One of the amazing things about choosing a career as a nurse is that there is currently a shortage of nurses, especially nurses of quality, and the shortage is worldwide. Countries are willing to pay big money to have educated nurses come and work in their hospitals, and there are opportunities both for those who want to make money quickly and those who want to work as traveling nurses in the long term. For nurses who like a change of pace and scenery within the confines of the safe and familiar, there are many opportunities for traveling in the United States.

Becoming a traveling nurse is probably best left to those who want the opportunity to be short term. The fact is, once you sign on to a company that employs traveling nurses, you must accept assignments that come through them. Working rates change with the jobs, and sometimes these rates can be considerably less than what a nurse would earn in a hospital. As an example, a website which works with companies to recruit nurses states that a traveling nurse can expect to earn between $18 and $36 per hour (http://www.nursezone.com/travel/benefits1.asp). A nurse who works for a hospital in California, however, can expect to make up to $55 an hour, and the rates are even higher in other areas of the United States and Canada. Nurses are in such high demand that hospitals can’t find enough.

Moreover, most hospitals, as in any job, will offer pay raises as time goes by. Signing on right out of university or college to a hospital where you intend to work full time will see you earning more wages in a few years than you could ever have earned out on the road.

In this light, it seems fairly obvious that if you are considering becoming a traveling nurse, it should be for the short term. Working as a traveling nurse offers some exciting opportunities for travel and new experiences. It can also be very good experience, as the jobs will entail a wide variety of nursing tasks. If you are considering this route, though, make sure you have some goals in mind about how far you would like to take it. There is no shortage of permanent jobs for nurses out there, and you might be better off to simply shop around and find a job in a hospital that fits your requirements.

By: Carol Evans

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