Travelling Healthcare Practitioner Career 101

Great opportunities await healthcare practitioners around the world. Whether you are a physical therapist, a nurse, a radiologist, a pharmacist, lab staff or just about any healthcare professional, job opening and opportunities are limitless. Jobs in the medical field are recession-proof. Despite the economic downturn, pay rates are getting higher and the demand for healthcare practitioners is continuously rising. This demand is not only prevalent in the United States but is worldwide.
This is mainly due to severe shortage of health practitioners. Medical facilities across the globe are hiring healthcare practitioners that are already experienced and are well-exposed to various conditions. This hasty demand due to overloading of patients, resignation, retirement and vacation leave leaves human resource medical professionals no choice but to hire professionals via agencies or staffing companies. Hired for short-term employment, these professionals are referred to as travelling healthcare practitioners.
Travelling healthcare practitioners are professionals who opt to work part-time by travelling to different states to practice their profession. These individuals are not directly hired by medical facilities but are rather assisted by staffing agencies. Opting for a travelling health career means direct coordination with an agency. The agency will search for your ideal job. Your short-term employment is then referred to as an assignment. As a freelancer, you may have the option to accept or reject any proposed assignment. Before your agent could look for a job for you, you will be asked for your preferred location. Yes! You have the power to choose which state or city you'd like to live temporarily.
To be a travelling healthcare practitioner, you must have a degree from an accredited program and a valid license in whichever discipline you practice. Depending on your specialty, you must have at least 1 year clinical experience. You should also pass the physical and drug examinations to be admitted by an agency. Some agencies will require solid employer references to boost your portfolio. Depending on the location you will be assigned to, there might be additional licenses required. In such cases, your agency should be able to provide assistance to fulfil this requirement.
Generally, an assignment may last for 13 weeks only. This short-term employment requires 40 hours of work per week. Depending on the needs of the facility you are assigned to, you may complete this workload on different shifts. At times, you will be asked to work overtime and over the weekends too. Although your assignment to a unit or floor is stipulated in the contract, there will be times that you will be floated to a different floor. This is often normal since facilities have different policies. Your pay depends on your experience, skills and location. One thing is for sure, travelling healthcare practitioners earn at least 20% more than their counterparts. Upon completion of an assignment, you may opt to renew, to jump into another assignment or to take a vacation. If along the road you wish to work permanently, your agency should be able to help you gain permanent employment.

Kristina Lo has been in the traveling nurse arena for the last 6 years. Currently there is a rise in the amount of nurses needed and she is trying to spread the word to find quality nurses that are interested in traveling nurse jobs. If you have been a traveling nurse and looking for what is new in the industry, please visit us to see our traveling nurse job postings.