us learn more about you and your career goals. If you have questions, such as what a floating schedule entails, or how to obtain private insurance so your coverage never lapses, we can help with that too. Once you create your profile, and we’ve reviewed it, one of our staffing consultants will get back to you as soon as possible.
