Family-focused Travel Nurse Recognized for Skills, Dedication and Professionalism
By Melissa Wirkus, contributor
Saskia Padgett, BSN, RN, CEN, got started as a nurse because of her compassion and desire to help those in need. Now an experienced emergency department nurse, Padgett's extensive contributions to the nursing profession and patients across the country were recently recognized in a national magazine for traveling health care professionals.
"My recruiter, Kristen Galvan, told me she nominated me, and she has been an integral part of my good experience with travel nursing," she said. "I was surprised and honored."
Padgett was nominated by senior recruiter, Kristen Kelley Galvan, and chosen to represent American Mobile Healthcare, an AMN Healthcare company, in Healthcare Traveler’s annual search for the Top Travelers of the Year. She was honored, along with 52 other mobile health care professionals, in the magazine’s December 2011 issue.
"I think awards like this are really important because travel nurses are really pretty independent in our work and I think it is good for us to see who else we are working with and realize we are part of a larger contingent."
Padgett embarked on her travel nursing career two years ago to give her family an opportunity to see the country. She travels with her husband and toddler son, where she has taken assignments throughout the state of California--from San Diego up to the San Francisco Bay Area.
"One of the things about nursing that also interested me was the [potential for] traveling. I had been a staff nurse for three and a half years when I took the plunge to start traveling. I wanted to see what other ERs did and I wanted the opportunity to travel and see the country," she explained.
"Going to different places and staying in different kinds of places has actually made my son a very outgoing boy. It's been wonderful."
As Galvan noted in her nomination, travel nursing has given Padgett valuable career building experience at some of the nation's most prestigious hospitals, working with many talented nurses.
"I've gotten to work with so many great ER nurses from different places--from local, rural hospitals to big trauma centers and teaching facilities…It's been a pleasure working side by side with them all."
"It's been a great experience learning how different ERs work, how to handle the budget issues and staffing issues, and the different resources available," she explained. "It's made me more flexible in some ways, but what never changes is your integrity for caring for a patient. There is always the right way to handle certain medications and your concerns for a patient if you feel they are not being met. Travel nursing has deepened my practice, but the essence of what's important, the integrity, has remained the same."
For Padgett, the benefits of travel nursing encompass both her professional and personal life.
"It's been a real neat time just having the three of us together on the road, helping each other to adapt to each location, and even just the simplicity of life that we have. Everything that we own fits in the car. We leave a place, and we donate a lot of stuff to a thrift store or Salvation Army. It's been neat living with less and realizing how little you need in some ways, even with a child. It's just been a real special time for us."
During her two years on the road, Padgett and her family have driven across the country three times, and enjoy spending time together at children's museums, beaches and zoos. Although Padgett has been recognized for her excellence in nursing, she wanted to call attention to her own personal hero on the road.
"My husband has been an incredible stay-at-home dad and has done a really great job with all of the changes and handling all of our travels and location changes."
From the invaluable professional experience to the precious memories made with her family, travel nursing has benefited Padgett in many different ways.
"Having the adventure and being able to go from place to place is just a remarkable thing. Even in this economy, or any kind of a job, it's just so rare to be able to do this kind of thing. It's been a great bonus to a career that I already love."
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