Have you ever thought about travel nursing, but wondered “what is a travel nurse?” or “what does a travel nurse do?” Travel nursing has become a booming industry since beginning in the late 1970s. During Mardi Gras in 1978, local hospitals in New Orleans became overwhelmed and had to look outside of the city for help. Nurses from around the country were contracted to lend a helping hand for a few weeks. After this, travel nursing took off “as a temporary solution to a growing national nursing shortage.”¹ As we all know, this shortage remains today and for the foreseeable future. Travel nursing remains one of the main ways the healthcare system stays afloat in the midst of that shortage.

1. What is a Travel Nurse?
2. What Does a Travel Nurse Do?
3. Why Travel Nurse?
4. Ethics of Travel Nursing

What is a Travel Nurse?

The simplest way to explain it is that a travel nurse is essentially a temp, or temporary worker. Other terms to describe this idea include contractual, seasonal, or interim workers. A travel nurse is simply a regular nurse looking to accept short term contracts around the country, typically at hospitals in states where they do not currently live. There are many different types of medical professionals who work in this industry, not just nurses, as well as all different kinds of nurses (CNAs, LPNs, RNs, NPs, etc.). Travel nurses can also work in all kinds of facilities looking for help, be that a hospital, long-term care facility, or home health agency.

Travel Nurse Agencies and Contracts

Most travel nurses sign with a travel nurse agency that is hired by hospitals to help find short term help in the midst of staffing shortages. The agency hires the travel nurse and helps them to match with a hospital (or facility) in need of help. The contracts are typically thirteen weeks long, though a travel nurse can often extend their contract to up to a year. After this point, a travel nurse will no longer be considered to be “travelling” to their contract, but instead based in the area in which they have been working for that year.² This is relevant for the financial advantage of travel nursing which I’ll talk about below.

The Nature of Travel Nursing

Travel nurses bounce from place to place, hospital to hospital, apartment to apartment. It is a lot of work to move every three to twelve months and to do so without most of your things. Typically, travel nurses rent furnished apartments and travel from contract to contract simply with what they can fit in their car. If you want time off as a travel nurse, you must negotiate it into your contract before signing, otherwise there’s a good chance you won’t be able to get it. As a travel nurse, you’re there to meet a need and therefore are last on the food chain when it comes to scheduling and time off. Simply put, you’re there to work.

What Does a Travel Nurse Do?

When it comes to their work in the facilities they go to, travel nurses are much like staff nurses. They essentially do the same job with less training. Staff nurses (depending on the hospital, unit, and their experience) can expect to receive as much as three months of full-time training, whereas a travel nurse typically works one or two supervised shifts during their orientation period. It is expected that the travel nurse maintain their skill and knowledge to be able to do a good job with little training.

In addition to the on-site training during orientation week, travel nurses must complete hours worth of online training modules for the agency and the hospital. These trainings and tests cover their clinical skills, the hospital-specific policies, the documentation system that the hospital uses, and more. Unfortunately, these trainings are often not fully paid. If you do not already have at least a year’s experience in a specialty, you will likely not be able to work as a travel nurse. Since the training is so limited, there is typically not freedom to train on new units/new specialties, though you will likely be floated to other units as a travel nurse in particular.

Why Travel Nurse?

The Financial Draw

One of the biggest draws to travel nursing, is that you make more money as a travel nurse than as a staff nurse. In today’s climate, you could even make twice as much working as a travel nurse than as a staff nurse doing the same job at the same hospital. This is largely because of what is referred to as a housing stipend. Assuming you meet certain criteria (you follow the one year rule as mentioned above, and you have an established tax home in a different state or area), as a travel nurse you qualify for an untaxed housing stipend.

This housing stipend often makes up more than half of the travel nurse’s pay, and is operating under the assumption that the travel nurse is duplicating their expenses by maintaining residence in one area/state while travelling to work in another temporarily. A travel nurses hourly pay is often about the same as the staff nurses, though they may receive a “crisis bonus” that bumps up the hourly rate. The main difference is the housing stipend.

To better understand this, imagine you have to go on a business trip. Of course you expect your company to pay for your travel, lodging, even food, while on this trip. Travel nursing essentially falls under this category (or at least one similar) when it comes to employment and tax law. You’re travelling to do your work temporarily (while you remain employed by the agency, not the hospital) so your employer (the agency) is required to cover your expenses. This is done by adding a flat rate on top of your normal hourly pay that is per shift worked up to full time (three twelve hour shifts) per week. If you get sick and work only 24 of your contracted 36 hours, you not only lose your hourly pay for the day you miss, but also one third of your housing stipend.

Personal and Professional Development

While the financial draw is often people’s main reason for getting into travel nursing, it’s certainly not the only one. Having the chance to travel and experience not only new cities, but new hospitals and patient populations, is an incredible opportunity on a personal as well as professional level. You gain an incredible amount of experience, resourcefulness, and flexibility that grows you as a nurse and person. All the while you’re able to see new places and live the nomadic lifestyle that is so attractive to many young people in this day and age. It looks great on a resume, and can lead to some amazing experiences and friendships as you travel the country. You’re also going to the places that need the most help, which is important and fulfilling work. Think of it as a less intense form of disaster relief.

Ethics of Travel Nursing

Hostility Towards Travel Nurses

It’s no mystery that travel nursing has many controversial sides to it. Travel nurses are not unoften met with hostility when they begin a contract. Staff nurses can be tempted to resent the travel nurse for their higher pay, seeing travel nursing as a luxury and simply unfair. Dan and I have both come across nurses and doctors alike who hold this view and let it be known when they find out that Dan is a travel nurse. It’s difficult to not be offended, but we remind ourselves that their concerns are completely valid. If the system were perfect and working as it should, there would be no need for travel nurses. There are certainly arguments to be made that (staff) nurses in general deserve more than what they are often paid.

Unfortunately, this is just not the case. There is no perfect healthcare system (though when I lived in Canada many people tried to argue this with me), each is plagued with numerous flaws and shortcomings. Adequate staffing when it comes to nursing is a problem that is prevalent most everywhere in my opinion, and we certainly see it here in the United States. Travel nurses sacrifice stability, convenience, comforts, and control over much of their lives to fill the gaps in the healthcare system. Yes, you do make a lot more money doing it than you would working as a staff nurse, but it is in no way a one-sided relationship.

Lack of Protection for Travel Nurses

Because of the relative newness of the field, and possibly the nature of it, travel nursing is minimally regulated. This leads to travel nurses being ill-protected from the hospitals they work at and the agencies they work for. Numerous instances of fraud have recently been brought to light where travel nurses were taken advantage of by their agency. There are plenty of nurses wanting to get into the field currently, which makes it easy for agencies to refuse proper handling of contracts and situations that a travel nurse may not be comfortable with. As a travel nurse you have little to no protection and are often not made privy to all of the relevant contracts for which you may be a third party participant. It’s unfortunate and unfair, but it’s a sacrifice you make when you decide to work as a travel nurse.

Personally, I hope to see the healthcare system change in the coming years. Staff nurses often do deserve more than they receive for the work that they do. Travel nurses deserve fair treatment and equal protection. Some people do enter travel nursing merely for personal gain and do a bad job while on contract. However, one hopes that people with that kind of intention and attitude don’t enter a field like nursing, and if they do that they don’t make it far. Nursing is a profession focused on giving all that you have to give and caring for those who can’t care for themselves. Anyone who enters that line of work and commits themselves to doing it well, deserves the respect of us all.

further reading

1. “The History of Travel Nursing: Then vs. Now.” Nurse First. November 17, 2022. https://nurse1sttravel.com/travel-nursing-history/#:~:text=The%20Beginning%20of%20Travel%20Nursing,overwhelmed%20the%20little%20staff%20available. (accessed February 24, 2023).
2. “NATHO Travel Tax FAQs.” National Association of Travel Healthcare Organizations. March 26, 2019. https://politics.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/chicago%20style%20guide.pdf. (accessed February 24, 2023).