2012 will be a big year for us. We have started a web design business and two travel blogs. Additionally, we are considering the purchase of a large motor home so that we can become permanent travelers. That right there lets you know how we feel about travel nursing, but let’s go back to the beginning.

We became full-time travelers in October of 2011 and were recently asked about what led us into this lifestyle.  Was there a firm decision and moment of clarity that set our feet on the road? Sure, but it came after finally acknowledging the existence of, and giving in to, our own gypsy natures.

There is also a depressing aspect of our journey that, in my opinion, follows the decline of American manufacturing. As a maintenance electrician, I have witnessed the fall with my own eyes. I was one of the last to go as I watched Cessna Aircraft cut 10,000 workers in Wichita. Thus, with broken loyalty and fresh wounds, I quit my next job two months before they shut the plant down and absorbed the business into another facility. I couldn’t watch it happen again, but as you can imagine, it did.

Long story short, it was time for a career change. At some point during all of this, I went back to college for Web Design and started taking classes online.

Looking back, I can see that we were already “amateur” road warriors. In our 17 years of marriage, Melissa and I have moved 14 times and have lived in 7 cities. I literally dragged the poor woman all across the Midwest while I went from one manufacturing plant to the next.

What we learned is that dodging lay-offs and continually working for struggling companies places a huge burden on the entire family. The sad truth is that we have only been able to work the same hours for 6 of the last 18 years, and take one vacation per decade. It hurts because, after shopping, sightseeing is her passion in this world.

I can see now that we were damaging her resume while trying to maintain high wages and provide for the family. Because of this, Melissa has worked for seven different hospitals in the last five years prior to taking her first travel assignment.  We can joke about it now and refer to it as “travel training”.

As the situation and our emotions were heating up, here is a picture of where we were at:

• We had sold our last home 2 years earlier.
• Our current lease was coming up.
• Junior had gone off to college recently, so we were empty-nested.
• My “new” job required us to go days without seeing each other.
• Most importantly, Melissa was fed up with our lives and lack of adventure.

For as long as it takes Melissa to make a decision, the world sure moves when she finally does. Maybe she was just waiting for me to throw in the towel. I still don’t know, but here is how it went down.

I came home from work one day and said, “I give up. Manufacturing no longer provides an acceptable future. It’s time to deliver pizzas or something until I graduate.” She must have seen it coming because her reply was several steps ahead of me. She says, “Well, I have been speaking with a nursing recruiter lately, and I want you to be my Sherpa. You can finish college, take care of everything, and drive me to work every day while I make the money.”  Since Cessna took all my manly pride during my first layoff, all I said was, “do you want me to wear an apron?”

We were packed and headed for the mountains two weeks later and have slept in the same bed at the same time every day since leaving. Feels kind of like being married for a change.

Here are a few other things to help you while navigating your career as a Travel Nurse… Check out these useful Travel Nurse tools, everything to help you start, from a cost of living calculator to a packing list to help you prepare for your next journey.

I have not worked as a nurse for the last year and a half, can I still work as a travel nurse?

Ask a Travel Nurse Answer:

My thought would be no, but in this case my thought does not count. You would have to contact the travel companies directly, go over your background, and then it would be their choice. Generally speaking, I would think not, but if you do have any luck, please post again to update our readers with your experience.

David
TravelNursesBible.com
david@travelnursesbible.com

Below are the most commonly read Ask a Travel Nurse posts over the last year. They run the gamut of topics from the beginning of an assignment to the end. And as you can see David always answers thoroughly and honestly.

• Ask a Travel Nurse: What can I do ahead of time in case my contract is cancelled?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: What things are included in the pay rate?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: An interview with the founders of HealthcareTravelbook.com
• Ask a Travel Nurse: What are the advantages of owning a “tax home” as a travel nurse?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: Should I carry my own malpractice insurance?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: What can I do if my first contract is cancelled?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: With the way the economy is right now, should I still consider travel nursing?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: What do I do at the end of a travel nursing job?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: I’ve accepted a travel nursing assignment. Now what do I take with me?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: How good are travel nursing benefits?
• Ask a Travel Nurse: What should I do with my house when I am a travel nurse?

We always want more of your questions though. The more you ask the better library of answers we are able to provide travelers and nurses looking into it for the fist time.

So what’s your question? You can ask it here: Ask a Travel Nurse

1. Why is asking questions during my travel nursing interview important?
2. How do I ask questions during my travel nursing interview?
3. What questions should I ask during my travel nursing interview?

Why is asking questions during my travel nursing interview important?

There are several reasons why it is important to be prepared with a set of questions you want to ask during your travel nursing interview.

• This is your chance to get answers about somewhere you may be working the next three months of your life
• Asking questions shows that you are engaged during the interview and being engaged shows that you are truly interested in the job
• Well thought out and researched questions will impress the interviewer, which will make you stand out among other candidates
• You will be better able to gauge if the assignment is going to be a good fit for you
• Good questions will help you learn more about the unit than your recruiter may know

How do I ask questions during my travel nursing interview?

Now that we’ve gone over how important it is to ask questions during the interview, the challenge is knowing how to go about it. Obviously you will want your questions to be well thought out and clear, but you also want them to actually get you the information you need to make a good decision about the assignment. Some basic rules to keep in mind include:

• Have your questions written out ahead of time
• Don’t ask questions that can easily be answered by web research or asking your recruiter – this is your chance to dig deeper
• Stay away from yes/no questions and instead ask open ended questions
• Phrase your questions in a way that shows you have done your research, for example, “I saw on your website that you _______________, but it didn’t talk about the role of _____________. Could you explain more?”
• Stay away from pay questions; those are something for you and your recruiter to discuss
• Use behavioral questions that are based on how they have done things in the past, not hypothetical situations. For example instead of asking, “Is your unit friendly to travel nurses?” ask, “What are ways that your unit has shown it is traveler friendly in the last year?”
• Don’t go overboard with tons of questions, but do have enough to get the answers you need to feel comfortable taking the job
• Typically you are offered the chance to ask questions at the end of an interview, but also when appropriate try to ask them throughout the interview to make it more of a conversation than a Q&A session

What questions should I ask during my travel nursing interview?

Here is a list of questions to get you started:

• What type of orientation should I expect? A brief 1-2 day introduction or is it more in-depth? Will it be a general orientation or of a specific floor?
• Where will I be working?
• What systems are used for charting and documentation?
• Is any testing required during orientation? What is it?
• What shift(s) will I be asked to work? What shift(s) need filled?
• Am I going to required to be on-call? If so, how many hours and how often?
• Am I expected to work holidays and/or weekends? How many?
• Is there ever the possibility of having to change shifts during my assignment?
• Will I be asked to float to other units? Which ones?
• What is the nurse-to-patient ratio in your unit?
• Do you have other travelers on the floor? How many? How do they like it there?
• Why do you have positions that need filled?
• Who will schedule me? Do you have self-scheduling?
• Is it possible I could be cancelled on a shift?
• What potential is there to extend the assignment? How long?
• Do you follow a specific nursing management model? What is it?
• Will overtime be available? How often?
• What is the area like? Traffic? Safety? Culturally?
• What do other travelers think of the housing nearby?
• Is parking easy to find? What does it cost?
• Are lockers and uniforms provided?
• Can you tell me about the community?

Conclusion

Hopefully now you feel a little more prepared to ask questions during your next travel nursing interview. For those of you have been through plenty of them before feel free to add to this list of advice for our readers who are just starting their travel nursing careers. They would love to hear what you have to say.

At its basic though becoming a travel nurse is a pretty straight-forward process.

Step 1 – Get a nursing degree

This sounds obvious, but first things first become a nurse. Either an RN, BSN or MSN degree will work, but in a competitive job environment the more education you have the better (assuming experience is equal).

Step 2 – Get nursing experience

In the past hospitals (and consequently travel nursing companies) were more willing to hire travel nurses with just one year of hospital experience in their specialty. However after the 2008 recession, hospitals have not needed as many travelers (this is however starting to reverse) and consequently have been more able to demand more qualified travel nurses and the new minimum level of experience needed is becoming two years of experience if not more.

Step 3 – Find a good travel nursing company

There are a lot of good travel nursing companies out there to choose from and they each try to offer something a little unique. Most of them do offer similar basic benefits like health insurance, dental insurance, etc. which as a whole are very comparable to those a permanent nurse receives. The key though is to find a travel nursing company that meets your individual needs. Here are some good links to help you find a good travel nursing company or companies to work with.

• Ask a Travel Nurse: What agencies are well known in the travel world?
• Travel Nurse Company Ratings
• Ultimate List of Travel Nursing Companies
• HealthcareTravelbook

 Step 4 – Let the company do the rest, basically

Once you have found a travel nursing company that you are comfortable with they will guide you through the interview and placement process. They will also be instrumental in helping you successfully navigate your way through any challenges you face on your assignments, which is why it so crucial to find a company that you are comfortable with.

There you have it, a simple basic overview of what it takes to become a travel nurse. Be sure to read more of  Travel Nursing Blogs.com to learn more about the more important parts of becoming a traveler.

This is good news because it shows that interest in travel nursing is picking up again and reflects what we have seen in open positions in 2011 thus far, which is a slow and steady return to post recession travel nursing numbers.

In light of this trend we are launching a new section of Travel Nursing Blogs.com to address these more entry level type questions.

These will be “Featured Posts” when they are written, but you can also find them all as they are posted on this page: FAQ Travel Nursing Questions.

Am I adaptable enough to be a travel nurse?

While at the hospital a travel nurse needs to be open minded and flexible and recognize that there are many ways to do things when she encounters new experiences. And at home a travel nurse needs the uncanny ability to make the best of situations and know how to adapt to different housing types since one assignment you could be in a small apartment and the next in an ocean side rental.

Am I confident enough to be a travel nurse?

A travel nurse needs to have the confidence in her clinical skills to come in and hit the ground running when she arrives on assignment. she needs to be poised and assertive without being abrasive.

Am I organized enough to be a travel nurse?

Being a travel nurse involves a certain level of chaos. Between paperwork, balancing finances, paying taxes in multiple states and mini-moves there are a lot of things to take care of in a travel nurses life so a love of organization is helpful to a stress free experience.

Am I friendly enough to be a travel nurse?

As a travel nurse there are a lot of opportunities to meet new people, but if that is not something you enjoy then you may need to work on it to really enjoy being a travel nurse. It takes good people skills to deal successfully with the constant changing work environments (unless you extend) and being the new face on the floor.

Am I eager enough to be a travel nurse?

Travel nursing naturally presents you with learning opportunities so being excited about becoming a better nurse and learning new skills is going to help you not only be more successful as a travel nurse, but also enjoy it more.

Am I resilient enough to be a travel nurse?

Not every travel nursing job is going to turn out to be a dream assignment, so a good travel nurse knows how to keep her chin up and find the best in any situation. But this is much easier knowing the assignment is only 13 weeks if it is not the best experience.

Am I a hard enough worker to be a travel nurse?

Taking a travel nursing assignment is often sold as a “working vacation” and on many levels that is true since you get to go live in new places and go from tourist to local in 3 short months, but don’t forget about the “working” part. If a hospital has brought in a traveler it is because they are likely short-handed already and you are there to help alleviate that situation for the permanent staff, which means working hard. But don’t be a push over either, make sure you have discussed any overtime or floating potential with your recruiter so you know when to make your stand when you need to.

Remember though you will never really know if you will be a good travel nurse until you try it so if you are interested just try out an assignment or two and see what you think.

I would have to say that the answer to this question will depend on personal preference, but I still gave her a few schools of thought for her to consider. Next, I want to stress that I am not an attorney and if malpractice insurance concerns you, I would ALWAYS advise consulting your own legal counsel.

First, even if your travel company does carry malpractice insurance, if this is coverage you depend on, you should always know exactly what it covers and the conditions of that coverage. If you are someone who wants this type of coverage, then you may need to supplement any travel company provided insurance if their limits are not up to par. Again, if you depend on this protection, always ask your recruiter for more information on the coverage limits and any conditions that apply to that coverage.

Another thing you need to check, especially if you are counting on your travel nursing company’s malpractice coverage, is whether or not that policy will cover any legal representation you might need should you ever have to go before a state’s nursing board. I would argue that needing representation before a nursing board occurs far more often that needing representation in court.

A second school of thought on malpractice insurance is that it is best NOT to carry any. The argument is made that if something bad happens, who is going to get sued? Would they go after a nurse making $50,000 a year or the deep pockets of the hospital? I have heard of cases where that argument has held true, but if the hospital lost a case, and it was because of a nurse’s malpractice, then the hospital might decide to come back on the nurse with a suit of its own.

Whatever your personal take on the issue, spend some time getting informed about the legal aspects of nursing. Whenever I need to complete CEU’s, I always look for courses that involve the legal aspects of my profession. Travel nursing forums are also a good place to read up on any legal issues other nurses have had.

It should go without saying, whether you have insurance or not, safe nursing practice will always be your best line of defense against malpractice.

Fully furnished housing for traveling nurses makes it easy to feel at home.

One way in which corporate housing generates measurable savings to their guests is through providing you with a fully-equipped kitchen. These kitchens contain full-sized refrigerators, stoves, and built-in microwaves. The ability to choose whether you want to eat in or dine out is important. Without this choice, you are forced to eat out at least 7 days a week, which will become a tremendous expense.  You will save up to $500 per month or as much as 50% on your food bill alone.

Valet-dry cleaning at hotels or coin laundry machines at extended stay suites are costly options and get in the way of everyday life. As a nurse, your uniform will need to be washed regularly and thoroughly to eliminate the germs and dirt you come into contact with daily. Should you really have to wait to wash your clothes and then be charged for that expense too?  While searching for housing consider the importance of having a washer and dryer located in your own apartment.  This will save you at least another $50-$75 per month and provide you more convenience and flexibility as well.

As a travel nurse, your housing needs are different and the finest travel nurse housing providers understand that and do their best to satisfy those necessities.

Dan Gorman is a Certified Corporate Housing Professional member and an expert in the field of furnished housing for traveling nurses.  Please visit www.travel-nurse-housing.com for more information about travel nurse housing solutions and locations or email at Dan@travel-nurse-housing.com.

As most of you know, if you accept a travel nursing assignment, you must have at least a year’s worth of experience in the specialty in which you wish to travel. If you are a medical-surgical nurse, don’t expect to be able to take a travel assignment based in a telemetry unit where they will train you. As a traveler, you are expected to be proficient in your field. Because of this, it is difficult to cross-train and be proficient in several areas unless you have this experience prior to starting your travel career. So, if you find you are specialized in an area that has little to offer in the way of travel assignments, you might consider gaining additional experience before traveling.

HOW DO I KNOW HOW PREVALENT MY SPECIALTY IS IN TRAVEL NURSING?

Probably the easiest way to find this out is by speaking with those who provide the assignments, the travel companies.

Even if you are still toying with the idea of traveling, call up a travel company and ask if you may speak with a recruiter. The recruiter should be able to tell you which specialties are in demand and they will also be able to pull up current listings and tell you which specialties are needed in any given area of the country. Even if you tell them you are just thinking about traveling, they should still spend the time answering your questions. After all, if you do decide to travel, they will want to earn your business.

WHAT IF I WANT TO TRAVEL NOW?

I can certainly understand the desire to want to get started, but you must consider how long you think you will want to travel. If you just take an assignment every now and then, and work per diem or registry when you are back home, then it might be okay not being in a high demand specialty. However, if you know early on that you want to make a career of it, then you might want to spend an extra year gaining experience in a specialty that is in demand. Even if you only have a month of downtime every now and then while waiting for an assignment in your specialty, over the period of a decade, it might add up to well over a year’s time. If you spent that extra year cross-training before you start traveling, a high demand specialty might never see any lag time between assignments.

If you do decide to travel in a specialty that seems to be “low demand”, make sure you are signed up with at least a few travel companies. The more assignments you are exposed to, the better the chances will be in finding something in your particular specialty.

Articles like this that try to make something as complex as starting a travel nursing company sound as easy as 1,2,3 are really just a joke and are someone trying to get a link to their web site, but what they can also do is lead to an abundance of fly-by-night travel nursing companies that are not prepared to provide the service properly to both nurses and hospitals. In the end this only ends up hurting the reputation of the travel nursing industry as a whole.

The article itself at least covers some important items like insurance and proper licensing, but the number of things it omits are amazing, like being Joint Commission Certified, housing, taxes, being financially sound, and on and on. The mindset that starting a travel nursing company is easy coupled with how easy it is to set up a website is why there are so many travel nursing companies out there.

Really though this article just made me think about how important it is that as a travel nurse you take the time to investigate the travel nursing companies you work with and send your information to. Here are some tips to get you started.

• If they are a publicly traded company go their corporate website and check out their annual reports to make sure they are going to be able to pay you
• If they are a private company look for signs of growth like Inc 500 awards or fastest growing awards
• See how many employees they have, not that a travel nursing company has to be huge, but it should be big enough to handle things like billing the hospital, doing background checks and providing you with support while you are on assignment
• Ask your recruiter about the companies financial stability and record what the say somewhere so you have it should a situation ever arise where you need it
• Find out how long the travel nursing company been around
• Check on their liability insurance information
• Ask how they handle taxes, check with your accountant to make sure it is on the up and up
• Remember if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• Ask them how long it typically takes them to get paid by their hospitals
• Find out if they ever have payroll issues
• Tell them to give you the phone numbers of current travel nurses working with them and past ones
• See how many travel nurses they have working with them on average every month – 50 and up and I would think you should have no issues

Do you have any other questions you ask to determine the stability of a travel nursing company?

I always encourage travelers to be signed up with more than one travel nursing company (I, myself, am signed up with about a half dozen). If you are in the same boat as me, you have probably received at least one email offering to send you to Haiti to help with the aid.

I have never been in the fortunate position of being able to go to a disaster zone (I was always on a travel assignment at the time), but given the chance, I would jump at the opportunity.

Most of us in the profession are by nature, “healers and helpers”. We derive satisfaction from being able to help others, but often realize early on that ours is mostly a thankless profession. But, when I have spoken with other nurses who have responded to natural disaster zones, they say it can be a very rewarding experience. However, despite the great opportunity to help your fellow man, you must know exactly what’s in store for you; they don’t call it a “disaster zone” for nothing.

Often, the facilities and the medical care will be nowhere near what you are accustomed. You might find yourself working in a tent or some other make-shift medical care station. You could also find yourself right in the thick of things and be delivering your medical care at the roadside using medical supplies fetched from the back of a truck. The living conditions may be primitive and even things we take for granted, such as running water, may not be available. It can be exhaustive work, both physically and mentally. It’s a wonderful opportunity, but if you get the feeling you might not be able to handle it, you might be right.

I have been told that many of the agencies that respond to disaster zones understand when the workers become overwhelmed or are not able to deal with the situation and need to return home. Obviously, they would prefer that those coming to help have done some soul searching beforehand, and once again, if you think it might be over your head, it might very well be. But, if you do need to leave, they will understand.

You will need strong skills in things such as dressing changes, starting IV’s, and basic medical care. However, this also means that you don’t need to be an ICU or an ER nurse to lend a helping hand. Nearly anyone with basic medical training can be utilized.

Most companies like you to make an initial commitment (the company that contacted me regarding Haiti asked for two weeks) and would probably welcome any extensions beyond that time if needed. The pay will vary, but the initial rate I was contacted with for Haiti would be $40 an hour with $60 an hour for overtime. You must also figure that you would pretty much be working the entire time you were not sleeping (this isn’t a travel assignment where you sight-see on your time off). But, that also means lots of overtime hours and that you could make a lot of money in a short time.

The costs you would be responsible for, for things such as travel, passports, immunizations, etc., would vary depending on the organization with whom you are associated. If you have an interest in helping with the situation in Haiti, contact your travel company to see if they are organizing any aid efforts. You can also contact me at david@travelnursesbible.com for more info

Finding the right travel nursing recruiter is something you can either let happen by accident or you take a proactive approach and ask the right kind of questions to make sure you find the best recruiter for your personality.

The relationship you have with your recruiter needs to be one based on trust and respect, so make sure you take the time to learn as much as you can about them before you enter a travel nursing job. It also definitely helps the success of your travel nursing job if you like your recruiter too. Travel nurses can come to rely on their recruiters for a lot during the course of an assignment, so it is not a relationship to be taken too lightly. That’s why I came up with this list of questions you can ask when you are talking to new recruiters to get to know them better:

1. How long have you been working in the travel nursing industry?
2. How many years have you been recruiting?
3. Are you going to be my recruiter the whole time I work with your company?
4. How many travel nurses do you work with right now?
5. What is the max number of travel nurses you are allowed to work with?
6. What is the standard travel nurse to recruiter ratio at your travel nursing company?
7. Tell me something about your background? Where did you go to school? Where did you grow up? Etc.
8. How many times a week will I talk to you?
9. How are you going to contact me? Email? Phone? Text? Etc.
10. What sets you apart from other recruiters?
11. How do your help your travel nurses succeed?
12. What made you want to work for this travel nurse company?
13. What is it about this company that you like? Dislike? Is there anything you would change? 
14. What’s your favorite color?

What about you? Are there any questions you have used to qualify or get to know your recruiter better?

• Who pays me? The hospital or the travel nursing agency?
• Who will pay for my move to my travel nursing assignment?
• Do you offer Per Diem?
• Who will pay for things such as my utilities, while I am on assignment? 
• If the travel nursing company offers a stipend to pay utilities, when is it paid and is it taxed?
• What will benefits will be deducted from my paycheck?
• Do I get meal allowances during my travel nursing job?
• How much does each type of insurance (maximum out-of-pocket expense, date of eligibility, premiums, and deductibles) cost?
• How much does it cost for me the nurse? For my family?
• How often will I get paid? Do you offer direct deposit?
• If I live at my own home, or out of town with friends or relatives, or rent an apartment on my own while on assignment can I get a travel nursing stipend?
• Will you still get paid for your travel nursing assignment if the census becomes real low and I get called off?
• If I’m required to be on call, what is the on-call pay?
• What will I get paid? Base pay rate per hour? Overtime pay rate? Holiday pay?
• Does the travel nursing company have any holidays that are paid?
• Will you be a Charge RN? If so, how often? Is there Charge Pay? What is it?
• Do I have to pay any deposits such as my apartment or having a pet?
• Do we get any money back for having our own insurance such as health or dental? How much would it be if so?
• Does your company offer any money back for me continuing my education or getting licensed? Is there a limit on how much you would reimburse?
• Does your company allow its travel nurses to be a part of profit sharing?

Next installment look for questions to ask a travel nursing company about their travel nursing benefits.

Travel Nursing Questions List 3: About the travel nursing company

• How long has the travel nursing company been around?
• How big is your company?
• What do you feel your company has to offer that is above and beyond any other?
• What sets you apart?
• Are there nurses who can give references?
• Is someone always available to take my call?
• Can I see a blank contract?
• What makes your company better than all the other travel nursing companies out there?
• Is my travel nursing job guaranteed by written contract?
• How much will I be paid on my travel nursing assignment?
• Can you explain your mileage reimbursement policy for travel nursing assignments?
• Does the travel nursing company provide help with licensing and my other credentialing needs?
• Is there someone at the travel nursing company to talk to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
• Who do I talk to if my recruiter isn’t around?
• Will I only have one recruiter my entire time with the travel nursing company?
• If I want to go perm find out if there is a clause in your contract to prevent you from being hired as a perm employee?
• What are the details of the clause if there is one?
• When did your company first start up?
• What, if anything do you see is an area in which your company could work on?

If you ask these questions of the travel nursing company you are considering up front you may be able to avoid some surprises during the travel nursing assignment. Do you have any standard questions you ask that I did not mention?

Travel Nursing Questions List 2: On Assignment

• How many hours of my travel nursing assignment are guaranteed?
• Are my hours at the hospital guaranteed?
• Have other travel nurses worked at the hospital before?
• Who do I talk to when I have problems with my travel nursing assignment?
• What about floating?
• Am I required to float to other units?
• What units? (If you don’t want to float be sure to tell them and have it included in the travel nursing contract).
• What type of unit will I be working in during my travel nursing job? What are its staffing levels?
• What nursing shifts will I work?
• Will I be asked to float to other shifts?
• Will I be required to be on-call? If so, what is the on-call pay?
• What about extensions?
• Is there a maximum amount of extensions allowed?
• What happens when I’m sick?
• Can I make up shifts?
• Can I extend my travel nursing contract if I get sick?

Again, I am sure I didn’t get them all so help us build the ultimate list of travel nursing questions by listing any questions you have found useful during your travel nursing career.

While there are definite steps you should take when this happens to you, like contacting your company and recruiter right away, this series of The Ultimate List of Travel Nursing Questions should help you learn more about the company you are working with up front. Which will help you avoid a bad travel nursing assignment before it begins. Check it out. What other questions have you found helpful to ask.

Travel Nursing Questions List 1: Housing

• Is housing furnished? (bed, night stand, couches, tables, etc.)
• Are utilities paid? Up to how much do they pay? Which Utilities are not paid for?
• What kind of housing do you offer? Is it private or shared?
• Is it an apartment or house?
• Can I have Pets?
• How close is your housing to the hospital?
• Does the travel nursing assignment allow me to bring my spouse or significant other, children, pets) Are there charges if I do?
• When doing housing through your company can I have a part in choosing our own apartment so we can maybe negotiate with the apartment complex for even better deals?
• Is there a housing package for things such as the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom? (ie: pots/pans, utensils, towels, sheets?)
• Does the housing you offer come with washer and dryers? If so where is it located? (eg: my room or within the complex?) If in the complex, do I have to pay to use it?
• What about phone service, Internet (wireless), cable?  Are they included or do I pay for those?
• How much sooner than my assignment start and end date am I allowed to move in and out?
• Am I able to see where my room would be located in an apartment layout? Such as close to streets, parks and which floors?
• Does the housing I am offered come with A/C and/or heat or would I have to find a way to take care of those needs myself?
• Am I able to know the actual square feet of my apartment before and also see an exact layout of where the rooms are located to make sure the sq. ft. is right for me?
• Do you offer an extended stay option instead?

I’m sure there are questions I am missing. What other questions have you found helpful to ask.