Today’s Hottest Specialties in Travel Nursing

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By Melissa Hagstrom, contributor

The weather may be cooling down, but the job opportunities appear to be heating up in travel nursing.

As we approach the winter season, Travelnursing.com takes an inside look at the nursing specialties that are the hottest for mobile RNs now and in the coming months, as well as the seasonal fluctuations and regional nuances that have an impact on demand.

"Our highest needs right now are labor and delivery, OR, CVOR and PICU," said Caitlin Grubaugh, senior recruiter with American Mobile Healthcare, an AMN Healthcare company. "The demand for nurses is so high and filling these needs is critical. The high need specialties list is consistently growing, but the ones that I see always staying on top are ER, CVICU, CVOR and L&D."

Grubaugh explained that although there are needs for nurses across most specialties, there is a smaller supply of nurses qualified to work in these specific areas, creating a lot of opportunity for travelers with the right skills set.

Jennifer Cosgrove, another senior recruiter with American Mobile, has spotted the same trends, adding that ICU and cath lab assignments are also hot right now.

As the number of opportunities grows, travel nurses are also finding that they can choose from a wider variety of facilities, ranging from top academic medical centers to trauma centers, children’s hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and small, community hospitals.

Seasonal illness and changing weather patterns often bring a surge in patient admissions, and both Cosgrove and Grubaugh are seeing these trends reflected in the travel nursing industry.

"I think more people are scheduling surgeries during this time of year because nobody wants to have them in the summer," Grubaugh added. "And labor and delivery seems to always pick up during the fall months--this seems to be the time people have a lot of babies."

Med-surg positions, including OR and CVOR, have really started to pick up in the past couple of months, she added. "It has been moved to one of our higher needs. We are also seeing more orders for dialysis nurses."

Regionally speaking, both Cosgrove and Grubaugh point out that American Mobile always has an abundance of opportunities for travel nurses across all specialties throughout the state of California, and the need for qualified travel nurses is also especially high for Texas.

"Just about every region has a lot of opportunity right now, but if I had to pick one I would say California is always 'hot,'" Cosgrove said.

In addition to differences in location and time of year, recruiters are also seeing specialty trends that are dependent upon new developments in technology and patient demographics.

“Computer conversion assignments are expected to grow as we see hospitals doing more EMR conversions--which moves things to electronic charting rather than paper charting, or upgrades older systems," Cosgrove explained.

Between the many specialties that are in demand and the variety of locations to choose from, it appears that the industry is experiencing a "travel nurses' market,” where nurses have their pick of assignments and locations.

"Nationwide, we have so many great locations right now, for many specialties," Cosgrove concluded. "It is a great time to start traveling."

Your skills are needed! Facilities across the country are looking for nurses in the following specialties: