Twenty states have reciprocal agreements with one another allowing nurses licensed and residing in one member state to practice in any other member state. These participating states are said to be in the Nurse Licensure Compact Agreement. States participating, as of 2006, include Wisconsin, Utah, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota, North Dakota North Carolina, New Jersey, Nebraska, Maryland, Maine, Iowa, Indiana, Idaho, Delaware, Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico and Virginia. More are on the horizon.

This Compact creates some exciting possibilities for a workforce experiencing high burnout and most significant among them is “travel nursing”.

Travel nursing is one answer for RN’s on the verge of burnout. Travel nursing offers lifestyle and career enhancement to generate that necessary spark! Travel nursing breathes new life into your career, enhances your opportunities for professional growth and offers you greater earning potential.

Are you ready to learn more? I knew you were!

Travel nursing is the ideal alternative for the experienced RN wanting to continue in the profession but looking for relief from the physical and emotional demands.

Travel nurses provide temporary relief to hospitals that are short-staffed. Estimates show that the nation’s permanent worker shortage will reach 1 million by 2010.

Travel nurses take on jobs, typically with a 13-week duration, at hospitals around the country. In the United States, there are approximately 22,000 travel nurses. After your stint is complete, you can either extend or move on to another location and assignment. If you want, take a break!

Here are some other great perks that travel nursing provides. Pick and choose where you want to work and when you want to work. Standard rules on mandatory overtime, weekends and holidays do not apply to you! Counting overtime, you can earn as much as $100,000.00 annually as a travel nurse. All this while traveling the country, exploring new places, seeing new sights and working just 3 days a week! If you are working through an agency, in addition to your wages, you also get your travel expenses, insurance benefits, housing and relocation expenses.

Many nurses express that travel nursing is a more rewarding experience than working as a permanent nurse, both financially and from a quality of life perspective. Make no mistake; the financial rewards are there. Travel nurses are paid some 20% more than staff nurses are paid.

Nurses give a multitude of reasons for making the transition to travel nursing. Surveys show that chief among them are flight from the political intrigues of hospital environments, opportunities to meet new colleagues and exposure to different ways of doing things.

The benefits of travel nursing are many. One benefit is to the health care delivery system. Travel nurses help hospitals maintain optimum staffing levels. Travel nursing provides an alternative to many nurses that might otherwise leave the profession. This is a valuable contribution when you consider the current shortage of nurses.

When you look at the big picture, travel nursing is clearly a positive force in the health care delivery system and a positive force in the lives of an increasing number of nurses who are turning to this professional alternative.

Author Bio: Winston P. McDonald enjoys writing for Uniformhaven.com which sells cherokee scrubs and baby phat scrubs as well as a host of additional products.

Category: Travel
Keywords: travel nursing,travel nurses,travel nursing offers