What do you do that you earn six figures?

[u/fidgit86]

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

[u/BcILoveHer11]

Go places, do the same shit you do not as a travel nurse but more of it, sleep in a bed that isn’t yours, go home.

Source: spouse is a travel nurse

[u/monsteez → u/BcILoveHer11]

Do you travel with your spouse??

I think a travel RN w a spouse that does the same or some time of job from their laptop living the vanlife would be awesome. We had one traveler who did just that and it seems like a time in life I would think back to happily.

[u/BcILoveHer11 → u/monsteez]

I do, yes. I work remote so it’s a huge blessing. We bring the pets and pay a little more for pet friendly housing and just live wherever we are for a while.

[u/macaronlovercanada → u/BcILoveHer11]

That actually sounds really neat! Is it particular companies that do this kind of thing?

[u/BcILoveHer11 → u/macaronlovercanada]

Lots of agencies, it’s a whole different world to navigate than your regular bedside nursing but so far for us is working out great. Time will tell!

[u/curiosity_abounds → u/macaronlovercanada]

You post on a nursing Facebook group saying, I’m interested travel nursing… and then 25 different agents call you, email you, LinkedIn you, text you.. and will continue to do so until the day you die. No joke. I never traveled, but still get calls about once a month from agents… “just checking in, I’ve got travel gigs!”

But actually. Ask around and find the good agencies and the good agents who actually will fight for good contracts for you and will communicate. Some of the best hospitals only work with a specific agency, and no other agency will tell you who they are because it doesn’t help them out. Ideally you get connected with a couple to shop around the various travel opportunities and they help you get the emergency licensing if you’re out of state and negotiate contracts with you. You usually do a quick phone interview the the unit’s manager and then boom! You’re hired.

Contracts are usually 13 weeks. Some crisis contracts are for shorter. You can usually extend if the unit still needs help. The longest you can stay in one “metro area” is 1 year for tax purposes. Then you have to move to another metro area. This can mean you can even float around within a larger state if you don’t actually want to move far. But the best way to make money is to travel to California… and then you’ll get hooked on our union perks and never leave!

[u/biernas → u/macaronlovercanada]

Sounds interesting but it's not for the faint of heart. I work as an ICU nurse in Florida (fuck my life right now) and we have been getting quite a few travelers on our unit the past few weeks. They often get used to "plug holes".

For example we were critically short staffed a few nights ago on our unit, so staffing had an "extra" traveler they sent up to us. They got report on their patients, began starting their day and BAM another unit had some sudden modality changes/high acuity admits/other staffing issues that were somehow worse off than us. So they randomly pulled that nurse to that other unit in the middle of the shift. So now we have more of our staff being tripled (we have very sick patients and normally have a 2 patient:1 nurse ratio).

So, essentially you're in a super high stress situation continually throughout your day and have to be extremely flexible. That's a general part of working in any ICU environment but you have to expect that to a larger extent as a traveling nurse since you're going into inherently bad situations. The money is killer, so if you have the mentality to be able to deal with unorganized shit shows then you'll be fine.

Again this is more based on current circumstances I'm seeing. I'm sure some get lucky and have very cushy travel assignments.

As a side note at work they are offering us regular staff $400 per shift bonuses + OT every extra day we pickup. It's cheaper to do that than pay travelers I assume. Even with that bonus I don't think I will since I'm feeling so burnt out (I could definitely use $400 too). I have to work this weekend and I know I'm almost guaranteed get fucked sideways, so enjoying my day off. Sorry I'm rambling but shit has been crazy and I'm tired lol.

[u/crabapplequeen → u/macaronlovercanada]

RN here. Not a traveler, have considered it BUT you have to keep in mind that there’s a reason why they pay so much for those contracts. You’re generally sent into units with poor staffing (which can be dangerous even for experienced nurses) and you generally get the crappier assignments for your shift. You also sometimes have to forgo some benefits like 401k matches that you would get being a permanent staff RN at a hospital (though that is agency specific, some agencies still offer benefits). For some, they can handle it and the money is worth it. For others, the risks may outweigh the benefits.

[u/SmellsLikeWinning → u/crabapplequeen]

Travel RN in the ER here for 3 years. I've had a 4% 401k match for 2.5 of those years and have never been put in any staffing situation that the home staff RN's weren't put into. It's a myth, at least in the ER, that hospitals will give the travelers the shitty assignments. Word will get out to the agency and they'll drop the contract, OR the traveler can simply leave due to the "At Will Employment" clause in all contracts. There are certainly lifestyle challenges but I wouldn't call them "risks". Thanks for working your ass off during the pandemic, fellow RN.

[u/crabapplequeen → u/SmellsLikeWinning]

Thank you for dispelling these myths! Those were honestly the reasons I’ve been told that have put me off from traveling, but they’ve all come from Med/surg. I wonder where they came from. Also thank you as well and hopefully this year won’t be as bad.