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If you are considering working as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) nurse, you are likely already aware of some of the challenges you will face–such as dealing with seriously ill children and potentially heartbreaking scenarios—and have balanced these with your desire to help care for seriously ill pediatric patients and their families.
Working as a travel PICU nurse can help you gain valuable, diverse experience as you may have the opportunity to work in a variety of hospitals and PICUs which have niche specialties. Do you have what it takes to become a PICU nurse? Check out some of the most asked questions about PICU nursing that are answered below in addition to the pros and cons of being a PICU nurse to find out.
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PICU nurses provide care to pediatric patients with serious illnesses. At any time, the PICU will be home to patients with a variety of diagnoses such as patients with respiratory disorders including:
Pediatric surgical patients are also cared for in the PICU. Patients may be admitted for observation after routine, planned surgical procedures such as Nissen fundoplication or transplantation or for more emergent procedures.
Patients cared for in the PICU may range in age from newborns to approximately 21 years of age. Patients on the older end of this spectrum, or even older adults, may be well known to the PICU due to congenital anomalies such as congenital heart disease. Depending on the patient population of the hospital, patients may be cared for in even more specialized PICUs such as cardiac or neurologic PICUs.
The PICU often prides itself on providing patient and family-centered care, and family members will hopefully be very involved in the care of their child. For that reason, PICU nurses not only take care of pediatrics but are also an invaluable resource to the patient’s family to provide both education and support.
One of the wonderful attributes of a career in nursing is that it is never too early or too late to learn about a new area of nursing that interests you.
How to become a PICU nurse with an associate degree in nursing:
How to become a PICU nurse with a bachelor’s degree in nursing:
How to become a PICU nurse if you’re already in nursing school:
If you are an established nurse looking to make a specialty change and begin working in the PICU, reach out to your colleagues and see if you can spend any time shadowing a PICU nurse to learn more about the specialty and network with other nurses. If an opening comes up in the PICU that interests you, apply! The PICU will value your other nursing skills and teach you what you need to know about your pediatric patients. Learning about what research is being done by the PICU nurses or Nurse Practitioners where you work and attending conferences where they are presenting their work may also help you get your foot in the door.
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When thinking about working with seriously ill pediatric patients, you may automatically think about the difficulties you may face in caring for these children as a nurse. However, for every downside of providing care in the PICU, there is a benefit as well. Here are some common pros and cons of being a PICU nurse:
First, it may be very emotional to work with pediatric patients with a serious acute or chronic illness. You may know that your patient faces a difficult road ahead and is at risk for continued hospital admissions, which take a toll on the patient and family’s quality of life, such as in the case of a patient with congenital heart disease. For patients with a severe acute illness, such as a burn victim, it may be difficult to watch your patient suffer physically while you are providing routine care such as dressing changes.
However, you must remember that your patient would be dealing with this illness regardless of whether you are this patient’s nurse. If you as the nurse can provide excellent nursing care and therefore improve the patient’s outcome, you have made a positive impact on the patient and family, even as they deal with a difficult diagnosis. You can always improve your patient’s quality of life in some way.
If you ever struggled in nursing school to place an intravenous (IV) catheter or nasogastric tube, you may be concerned about performing these procedures, among others, on children. Your patients may have tiny limbs and not be as cooperative as adult patients.
It is important to remember that no nurse is born knowing how to do these procedures well. It simply takes practice and once you’re proficient at placing an IV on a small child, this is a skill you will have for the rest of your career. You may then be called on as a resource for other nurses and other units when they have a patient with limited access. It is a source of pride to be called upon to help fellow nurses care for their patients and you can do it with practice. Another benefit of caring for children is that they are typically smaller and lighter than your average adult patient. That will save you from straining your back!
As we mentioned earlier, as a PICU nurse, you’re not just caring for the pediatric patient; you’re caring for the entire family too. That counts as both a pro and a con, because that can be a wonderful experience but also a challenging one.
For instance, it can be a pro because you can educate and equip a family to care for a child who will need long-term care and have a true teamwork approach to care, but it can also be challenging if the family is not interested in being involved or places emotions on you.
You must remember that the family is coping with their seriously ill child’s illness as best they can. One coping strategy may be to try to control your care. The benefit to working with families is that once you show them you are a competent nurse, you can make a great team taking care of your patient. It is a great feeling to have a family member be excited that you are their loved one’s assigned nurse for the day. Once they let you into their extended family, you will not want to leave.
Despite receiving excellent nursing and medical care, some patients will still succumb to their illness and deteriorate or die. This will be emotional for everyone involved in the patient’s care. You may even find it difficult to not think of something similar happening to your own children or family members in these situations. However, there is support available.
Most hospitals also have staff to help both family members and staff work through losing a patient, such as psychologists through an employee assistance program, a chaplain, or a peer mentor with training in helping grieving colleagues. Ultimately, you will get through it, and you will learn from each patient to provide better care to the next patient.
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The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) provides care to newborn babies in need of intensive care due to diagnoses such as prematurity, congenital heart disease, necrotizing enterocolitis, and other congenital anomalies requiring surgical repair, among others. The PICU provides care to older infants and pediatric patients of all ages, as outlined above.
Most PICUs will strive for a nursing ratio of 1 nurse to 1 or 2 PICU patients. If a PICU shares beds with an intermediate care or step-down unit, a nurse may have 3 patients, due to the lower acuity of these patients.
PICU nurses provide care to both medical and surgical patients.
As with any occupation, salary will vary based on location and level of experience, among other factors. According to ZipRecruiter, the average PICU nurse salary in the United States is $108,031 annually.
Nursing in general is a constantly growing field, and the PICU is no exception. The care provided in the PICU is highly specialized and hospitals need to employ a high number of PICU nurses due to the nursing ratio required to care for these patients. The job outlook for PICU nurses will continue to be strong.
BA.5 is taking over —and the White House is preparing an action strategy against this highly-contagious subvariant.
The talk of the town right now is that the U.S. has officially been taken over by Omicron subvariant BA.5—it’s the dominant strain in the country, making up well over 54% of new COVID cases. In fact, the White House’s COVID task force briefed President Biden on the new subvariant, urging the administration to set up a clear plan for combating the virus, as it is both highly contagious and evades both vaccine-induced and natural immunities. (The strategy, in case you’re wondering, isn’t really that different than other variants: get boosted if you’re at risk and wear a mask if you’re in an area with high transmission.)
Unfortunately, according to the task force’s doctors, even people who have had COVID-19 as recently as a few months ago are at a very high risk of getting re-infected. And if you’ve been to any summer barbecues lately, you may have noticed this very phenomenon happening: so-called summer “colds” are all over right now.
According to the CDC, the country is inching back up in high-risk numbers—currently, just over 20% of the country is considered “high risk” for community transmission, while our update last week saw that number hovering around 19%. Here’s more on what’s happening with the virus in the U.S. now and what COVID travel nurse jobs are available.
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
The number of officially reported COVID cases continues to hover around 100K per day (although remember — that number is probably low compared to the actual number of infections, as fewer people get “official” tests or even get tested at all), but hospitalizations have been steadily increasing over the past few weeks.
Here are the stats from the CDC we have right now:
There are about 5K COVID-related hospitalizations occurring daily right now—that number did rise, as it tends to do, after the 4th of July, which brought increased gatherings and travel. Hospitalizations are still occurring at higher rates among those who are not vaccinated, as well as adults over the age of 65. According to the NYT, about 33,000 people total in the U.S. are in the hospital with COVID, with only 4,000 of those in the ICU.
Travel nursing opportunities may be increased again with any rise in cases and hospitalizations, as well as the summer months when many healthcare workers may take time off. If you are looking for a COVID-specific travel nursing job, here are some of the current travel nursing positions available with weekly rates listed.
All of the following positions are MICU/SICU/ICU roles, which are most commonly COVID units:
Speak with a recruiter about available assignments in COVID-impacted areas today.
The CDC is now officially recommending that all people 6 months of age and older receive an initial COVID-19 vaccination series, with additional recommendations for booster shots.
Moderna has also developed a revised vaccine, the bivalent booster vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.214, which better fights the Omicron variant and potentially other variants—the revised vaccine will most likely be offered as a booster vaccine in the fall. The bivalent vaccine targets two different strains of a virus and has the potential to provide broad immunity to COVID-19 as new variants develop because it uses mRNA to target specific mutations in a protein that appear across both older and emerging COVID-19 variants. However, it’s very possible that even with the revised vaccine, a new subvariant could take over, rendering even that version less effective.
To add to the COVID vaccine round-up, the FDA has supported Novavax, a fourth COVID vaccine. Novavax works like traditional vaccines by introducing a small fragment of the actual coronavirus into the body—but in this case, the fragment has been built by a lab. Full approval is expected soon and the U.S. has already placed an order for 3.2 million doses of Novavax once it is officially approved. The hope is that adults who are leery of using mRNA vaccines will instead be willing to get the Novavax, since it uses a traditional method of vaccination.
The FDA has also suggested that COVID vaccines may be recommended annually, much like the vaccines for influenza and pneumonia. Researchers are also in the process of testing a blood test that can measure someone’s immunity to COVID-19, whether through vaccines or infection. Ideally, the test could help guide someone to decide what steps they should take to protect themselves in the future from COVID.
Additionally, researchers are working on developing an inhaled COVID vaccine that would be shelf-stable for up to 3 months. And last but not least, there is talk of introducing a universal vaccine that can offer some protection as new variants and subvariants continue to crop up.
According to the CDC, 222.3 million people in the U.S. have now been fully vaccinated. Vaccination rates have definitely slowed from earlier in the pandemic, but here’s how the current vaccine numbers stack up:
The CDC recommends that kids between the ages of 5 and 12 receive 1 booster dose, while people aged 12 and over should receive a series of two booster shots to protect against severe complications from COVID-19 infection.
Here are the recommendations from the CDC regarding boosters:
| If your first vaccine was: | Get this booster: | When: |
| Pfizer-BioNTech | Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for your first booster if you’re over 18; Pfizer-BioNTech for children between 6 months and 17. | 5 months after your first vaccine series; 3 months if you’re severely immunocompromised. If you’re getting a second booster, get it 4 months after your first. (Second boosters are not recommended for kids under 11.) |
| Moderna | Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. | 5 months after your first vaccine series; 3 months if you’re severely immunocompromised. If you’re getting a second booster (recommended for age 50+ and anyone severely immunocompromised), get it 4 months after your first. (Second boosters are not recommended for kids under 11.) |
| J&J/Janssen | Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna You can also get a second mRNA-only booster if you’re over 50. | 2 months after your first vaccine. If you’re getting a second booster (age 50+ or severely immunocompromised), get it 4 months after your first. |
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
More hope appears to be on the horizon with declining COVID case numbers and increasing vaccinations. However, concern over rising cases internationally, vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 variants are still present.
Here’s are the latest COVID updates for travel nurses.
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The current COVID data is a bit confusing and bordering on worrisome and hopeful According to the CDC, new cases decreased from Jan 11-Feb 26. The next week, they rose. Then, in the week of March 2, they decreased again. And as of March 10, there was a 11.2% decrease in the overall daily number of cases when looking at the past week, which the CDC called an “encouraging sign of continued progress.” However, they also noted that even with the decline, the number of cases on March 10 of 56,586 cases is still higher than the 42,597 cases reported during the first peak in the pandemic on April 6, 2020. In other words, numbers are going down, but they’re still higher than they need to be to declare us free from COVID.
The upcoming spring break for colleges and schools in the country is also causing health experts to hold their breath. The combination of pandemic fatigue, the allure of warmer weather, more vaccine protection and declining case counts could be a deadly equation, some are warning. USA Today reported an increase in flights to Florida, Disney World reservations at full capacity and bars with no masks mandates packed with spring-break goers. There is some fear that with more people traveling and not wearing masks, the opportunity for variants that will potentially resist the vaccines to spread will increase.
“I just can’t believe that less than a month after the winter surge finally subsided, we’re potentially dealing with another one,” Michael Daignault, an emergency physician in Los Angeles and chief medical adviser for Reliant Health Services, told USA Today “I don’t know what it’s going to take for people to learn their lesson. It’s very frustrating.”
Hospitals continue to see a decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. As of today, the U.S. has seen 532,335 deaths from COVID-19. Overall, the recent weekly death count has decreased by 19.3%.
The CDC has also been able to analyze more data on COVID, which has allowed them to release more statistics on how the pandemic has disproportionately affected certain population groups, including American Indian and Native Americans (3.7x more likely to be hospitalized than non-Hispanic white Americans), Black or African Americans (2.9 times more likely to be hospitalized) and Hispanic and Latino people (3.1 times more likely to be hospitalized). All of the aforementioned groups also faced disproportionate rates of deaths from COVID in comparison to non-Hispanic white Americans.
The emergent need for travel nurses due to COVID-19 has definitely slowed and some nurses have even seen their crisis contracts suddenly cancelled at the lastminute. However, travel nursing is an industry that will never go away and there are still travel nursing assignments with average weekly pay available in areas such as:
Speak with a recruiter about available assignments in COVID-impacted areas today.
To date, 109 million doses of the vaccine have been administered. Close to 10% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. Vaccination efforts have been helped with things like mass vaccination sites and the initial rollout of pharmacy vaccinations at some major retailers, including CVS and Walgreens locations, as well as a catch-up to local health departments after severe winter storms derailed some shipments.
Overall, there have also been some reports of some vaccine eagerness ebbing, as both vaccine availability and hesitancy increase. The combination of state restrictions easing, reports of new infections decreasing and general fears about the virus somewhat slowing are all culminating in what some experts fear may be an aversion to vaccines in the coming months. In a strange way, it’s almost like the demand for a new phone or video game: now that the vaccine is becoming easier to get, fewer people are lining up to get a shot in their arm. “The more people we vaccinate, the harder we’ll have to work to get the next group in,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told PEW Research Center. “Once we vaccinate the eager early acceptors, we’re going to have to go out and find people in the general population who haven’t lined up yet.”
As more people are achieving full vaccination status–defined by the CDC as two weeks after the second dose of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines–the CDC has also released guidelines on what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do. This includes:
In other vaccine news:
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
There has also been more attention turned to the stress that travel nurses especially have experienced in this pandemic. The travel nursing industry largely heralded as an upbeat way to gain experience, meet new people, earn money and travel all at the same time has been completely upended in a lot of ways by the pandemic. Instead of a positive experience focused on growth and fun, travel nursing was thrust into the bellies of the COVID-19 beast, a band-aid solution to hospitals that couldn’t care for patients fast enough.
Coupled with the sudden emergent needs of caring for patients with COVID-19, the pandemic also brought severe isolation and stress to travel nurses, who were often sequestered alone in hotel housing near the hospital and forced to quarantine away from others. “I did have moments where I didn’t want to talk to anybody because I felt like no one could really understand what I was going through, and that made me feel more alone,” one travel nurse said in a CNN feature.
If you are a travel nurse, it might feel like you are only just now coming up for air after back-to-back assignments or a crisis contract suddenly getting cancelled. And if you are realizing that you are burned out or struggling with any mental health issues, be sure to take a break and reach out for the help you need. The beauty about travel nursing is that you can absolutely take a break when you need it — not only will it help you rest and ensure you can come back to work recharged and ready to help your patients again, but you can also rest assured that there will plenty of jobs to come back to.
Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.
According to the CDC’s phased allocation plan for the COVID-19 vaccine, hospital healthcare workers are supposed to be prioritized to be the first to receive the vaccine. For many healthcare workers, that’s exactly what has happened. They’ve been offered the vaccine by the hospitals that they are employed at and have been able to receive the vaccine right on-site.
But, unfortunately, travel nurses are having a different experience.
Some travel nurses are running into trouble trying to get their COVID-19 vaccines when the hospitals they are contracted with are only providing the vaccine to actual staff members and travel nurses aren’t included in the priority access. Further complicating matters, travel nursing agencies don’t have access to vaccines either, so travel nurses are caught trying to figure out how to get the vaccine on their own.
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
Jessica Gibbs, RN, a current travel nurse in Detroit, MI, never dreamed that she would have difficulty getting her COVID-19 vaccine. But as she tells TravelNursing.org, that’s exactly what happened. When the hospital she is currently contracted with announced vaccines would be offered to all staff in early December, Gibbs inquired about receiving the vaccine as a traveling nurse. Unfortunately, despite going through seemingly endless rounds of multiple requests and emails, Gibbs was ultimately told that she would have to find the vaccine on her own.
In the end, she contacted the Michigan Department of Human Health and Services for advice on how to procure the vaccine and was ultimately able to schedule an appointment with the Lapeer County Health Department to receive her vaccine on December 29th.
Gibbs explains she’s used to having “extra hoops” to jump through as a travel nurse.
“That is a fact I accept and happily jump through the extra hoops as I get to go to some cool places,” she says. She points out that she always has to find and pay for her own flu shots, which she says is “understandable.” However, she believes the COVID-19 vaccine is a different story entirely.
“To be refused a Covid vaccine that the hospital paid nothing for is unacceptable,” Gibbs says. “Both travel nurses and staff nurses care for COVID-suspected and COVID+ patients. I fail to understand how a CNO can exclude travelers when we are working in the same conditions with the same patients side by side with the staff nurses.”
Jenn Dekeyser, a travel nurse in Las Vegas faced a similar situation.
“When I inquired about getting the shot at my current place of employment the person I spoke with (from education) told me that the shot was for employees and since I was a traveler, I was unlikely to get the shot,” she says. “My plan is to try at a different facility when I switch contracts to get the vaccine.”
Speak with a recruiter about available assignments in COVID-impacted areas today.
What makes Gibbs’ story even more frustrating is she actually left Washington and specifically took a contract position in her hometown of Michigan to help Detroit when it was struggling as a COVID hotspot.
“[My] Facebook friends were posting the struggles Detroit was facing and then Detroit made the news,” Gibbs relates. She believed so strongly in helping, in fact, that she accepted a decrease of almost $700/week when she took on her initial contract with the Detroit hospital.
“I was willing to work for the same low rate as the initial contract because the hospital I am at is truly struggling with staffing needs,” she says. “My presence was making a difference –– for me, walking into a struggling hospital and making a difference for the patients and staff is rewarding enough.
Gibbs never did hear back from anyone she tried to contact at the hospital regarding her vaccine, but she does note that the two emergency department managers –– both of whom happen to be traveling nurses as well –– were able to receive the vaccines. However, according to Gibbs, no ER travel nurses actually caring for the COVID patients are being offered the vaccine at this time.
Having been on the frontlines of COVID through the pandemic, Gibbs says being refused the vaccine by the hospital felt like being told she was a “lesser human being and nurse” than the staff. She says the things she has witnessed as a frontline nurse in the fight against COVID have affected her entire life.
“I am religious in my PPE use,” she explains. “I don’t go anywhere I don’t have to go. I haven’t had a haircut since before COVID started… I am not afraid of COVID,” she adds. “I am afraid of the complications we are seeing with this virus.”
“It is very exhausting and defeating to fight for 12 hours for someone’s life, shoveling your lunch in your mouth behind a glass window in view of the patient’s room while the ED resident is inserting a central line, knowing that this is the only 10-minute break you will have tonight because this patient and the multiple drips along with your other patients will now keep you too busy, just to find out the patient has passed 2 hours after your shift ended due to COVID complications,” she says.
Despite all she has been through, finally finding a way to get her vaccine represented a glimmer of hope for this hardworking nurse.
“My entire being is exhausted from COVID and this vaccine to me is one step closer to a little breathing room in this fight,” she says.
If you are a traveling nurse having trouble procuring a COVID-19 vaccine, contact your state or local health department for advice on how to sign up for a healthcare worker vaccine clinic.
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
As the pandemic rages on, demand for travel nurses is more intense than ever — and travel nurses are making more money than ever. As COVID-19 cases rise across the country, one thing has become clear: there aren’t nearly enough nurses to keep up.
Across the country, the number of nurses and other healthcare staff are at critically low levels. Ohio’s governor called the lack of nurses available to work in his state “shocking” and Florida nurses are pleading for help after watching staff nurses dwindle down to unsafe numbers.
The nationwide shortage of nurses has led to an unparalleled demand for travel nurses, especially those trained in ICU work. And that unparalleled demand also means, of course, unparalleled paychecks.
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
Simply put, the travel nursing industry has exploded. According to data from NurseFly, five states in the U.S. have seen 200% growth in demand for ICU nurses, from Delaware to a whopping 441% increase in Hawaii.
Why the explosive growth? It’s because of COVID-19 — both directly and indirectly.
For instance, increasing numbers of staff nurses are getting infected or placed on quarantine, reducing the number of available staff. In some places, like hard-hit North Dakota, this has prompted officials to permit COVID-positive healthcare staff to continue providing care for patients.
COVID has also led some staff nurses to leave their nursing positions in hopes of better protections and better pay elsewhere. Some staff nurses are striking, fed up with being asked to continue working in what they say are unsafe conditions for both them and patients. And in some situations, the combination of staff strikes or exoduses make travel nursing even more appealing, because travel nursing agencies may be able to provide benefits that staff hospitals just can’t, from crisis pay to assurance of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The pandemic has also put travel nurses in the demand spotlight in a new way. In the beginning of the COVID-19 surge, the virus was hitting only certain parts of the country hard, like New York. Dealing with isolated outbreaks was easier because travel nurses could be mobilized and sent to the hardest-hit areas. But now, every area is hard-hit. That means that travel nurses are needed all across the country.
Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.
While the demand for travel nurses may be good news for travel nurses who are able and willing to take on short-term COVID assignments and earn a considerably high paycheck, the sudden surge for demand for travel nurses also carries some caveats.
For one thing, lucrative travel nursing assignments may be drawing staff nurses away from rural hospitals where they are so desperately needed. Smaller, rural hospitals simply can’t compete with the type of benefits and pay that a travel nursing agency can command and even more, smaller, rural hospitals may be more affected by the loss of staff nurses than a larger hospital or facility because they don’t have the means or the people available to replace them.
Another hard-to-fathom effect is that if nurses are flocking only to well-paying positions, real patients will be affected. Hospitals and facilities with less resources will definitely suffer in a way that those with deeper pockets won’t because they simply won’t be able to attract the same type of trained talent.
So, do these difficult considerations mean that travel nurses shouldn’t be taking the high-paying positions available to them? Absolutely not! Travel nursing exists for a reason and that reason is more evident today than ever. For hospitals that need them, travel nurses are saving lives and swooping in to save the day on strapped and over-stressed units. “This is the warmest welcome I’ve ever had as a travel nurse,” one travel nurse in Lansing, MI told The Washington Post. “They are so happy to have another pair of hands.
Speak with a recruiter about available assignments in COVID-impacted areas today.
If you are considering taking a position as a travel nurse, here are some tips to keep in mind:
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
As of October 2020, these are the most recent COVID-19 updates for travel nurses including case counts, hospitalization rates, and how that is affecting travel nursing.
Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.
Essentially, the U.S. is on the brink of its dreaded second surge right now, although much remains to be seen about just how the winter months will affect outcomes with those who are infected. Countries that were thought to have kicked corona’s butt, like Italy, are now imposing harsh nationwide lockdowns yet again, showing that there is still so much we have to learn about how to live with this virus.
As of right now, almost every single state in the country is seeing a spike in COVID cases. According to NPR’s daily state case tracker, the highest risk areas right now–meaning 25+ daily new positive tests, which indicates uncontrolled community spread–are: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wisconsin even had to open an overflow facility to care for infected patients at a local state fair area.
Other states that have earned a highest risk rating include many more rural states that avoided widespread outbreaks during the spring, such as Indiana, Kentucky. Tennessee, Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, and even Alaska and Rhode Island. Part of the problem with the virus hitting more rural communities is that they do not have as many hospitals as urban areas, so even a relatively “small” outbreak can be devastating to the community. And on top of that, some patients may have delayed care for other healthcare needs out of fear of visiting a provider or trying to stay home to protect others, which can complicate their health if they do get sick with COVID-19.
Speak with a travel nursing recruiter today.
Patient wise, so far, it appears that even as virus numbers and hospitalizations increase, overall, the health consequences to patients are not nearly as severe as they were in the spring. For example, the weekly surveillance data from the CDC shows an increase in COVID infections, but overall deaths and complications have decreased since the spring, although they are still above endemic levels. This may be attributed to an increase in efficient and effective treatment, increased symptom recognition and more available testing.
The CDC does note that both complications and deaths from COVID and other respiratory illnesses like the flu — because let’s not forget we are now officially in flu season — are expected to increase in the coming weeks, however.
Staff wise, however, things aren’t looking as good. Some hospitals are facing dire shortages of staff nurses–meaning more travel nursing agencies are being employed. For instance, this month, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is reporting an increase in the number of travel nurses they are utilizing, primarily linked to a decrease in staff nurses.
Interested in assignments in COVID-impacted areas? Start here.
As the pandemic continues on in the U.S., the effects to the nursing workforce will become ever more apparent. On one hand, there has been an unfortunate increase in the nursing shortage that has already plagued the healthcare world. Many hospitals across the country are seeing a high number of staff nurses leaving their positions due to burnout, exhaustion, their own health needs or family responsibilities that may require them to be home more with their children. Some nurses were even laid off by hospitals during pandemic-related financial strains, and have elected not to return to work at all, or have found different employment.
And while a mass exodus of staff nurses is definitely not good for anyone, on the other hand, it does mean that the opportunity for travel nursing will only increase. Especially for travel nurses who have speciality experience, COVID-19 care experience or are simply well-versed in the unique challenges that travel nursing can entail (hello, moving cross-country with a day’s notice!), the demand may be especially high.
As of right now, the most in-demand specialties seem to be for travel nurses with ICU, MICU, ER, and general Med/Surg experience.
Currently, travel nursing job boards indicate these states and positions offer the highest pay rates:
Remember, then nature of the game with travel nursing — and even more so in a pandemic — is that things can change very quickly, so be sure to keep your eyes peeling for new updates and job postings if you’re looking to take on a travel nursing assignment in the near future.
Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.
Travel nursing opportunities have grown practically by the minute in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. NurseFly reports an increase in travel nurse job postings of over 300% in certain regions and 3,000 open needs in the past 2 weeks alone. Fortunately, plenty of businesses are offering resources for travel nurses, to give you the help you need to care for others.
We have seen job postings with weekly pay as high as $6,000 for California travel nursing positions, and as COVID-19 continues to spread, the need may be even higher. As the need continues to grow, more travel nurses will be displaced from their homes, which means that if you’re thinking about taking a travel nursing position to help on the frontlines of COVID-19, you’re going to need some help along the way too.
Interested in travel nursing in areas impacted by COVID-19? Start here.
You can download the HOLLIBLU app to help you keep track of all of your paperwork, certifications, and other necessary documentation that you need for your travel nursing jobs.
If you’re a travel RN on the job, or just getting ready to head out for a COVID job and know you will need someone to help fill the errands you normally do, like walk your dog or drop off groceries to a parent, you can use the Hospital Hero site to connect with you willing volunteers in your area.
Hotels for Hope
Organized by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Hotels for Hope has partnered with over 6,500 properties to connect healthcare workers and first responders to temporary housing. You can fill out a form to be connected with a room, but the process does take 2-3 days.
Better Hotels
Better Hotels is offering medical workers a free stay in Las Vegas and Indianapolis luxury vacation homes, with discounts up to 50% in other U.S. cities. The requirements are:
Local Hotels
In hard-hit areas like New York, many hospitals are working directly with hotels and lodging facilities to procure rooms for workers and volunteers, but are not publishing which specific hotels those are out of privacy concerns for those staying in the hotels. That means that if you’re in need of a room, it may be best to work directly with your staffing agency to find housing placement.
Airbnb
If you prefer to book your own housing through Airbnb, the vacation rental agency is offering housing for 100,000 first responders and in some cases, waiving all fees through their site. You can learn more here.
Hertz is offering free car rentals to any New York City healthcare workers through the entire month of April. You can reserve a car from any of NYC’s 19 Hertz rental offices. To reserve your car, you will need a valid medical ID, an email address with a healthcare domain, a driver’s license, and to be a member of the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® loyalty program. You can fill out this form to start your reservation process.
If you’re working in NYC, the state’s mayor has been encouraging biking to reduce public transit loads, and the Citi Bike Critical Workforce Membership Program offers first responders, healthcare, and transit workers with a free month of Citi Bike membership.
To get your staffing agency enrolled, you can email HeroBikes@Lyft.com. If you’re in healthcare and recently purchased a membership or have an upcoming renewal, you’re also eligible for a free month.
An obvious necessity for any travel nurse. Claim your tall brewed or iced coffee at any Starbucks location simply by flashing your ID badge.
Beginning Thursday, April 2 at 12pm EST, healthcare workers can visit brooksrunning.com and sign up with their name, address, shoe size, and the name of their employer and Brooks will send them a free pair of shoes. Chances are, as a travel nurse, you’ll be doing a lot of running, so these will come in handy.
If you’re a first responder (and yes, that includes travel nurses!), starting April 8th you can tag yourself on Ably’s Instagram page and the company will send you a free item from their website–some extra clothes might be just what you need if you weren’t able to bring a lot of your own clothes with you on assignment.
UberEats just announced it will be providing free meals and rides to first responders and healthcare workers in the U.S. and Canada, in coordination with local and state and provincial governments. Interested officials and organizations can reach Uber to partner at social-impact-support@uber.com.
Neurocore Brain Performance, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is offering free telehealth counseling to all first responders and medical professionals in the U.S. through May 1st, 2020. As a travel nurse, you are not only diving headfirst into the first modern-day pandemic, but you are also often taking yourself away from family, friends, and into a whole new area, without the comforts of home. That can be very mentally challenging, so it’s important to care for your mental health too.
If you’re a MESSA member, you can get full telehealth services, which also includes mental health services, 100% free online through May 31st without any deductible or co-pays.
Headspace — this app provides science-backed guided meditation and mindfulness training and any healthcare worker in a public health setting can get a free membership right now.
Care.com — if you’re a healthcare worker, you can get one month free on the platform, which allows you to find local care in your area, with filters and requirements you set.
Ready to start travel nursing? Start here.
With Seattle, Washington currently experiencing one of the biggest outbreaks of COVID-19 disease in the entire country, the need for travel nurses in the Seattle area has surged.
The Seattle area has been called “ground zero” for COVID-19, as it has experienced one of the highest numbers of reported infections, as well as deaths, so far in the U.S. With an outbreak like this, one of the major challenges is that if the nurses and doctors caring for the infected patients fall sick too, they have to be quarantined so they don’t spread the virus even more — leaving a gap in staff to take their places.
And that’s where travel nurses come in.
Start your travel nursing career today!
Travel nurses are needed to not only fill in the places of nurses who become infected and quarantined but also in the community, providing education and testing on suspected COVID-19 patients. And as the virus may spread even more in the upcoming weeks, there will be even more demand for travel nurses who are willing to work in affected areas.
Travel nurses are also especially needed in the areas of:
Before you sign up, you’ll want to check the healthcare staffing agency’s policy on what happens if you are forced to be quarantined — such if you will be paid a stipend and what payments will you still be responsible for during quarantine.
For instance, the staffing agency Trusted Health has a clear “Action Plan” on their website that outlines their quarantine policy: if forced to quarantine, all travel nurses are still paid their full wages and stipends for 14 days. After the 2-week period, payments are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If your agency doesn’t clearly outline the policy for this, you need to be sure to ask and understand it fully.
Discover available assignments for your specialties here!
Of course, because the coronavirus is, quite literally, a crisis, travel RNs are being paid crisis rates if they are willing to travel to the affected areas, like Seattle, for both short and long-term assignments.
When the crisis was at a peak, some agencies were even offering $4K+ bonuses for travel nurses to sign on. However, that rate is unusually high, and most travel nurses in the Seattle area are reporting closer to the $2-3K range for a weekly wage.
Start traveling today. Apply now!
If you are feeling the call to help in Seattle, the local NuWest Staffing has set up a special COVID-19 emergency page for nurses and other healthcare professionals who are willing to travel to the outbreak area. According to the page, the staffing agency is working with the CDC, WA State and King County Departments of Health, and local hospitals & clinics to keep healthcare teams adequately staffed.
The agency has both a direct hotline, an online form, and an email address you can contact to learn more, and they are offering expedited licensing for nurses whose licenses aren’t eligible for work in WA, as well as a $1,000 referral bonus for minimum 6-week assignments.
Trusted Health is also running an updated list of COVID-19 high impact travel nurse positions across the country, including in California and Massachusetts. Positions include everything from telephone triage to urgent care to ER, with weekly rates ranging from around $2,100 to $2,900 for hospital-based positions. You can also check some Facebook groups for job postings in the COVID-19 affected area, such as the Premium Job Board, which mandates that all job postings must have a minimum rate of $49/hour.
While the fate of our country is unclear and many are waiting anxiously to see how the virus will affect us all, one thing is for certain: travel nurses will be vital now, more than ever.
Start your travel nursing career today!
Not everyone has the great privilege of being raised by a nurse, but for those of you who were, you might recognize just a few of the signs that are a dead giveaway that a nurse played a part in your upbringing. For instance, some signs you were raised by a nurse:
“What’s that, you’re bleeding? Go get the Steri-Strips in the cupboard, that’s nothing.”
CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE!
Could you pass the potatoes?
One second-generation nurse’s favorite saying passed down from her own mom? “Get that out of your mouth — it’s trachea sized!”
“Get down! That looks like a head trauma waiting to happen.”
Mom, looking at her work shoes: “Is that blood or ketchup?”
You:….
Mom:…..
Mom: It’s blood again, isn’t it? (sigh)
Honestly, sometimes, it’s embarrassing.
‘Tis the season!
“Yeah, like that would ever happen in real life!!”
*Walks by mom passed out on the couch without a second glance.
In honor of Mother’s Day, let’s take time to acknowledge what is perhaps the hardest job on the planet: motherhood.
In no other way, does someone sacrifice so much for another person. From the physical demands of growing another human to the arduous emotional process of laboring through adoption (see also: hand cramps from all the paperwork), motherhood forces you to grow in tremendous ways. And when you combine motherhood with the other most demanding job on the planet of being a nurse, well, you might just be looking at a type of superhuman that would rival the best of the Avengers. But to make it all work, here are a few tips from some nurse moms who embrace the challenge of combining a life in healthcare with kids — and how you can make it all work too.
I became a mother during my senior year of nursing school, so when I started my first official nursing job, I was six weeks postpartum to the day and desperate to know how anyone could survive this. So, I asked. I asked anyone and everyone who would listen to me for their best tips on making it all work. To this day, I still recall the advice I got back then and it’s served me well. Moms who have been through it know what’s up, so don’t be afraid to ask the nurses in your field for advice too!
One of the best tips I ever got during my days of advice-begging was from a nurse whose kids had already grown; at the time, with two toddlers and a third baby on the way, I was trying to determine if I should drop my hours down, with the thought that I could go full-time again when they were in school.
While she encouraged me to do whatever worked for our family, she also gently reminded me that big kids wouldn’t need me any “less,” and in fact, shared that she had actually stopped working for a time when her kids were in middle school and high school. Turns out, the big kid stage can be just as demanding as toddlers and babies, so embrace the flexibility that nursing can provide and decide now that you will go with the flow when it comes to what you and your family need.
Listen, if you’re having babies, working night shift, trying to sleep sometimes, keeping up on laundry, scrubbing toilets, cuddling kids, making meals, and trying for the love of all that is good to keep the house stocked with toilet paper and your kid who constantly outgrows everything clothed in shirts that don’t resemble crop tops, something’s got to give. And if that something just happens to be regular exercise, don’t sweat it.
I’m not saying you need to give up on staying healthy, of course, but if you don’t have time to dedicate to getting a competition-ready body, it’s fine. A wise nurse who had five boys and was in amazing shape once told me that she waited until her kids were grown before dedicating herself to fitness. As she put it, you’ll have all the time in the world once they grow up to work out — so cuddle them now and worry about your abs later! Also, get a smartwatch or fitness tracker so you can see how many calories you’re actually burning in a shift; it might make you feel a whole lot better.
If you’re a nurse, it’s inevitable that you will be working some holidays. The best way to handle it? Don’t sweat it. If your kids grow up celebrating the occasional holidays on a different day like it’s no big deal, it won’t be a big deal. After all, kids don’t care what the date on the calendar says — especially if there are presents and candy involved, right?
Is there anything more magical than basically going to work in your pajamas? I think not. Scrubs hide a multitude of body changes, from that pregnancy you’re not quite ready to reveal to last night’s pizza-and-ice cream binge. On the days when you’re doubting why you ever thought this career was a good idea, just think of the scrubs.
If you’re wondering how I know this, I’ll probably tell you not to ask. But let’s just say it’s a miracle that I passed and thank our lucky stars I’ve gotten smarter with age, OK? Also, props to my husband who is the one who actually took care of her while I sweated my way through every question with growing anxiety about the next approaching feeding time.
Pro tip: Plan for extra time off in May with end-of-the-year plays and parties!
RN/BSN Janine Walsh Kelbach suggests getting in the habit of staying organized to help you stay on top of last-minute shift changes, kids’ activities, and all of those school events (pro tip: plan for extra time off in May with end-of-the-year plays and parties!). “Use Google Calendar to organize your life for your family, meal plan, [and] prep your kids well in advance for the times they won’t see you for 12 hours,” she advises.
Leigha Campbell, who practically lived in hospitals while caring for her infant son before his passing, relates that keeping a spare set of clothes, along with perfume and hand sanitizer in her car, saved her in all the times she had to go straight from the hospital to the world outside. “I always went straight to get my daughter from school when I left the hospital,” she explains. “So, showering before I hugged her was not available.”
This advice comes courtesy of an 8-year ER veteran, who has to remind herself to be “impressed” by her husband’s or children’s injuries from time to time. After seeing true trauma for so long, she admits it takes a lot to rattle her; but still, sometimes kids (and spouses) just want a little comfort. “I try to remember that although I may have seen worse whatever may be going on with my kids or husband may be a big deal to them!” explains Alicia Rosebush.
One popular tip I’ve heard from many a nurse is how convenient a night shift schedule can be when you have school-aged kids because it allows you to sleep when they are in school and still feel like you’re not missing out on their activities. For instance, Julie Widzinksi, an ICU nurse manager, says: “Working night shift works out so well with small kids. I usually get home in time to get them ready for school and then am up before they get home from school and I can attend their after-school activities. The sleep schedule sucks but, we give up everything for our kids anyway…why not sleep?”
Mom of two Rachel Hunt offers the advice that if you find yourself struggling in a season with your nursing schedule, to remember that nursing can have a lot of flexibility — which can be a great thing for working moms.
If your current schedule isn’t fulfilling and you feel it isn’t working, don’t be afraid to look at other options that work better for you and your kids.
“There are so many options with nursing,” she notes, adding that she created a work-from-home admissions processing job for herself after her second baby was born. “If your current schedule isn’t fulfilling and you feel like it isn’t working, don’t be afraid to look at other options that work better for you and your kids.”
“Remember that your baby/kids will be just fine and being away will be a blessing to whomever is caring for them in your absence,” advises Kristin Breslin Heider, a mom of three. “I have always struggled to leave my kids, but I can say objectively that it is GOOD for them, their daddy/grandma, and for me.”
Maybe that’s not the advice you expected to hear, but for one 25-year nurse veteran, that’s exactly what you need. “Remember to keep a balance between your work and family. Nursing can be the best and the worst profession,” says Holly Wallington. “It’s easy to feel compelled to stay late or go in on extra days to help your work family out while your kids miss out on your precious time. We have to support each other in this profession, but not at the sacrifice of our families.”
In the end, there’s no one right way to be a nurse or a mom, and you will find the right path that works for you and your family. But no matter how you make it all work, know that you are doing two of the hardest jobs ever — and you’re rocking both of them.
