WHY I CHOSE TRAVEL NURSING | THE BEST DECISION EVER | NEW MOM

Hello! 

I started this blog to document my journey as I evolve in the world of nursing, and to also help guide others in the travel nurse world. Nurses have very broad career paths and I am grateful to have found the niche that truly works for me. I also started this blog to share non-nursing things, such as lifestyle and mom-life. 

I often get asked why I switched to travel nursing. I was working at my dream nursing job and in my dream speciality, and this was at one of the top hospital systems in the country. 

I worked in the hospital as a Critical Care nurse. I was working your regular three shifts a week (the week began on Sunday) and worked every third weekend. And of course, there were staff meetings, in-services, trainings, and I also picked up extra shifts since we were understaff at that point in time. 

What made me switch to travel nursing? Flexibility. This became a big deal for me!

Once I had a little boy and went back to work, I realized that I loved nursing but wanted a more flexible career that allowed me to work as I wanted but also allowed me to spend as much time as I wanted with my husband and son. Since I had no childcare at that moment, and my husband works a less-flexible job.  He was making a lot more than me, so it just made more sense for me to reduce my amount of work days. I originally planned to go part-time or PRN at my job at that time to allow for more flexible. And with that said, they were unstaffed so the only choice I had at that time was be a full-time employee. After literally begging to go part-time or PRN temporarily, I decided to leave that job and be home while we figured out our childcare situation. I really loved that job, but my hands were tied. 

After I left, I began looking for more flexible jobs options, specifically PRN jobs so that I'd be able to pick my shifts as I liked. I even went to an interview where I was offered a PRN job. 

I don't know what sparked the thought, but travel nursing just popped into my head. I began researching traveling nursing, what the job description was like, and what my options were. At that point, I decided that whenever we figured out our childcare situation, I would take my first travel nursing contract. My mom lives in Maryland, so I was okay with taking a travel contract in Maryland and she would help me watch the baby. Everything was beginning to sounds amazing. 

In March, we were able to find an amazing person to help us with childcare at home, and at that point the pandemic was also beginning to spike. As I'm writing this, she's still here and she's great! Travel nursing contracts were everywhere and I was so surprised! 

And just like that I submitted myself! And BOOM! I was offered a travel nursing contract. 

The best part about it was that I was able to choose my schedule (I worked 6 days straight and 8 days off since the facility is 3.5 hours away from home). I was also able to do my job and go back home without any attachment to the hospital. And I worked the entire spring and summer, and I decided that I'd be off during the winter holidays, which is very important to me. Also, the pay was great! I was able to purchase a lot of things on my list, save a good chunk of money, and check off some of our financial goals for the year. 

I hope'd you guys enjoyed this post and saw why I chose to become a travel nurse. I won't make this point too lengthy as I have so many posts coming up! I will have more posts on travel nursing, how to become a travel nursing, and more in addition to other non-nursing posts! 

Have a great day,

Chelsea