A lot of you travel nurses are working today. You are away from home and are serving others so their life may be better. It can be a sad time and I’d like you to know some of us out here understand and appreciate the sacrafices you are making. Yep, travel nursing isn’t all fun and games.

It is Christmas morning and I am waiting for the kids to wake up and attack the Christmas tree. I had a wonderful Christmas Eve with some of my family last night and as I sit here waiting to enjoy a nice Christmas morning it makes me reflect on the time I was away from friends and family one Christmas a long, long time ago.

It was December, 1967. I was a young Marine serving along the DMZ during the Vietnam war. I had just been released from the hospital after being wounded at Con Thien and then coming down with a severe case of malaria. Not the best time of my life. There was a “cease fire” for the Christmas holiday, (pretty funny concept when you spend the days trying to kill each other), but we were not really sure the enemy would play by the rules.

It was night, Christmas Eve, and the chaplain had gathered us as a group and said Mass. We were all standing there, a bunch of young Marines in our combat gear with our M16 rifles slung over our shoulders. The chaplain began leading us in Christmas carols. The sad moment that stuck in my mind, and comes back to me every Christmas, was when we started singing “Silent Night.” I began feeling so sad. So sorry for myself. All I could think of was my family at home in their warm little house having a wonderful Christmas. And here I was in this damn hellhole.

Eventually I realized that we were doing something important. What we were doing was one of the reasons those folks back home got to have such a wonderful holiday. I swung into the spirit of the song and ended up feeling a little better about things. Every Christmas, including last evening at Mass when we sung “Silent Night” I get teary eyed remembering all of the people in the world who are doing things to make other lives better and sacrificing their holiday.

I include nurses, and especially travel nurses, in that group. Thank you to all of you for doing what you do.

We love you for it.

Happy holidays.

Hello! My name is Raina. I am about to graduate a registered nurse program in NY on October 9th 2009. I plan to take my boards immediatly following, and am interested in moving to the Tampa Florida area by February 2010. I have a few questions I was wondering if you could help me with. I have been searching the internet and have not had much luck in trying to figure out how to go about this. If I take my boards in NY, will that transfer to Fl or will I be better off just taking them there if possible? Do I qualify for a traveling nurse position? I really appericate your time and if you do not have the answers to my questions, could you recommend someone that could answer them for my? Thank-you!

Hi Raina. Congratulations on your impending graduation. Let’s start with the boards question. I always refer people to the state board where they are going to end up working. Every state is different, things change, and I’m just not comfortable giving that advice. You can find them on the Internet at http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/nursing/. My strong hunch, though, is that you are better off doing this in Florida if that is where you are going to live.

As for travel nursing jobs, virtually all agencies require a year of experience. Right now the number of travel openings has tightened up so they are being even more picky. I’d suggest that as alternative a little later in your career. I think think the supply of travel positions will likely loosen up next year.

Good luck!

Conrad

One of my client agencies, Trustaff, has a pretty nice opening in San Francisco. I have a very soft spot in my heart for that city. I have traveled all over the world to some of the great cities out there…..Paris, Sydney, Saigon, Dublin, NYC…..on and on. And guess what? San Francisco does not take a back seat to ANY of them. I live about 30 miles South of the City and visit there often.

You may want to look into this one.

ICU.CCU RN, San Francisco. 13 Week Travel opening.

Good luck! If that one is taken, my friend Bridgette may have something else you might like.

Not many places have as many things to do as the "Big Apple" and if you take a travel nursing job in the New York City area you should be sure to take full advantage of it. All tourist visits to the city seem to start at Times Square. Be sure to visit at night. The light show is beyond description. People from all over the world are strolliong the area, eating and drinking in a myriad of establishments, and shopping at the wide variety of tourist stores that are in this neighborhood. If you have kids with you you have to take them to the Toys R Us store there. It has a full blown ferris wheel INSIDE the store. I could not believe my eyes.

For more upscale shopping head over to Fifth Avenue. Be sure to bring your travel nursing bonus with you as these are world class stores. Even if you are not going to buy anything it is worth the trip to just stroll the Avenue. A few blocks up from the shopping is Central Park, a must see when visiting the city. Splurge for a few bucks and get a horse drwn carriage or a pedicycle tour of the park.

Broadway plays, Rockefeller Center, St. Patricks Cathedral and Bryant Park are just a few of the things to do in New York City.

And if you are looking for a travel nursing job in NYC visit TravelnursingUSA.com.

Conrad

Do you know of any travel nursing agencies that place RNs in European countries? I do not mean England, but on the continent.

I’ sorry I don’t but if you do find one I’d like to hear about it. Perhaps one of our readers knows of someone and can leave it in our comments section below.

Conrad

Jumpstart your career in Nursing!

DO you offer positions close to accredited RV parks for those of us whom travel via Motor home?

Well I am neither an agency nor a recruiter so the short answer is "no." However I think I can tell you some shortcuts to getting information on some of these positions.

There are a couple of ways I would go about this. One would be to start with the RV park you have in mind. Identify the town or community you are interested in that has an RV park you think is up to your long term living standards. Then I would go to AAAtravelnursing.com or TravelnursingUSA.com and fill out the form paying close attention in the "comments" section telling us exactly what you are looking for. Make it clear that you are an RV traveler and that this is important.

This form is then distributed to several different travel nursing agencies, one of whom will likely have a fit for you.

If you don’t have a particular RV park in mind you can go through the same process but make it very, very clear you need an RV park for the assignment.

Personally, I think the most effective route would be for you to choose the RV park and community first. You may even want to give yourself several options so the recruiters have a little flexibility.

Good luck!

Conrad

Thanks to one of our readers I have found a company that has travel nursing jobs in the UK. This may include Scotland and Ireland but I have not spoken with them yet. They are Continental Travel Nurse. They have a very interesting site that answers a lot of questions you may have this. In a later blog, I will do a short interview of someone from their company, so if you have particular questions you’d like me to ask them, leave me a comment below. A big thanks to Jami.

BTW, if someone has experience doing this sort of travel please email me and tell me how it went. conrad@systino.com

Conrad

In my last post I told you a bit about the little town I spent a good part of my yourth in. It is located about 50 miles South of Wichita, a major metropolitan area providing all of the cultural and entertainment advantages a bigger city has while retaining the strong Midwest flavor and values that Kansas offers.

There are a lot of travel nursing opportunities in Wichita so I thought I’d give you a little information on the city itself.

Wichita , also known as the Air Capital of the World, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, as well as a major aircraft manufacturing hub and cultural center. In July of 2006, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Wichita ninth on its list of the 10 best big cities to live in the United States. The city is home to six major aircraft manufacturing companies and McConnell Air Force Base. Wichita is located in South Central Kansas on the Arkansas River, and is the county seat of Sedgwick County. It is also the home of a National Weather Service Forecast Office which serves portions of central, south-central, and southeast Kansas.

The city’s population was 344,284 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 357,698 in the year 2006,[3] making it the 50th largest city in the United States.

Wichita has a humid subtropical climate  with hot, humid summers and cool to cold, dry winters. Over the course of a year, temperatures range from an average low of about 20°F (-8°C) in January to an average high of nearly 93°F (34°C) in July. The maximum temperature reaches 90°F (32°C) an average of 64 days per year and reaches 100°F (38°C) an average of 14 days per year. The minimum temperature falls below 32°F (0°C) an average of 108 days per year. Typically the first fall freeze occurs between the second week of October and mid-November, and the last spring freeze occurs between the end of March and the final week of April.

The City of Wichita is home to Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, which boasts 24 themed gardens including the popular Butterfly Garden and the award-winning Sally Stone Sensory Garden. Sedgwick County Extension Arboretum is also located in the city.

The first complete recording made by jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker occurred in 1940 at the Trocadero Ballroom in Wichita. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Wichita had a significant Beat movement.[9] The Wichita Jazz Festival remains a significant annual event on the national jazz calendar.

Wichita is also home to the Wichita River Festival, held each May in the Downtown and Old Town areas of the city. It is one of the longest continuous running festivals in the state of Kansas and features over 70 events, including musical entertainment, sporting events, traveling exhibits, cultural and historical activities, plays, interactive children’s events, a flea market, river events, a parade, block party, food court, fireworks and souvenirs for the roughly 370,000+ patrons who attend each year.
Blackbear Bosin’s The Keeper of the Plains at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers by the Wichita Mid-America All Indian Center
Blackbear Bosin’s The Keeper of the Plains at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers by the Wichita Mid-America All Indian Center

Other major attractions of the city include the Sedgwick County Zoo, home to more than 2,500 animals of nearly 500 different species; the Old Cowtown Museum; McConnell Air Force Base; Exploration Place, a science and discovery center for all ages; the Old Town historical and entertainment district; the Mid-America All-Indian Center and Museum; and the Wichita Art Museum.

Other museums and attractions in the metro area:

    * Music Theatre of Wichita
    * City Repertory Theatre of Wichita, Wichita
    * Wichita Symphony Orchestra
    * Great Plains Transportation Museum
    * Kauffman Museum, Bethel College, North Newton
    * Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology, Wichita
    * Mid-America All-Indian Center and The Keeper of the Plains statue, Wichita
    * Museum of World Treasures
    * Sedgwick County Fair, Cheney
    * Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Wichita
    * Warren Theaters
    * Wichita Art Museum
    * Wichita Public Library
    * Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

A lot of times when looking over travel nursing assignments we tend to think Hawaii!! California!! Florida!!

While there are many great assignments in those locations there are also great travel nursing jobs in places you may never have considered.

This came to mind last week as I traveled to the Midwest part of our country. Winfield, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas may never have been on your radar as a place to visit but let me tell you a bit about them. I spent a large part of my youth in Winfield, a town of about 12,000 in South Central Kansas. If there is a friendlier place on earth I don’t know where it is. The people there embody the solid Midwestern ethic that a lot of folks associate with that part of the country. They really do have ice cream socials at the churches, (there was one last Sunday at Holy Name Catholic Church). It seems like everyone in town knows everyone else.

Too many people think Kansas is "The Wizard of Oz" farm that Dorothy grew up on. The reality is that the county surrounding Winfield is gently rolling land with lots of trees and yes, farm after farm growing wheat and milking cows. In a word? Beautiful.  Inside the town you find street after street of wooden houses with big front porches and big back yards. Island Park sits like a crown jewel on the North end of town. Surrounded by water the park has ducks walking around the grounds firm in the knowledge that they are in charge and you are there to feed them. Families wile away the day fishing in the surrounding lagoon while families and groups BBQ in the pavilions. It is truly a snapshot of my youth, unchanged from 50 years ago. I was awash in nostalgia. It was a great place to grow up and I suspect it still is.

50 miles to the North is Wichita. It is surrounded by the same rolling farmland but is a "real" city with freeways and professional baseball teams and all that goes along with being a modern city of 350,000. I’ll talk about it more in my next post.

There are lots of travel nursing jobs here and I personally think any travel assignment in Wichita or any of the small surrounding communities would be a wonderful place to sample America. Give it thought!

Conrad

PS: To find jobs in Kansas or anyplace else in the United States, try going to AAAtravelnursing, Nursetown or TravelnursingUSA.

I am on a trip this week in the Boston area. What a great place this would be to take a travel nursing assignment. The city is full of things to do. If you are any kind of history buff you could spend your whole 13 weeks just doing that. But of course there is more.

Like, do you like to eat? Does the word lobster make your mouth water? I had a seafood casserole last night that would knock your socks off. Sports fan? Monday night I am going to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play Detroit. It doesn’t get better then that.

And when you are not working at your travel nurse job you may want to get out of town. I drove about 75 miles down to Cape Cod. Hyannis to be exact. That is where the Kennedy’s have their famous compund. For about $16 I took a ferry for a 2 hour trip to Nantucket Island. This place is paradise! You can shop, go to the beach, eat even more, sip a little of the local brew, (Cisco Whale Tale), or rent a bike and explore the island. That is what I am going to do today. You can make it a day trip or do what I’m doing and rent a bed and breakfast. The weather is great, the ambience is terrific and the people have that Massachusetts charm.

Travel is great. Your RN degree and a bit of experience is all it takes to get you on the road. For more information on Boston travel nurse jobs (or other locations) visit my site at www.travelnursingUSA.com and fill out the request information form. -Conrad