How to improve your nursing skills to make you a stronger travel nurse

In today’s travel nursing market it is important to keep informed on what hospitals are requiring and looking for when trying to fill a travel position. A trend that we see is that hospitals are now posting positions for nurses to cover several different units. For example a hospital may request a medical/surgical nurse that can also work in pediatrics and telemetry. Or a Critical care travel nurse that can also work on the med/surg, telemetry and ER units. An L&D nurse that can also do mother/baby and NICU.

Because of this trend hospitals are asking for more certifications. A Medical/Surgical travel nurse may need ACLS or PALS to work on a unit. An L&D nurse may require ACLS in addition to the normal BLS and NRP. AHWONN is becoming a standard certification for many of the Labor and Delivery positions that we are posting. Critical Care nurses should consider taking a Critical Care course.

If you are thinking about traveling or are a travel nurse now I suggest that you ask your Nurse Manager what other areas that you can float to within your scope of practice. Also speak to the Education Department in your hospital or go to www.americanheart.org to check out classes in your area to get additional certifications. American Traveler Allied offers free Continuing Education Units to their travelers.

A travel nurse who has several specialties and has exceeded the required certifications is a nurse that will stand out as a travel nurse candidate.

Many nurses that we speak to look forward to the challenge of working on different units and enjoy the change of pace that it brings to their job. That makes travel nursing jobs even more rewarding.