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Experienced RN Improves as a Nurse through Traveling

By Shelley Wright, contributor

June 21, 2011 - “Fate” is how Virginia Sanchez, RN, describes her current travel nursing assignment. Just one month before, she had reconnected with a long-lost relative, now living in Palm Springs, Calif., who she hadn’t seen in 30 years. So, when her recruiter called on a Friday evening with an assignment in Palm Springs, starting on the upcoming Monday, she jumped at it. Two days later, her local airport serendipitously reopened from a snow closure and Sanchez traveled to her new, warmer, home away from home.

Sanchez was already a mother before she graduated with her nursing degree almost 19 years ago. She supported her three children alone, working mostly telemetry, sometimes med-surg, with a little home health and ER (and hairdressing) thrown in. Now the children are grown, so three years ago Sanchez decided to take the leap into travel nursing.

“I was a good nurse before,” Sanchez reflects, “but I’m a better nurse now.” She feels she’d grown lax after so many years in the profession, working at the same hospital. Traveling, she says, keeps you on your toes, learning new equipment and charting.

“Nursing is nursing,” Sanchez explains. So, the key to handling a new hospital is to go in with a good attitude, be friendly and be flexible. Following her own advice, Sanchez has been amazed by the new experiences she’s encountered, both personally and professionally.

Although Sanchez admits she was nervous to travel at first, she could not be happier that she took the chance. Her first assignment was only three hours from home, a comfortable initial foray. But, her second assignment was her most memorable as she plunged into the golden metropolis of Los Angeles, a far cry from her small hometown. She loved it, and especially loved how well placed she was to indulge in her favorite hobby--shopping.

For Sanchez, the patients are the best part of nursing and Los Angeles also gave her the chance to work with patients of many different ethnicities, which she enjoyed. Meeting new patients, friends and fellow travelers has been the best part of traveling for her.

Her current assignment with leading short-term travel nurse staffing company NurseChoice , an AMN Healthcare company, is her first rapid response travel experience. Different than the typical 13 week travel assignment, NurseChoice provides premium pay rates for qualified travelers who are willing and able to start short-term assignments quickly to meet the urgent staffing needs of facilities.

Her NurseChoice recruiter offered her the perfect assignment to ensure her availability for an upcoming important date--her assignment will end just days before she will embark on her daughter’s wedding cruise. As Sanchez concluded, it was simply “fate.”

So, how long will Sanchez keep travelling as a nurse? “As long as my body will let me: I will do it forever.”