A traveling nurse is a registered nurse who accepts temporary positions at healthcare facilities to address short-term staffing needs. Hospitals experience fluctuations in patient numbers and may have staff on leave, creating temporary vacancies. Travel nurses fill these gaps, ensuring consistent patient care without the facility needing to hire permanent staff for a temporary situation.
The Role of Travel Nursing Agencies
Travel nurses are not employed by the hospitals where they work; instead, they are employees of specialized staffing agencies. These agencies act as the intermediary, connecting their roster of qualified nurses with healthcare facilities that have posted temporary job openings. The agency handles the entire contracting process, manages payroll, and often arranges benefits like retirement plans and health insurance, although these benefits only last for the duration of an assignment.
Within this framework, the recruiter is the nurse’s primary point of contact and professional advocate. A recruiter works to match a nurse’s skills, specialty, and personal preferences with available assignments across the country. They guide the nurse through the application and credentialing process, explain the details of pay packages, and provide ongoing support throughout the assignment.
Understanding Travel Nurse Assignments
The core of a travel nurse’s career is the “assignment,” which is a short-term contract to work in a specific role at a healthcare facility. The most common contract length is 13 weeks, but assignment durations are flexible and can range from just a few weeks to six months or even a year. At the end of a contract, a facility may offer an extension if the staffing shortage persists.
These temporary roles are available in a wide variety of healthcare settings, including large urban hospitals, small rural clinics, and long-term care facilities. Assignments are almost always specialty-specific, meaning a hospital seeking an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse will contract with a traveler who has recent experience in that exact environment. Other in-demand specialties include the emergency room (ER), labor and delivery (L&D), and the operating room.
Compensation and Housing Explained
A primary draw for many to travel nursing is its lucrative pay structure. Compensation is presented as a “blended rate,” which combines a taxable hourly wage with non-taxable stipends. The hourly base pay may appear lower than a staff nurse’s, but the overall take-home pay is often higher due to the tax-free nature of the stipends for housing, meals, and incidental expenses.
To qualify for these tax-free stipends, a nurse must maintain a “tax home,” which is a permanent residence in one area while working temporarily in another. This generally requires proving that you have ongoing financial responsibilities, like rent or a mortgage, at your permanent address. The IRS has rules to prevent misuse of this benefit, and it’s common for agencies to require the assignment to be at least 50 miles from the nurse’s tax home.
When it comes to lodging, travel nurses have two main options. The first is to accept agency-provided housing, where the staffing company arranges and pays for a furnished apartment or other accommodation directly. The second option is to take the full housing stipend as a cash payment and find one’s own accommodations, which allows nurses to potentially save money by finding housing that costs less than the stipend amount.
Requirements to Become a Travel Nurse
Before a nurse can consider travel assignments, they must meet several foundational requirements. The first step is completing an accredited nursing program to earn either an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). After earning their degree, graduates must pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to become a Registered Nurse (RN).
The main prerequisite for travel nursing is gaining direct patient care experience. Staffing agencies and hospitals require travel nurses to have the skills to “hit the ground running” with very little orientation. Consequently, most agencies require at least one to two years of recent, full-time experience in a specific specialty.
Navigating State Licensing
Travel nurses must be legally permitted to practice in the state of their assignment. Every state requires a nurse to hold a valid, unencumbered RN license. For nurses who plan to work in a single state that is not their primary residence, this means applying for licensure by endorsement from that state’s board of nursing.
To increase flexibility and streamline the licensing process, many travel nurses utilize the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). The NLC is a multi-state agreement that allows a nurse to hold one license from their primary state of residence and practice in any of the other participating “compact” states. As of 2024, a large number of states have joined the compact, which expands a nurse’s mobility and ability to accept assignments quickly without waiting for a new license to be issued.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Travel Nursing
The travel nursing career path offers a distinct set of benefits, led by higher earning potential due to tax-free stipends and competitive pay packages. It provides opportunities to travel the country, explore new cities, and gain a wide range of clinical experience in different hospital systems. This career also offers a high degree of flexibility, as nurses can choose their assignments and take extended time off between contracts.
However, the lifestyle also comes with challenges. The short-term nature of contracts means a lack of job stability and the need to constantly adapt to new workplaces, colleagues, and procedures. This can lead to a sense of professional isolation and makes it difficult to build long-term relationships with coworkers. Additionally, managing the logistics of frequent moves, securing housing, and navigating multiple state licenses if not in a compact state can be demanding.