Ask a Travel Nurse Question:
Would you suggest for a brand new Traveler to start off in a small town first?
Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:
I would suggest that a new traveler should start wherever they are comfortable. If that means a small town, so be it.
The best way to ease yourself into travel is not necessarily finding a geographically similar place to work, but rather, a place similar in size and structure. While it may be evident what I mean in regard to size (like not starting out at a thousand bed facility when you currently work in a 150 bed facility), when I say “structure,” I am speaking to the way your hospital operates and the ancillary services available to you.
For example, if you work in a teaching hospital (where you likely have interns and residents running around at all hours), you may not want to work in a smaller facility where the ER doctor may be the only one “in-house” (especially at night). If you work with physicians who all follow their own patients and take their own call, it might be rather different for you going to a facility where a group of physicians may see your patient. For those used to having doctors who know their patients, it might be a little shocking for you to call a doctor at night or on the weekend only to have to give the physician a brief history before they will give you orders (because they know nothing about the patient).
It really depends on you and your comfort level with this whole “travel nursing” gig. If you are stressed to the max just thinking about having to travel somewhere new and start your practice in unfamiliar surroundings, then at least try to make those surroundings as close to what you are used to, as possible.
If you want to spread your wings a little, or when you feel you “have it down,” then you can start looking for facilities that will push you, and your nursing practice, to the next level.
Hope this helps.
David