When you’re starting out as a traveler or even just exploring the idea of travel nursing there is a lot to know! Usually, the best guide is often finding a recruiter you can trust at a company with great benefits that take care of their travelers. But even after you found us, learning about the world of travel healthcare can still feel pretty overwhelming at first! A good place to start is to know that there are many types of travel nursing assignments, as well as travel assignments for allied health professionals. Knowing this will help you navigate these differences and help you choose the best assignment for your career. With that, let’s take a closer look at some of the different types of travel nursing assignments you’ll find with Alegiant Healthcare!
Specialties Differ Between Travel Nursing Assignments
This is the first most common difference between travel nursing assignments but it is still a very important note. Just as specialties are present in any healthcare environment, each travel nursing assignment requests a certain specialty to best fit that facility’s needs. This is true regardless of whether it’s for an emergency room, ICU, NICU, labor and delivery, med-surge, or any other nursing specialty. Most of our nurses already have experience and work in the specialty they want to be in, but some will choose to gain the education and experience in other specialties as well. Whichever specialty or specialties you’re qualified in will determine what travel nursing assignments are a good match for you!
Various Lengths of Travel Nursing Assignments
A majority of travel assignments are 13 weeks long. However, assignments can be just about any length, don’t worry you will know the duration before accepting a job. A few common travel assignment lengths with Alegiant are 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and sometimes up to 32 weeks! After a successful assignment, if the traveler and facility agree, there can even be a contract extension.
Reason for Travel Nursing Assignments
There are plenty of different reasons why our facilities hire travel nurses. The most common reason is generally due to a longstanding staffing shortage. In this example, nursing and staffing levels might be regularly low and the facility needs to bring travelers in order to help. Another reason could be a facility needs to bring in travelers in order to help while their permanent staff trains for a week or two on new software or charting systems. Some facilities may have an influx of older folks who like to move in the winter to somewhere warmer. As a result, the community has a higher need for healthcare due to more patients to treat, this causes a need for higher staffing levels at local facilities. Similarly, COVID-19 or flu outbreaks, natural disasters, or even nursing strikes, are a few other reasons why our facilities may need to hire additional travel nurses.
Alegiant Healthcare Staffing
Here at Alegiant our recruiters understand that there are a lot of questions about our travel assignments and they are dedicated to assisting and supporting you through your assignments with us! If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call at 800-226-9917 or visit our job page to find your perfect assignment today!