5 Lessons From Home Health Travel Nursing : Assignment 1
1. Location, Location, Location + 100
Particularly in the home health field, “location” seems to be a less specific term than we’d like.
For example, when a home health nurse is assigned to a specific destination, it does not necessarily mean they will work precisely in that location. In reality, it means they could be working within 100 miles of the assignment destination.
In our case, the agency that hired Lynda in San Rafael told her she’d be working in a specific part of the county – so we chose our housing based on that location. However, she often drove over 100 miles from the expected location. This is much longer than the average commuting distance!
2. Be Flexible but Firm on Workload Expectations
It seems that home health care agencies will test your limits to see what they can get out of you. So be flexible but firm to avoid being taken advantage of!
For example, Lynda’s agency in San Rafael quickly caught on to how efficient and well-organized she was. So much so that they started assigning her to most of the “Start of Cares” jobs.
“Start of Cares” are essentially entry days or the first day of care for a new home health care patient.
The attending nurse is responsible for documenting the case with an OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set). This comprehensive assessment is designed to collect information on nearly 100 items related to a home care recipient’s demographic information, clinical status, functional status, and service needs. After completion, it is presented to the insurance company to determine the patient’s eligibility for home health care services. The process takes several hours on site plus additional documentation later.
“Start of Cares” assignments generally take more time than other assignments, but Lynda always finished them on the same day. However, she often mentioned that the distances she had to drive and the number of patients she needed to visit in one day were too many.
After she left that agency, they realized how valuable she was. In fact, her former boss called her and offered her double the salary if she’d return.
travel nursing Lessons
travel nursing Lessons
3. Avoid Traveling to the Next State Before Receiving Your License
Be careful not to jump ahead by arriving at your next destination before you have the necessary state license in your hands. We’ve learned that the estimated times for issuing a license are not always accurate, so plan accordingly. In other words, wait to travel or accept a job offer until you have that new license in hand.
In our case, we intended to go to Alaska for the summer based on Lynda receiving a job offer. We applied for the Alaska license, and Lynda was offered a job there. We expected the license to arrive within 30 days, but it’s been almost 60 days, and the license still has not arrived. All necessary documents have been turned in, and we still await their review. However, despite being offered a job, Lynda cannot begin working in Alaska until the license has been completed.
If we had already left for Alaska, Lynda still wouldn’t be working yet until her license came through. This would have been considerably expensive, considering the cost of driving over 3,500 miles, plus hotels, gas, and ultimately, a new apartment or home.
Of course, if you are a nurse living in a compact state, you wouldn’t have the issue of obtaining a new license for every state. Our problem is that our tax home is California, which is not a compact state. Oh well, our trip to Alaska will have to wait until next summer instead!
4. Always Have a Backup Plan or 2!
Travel nursing jobs can fall through for various reasons, so it’s good to have other ideas in mind just in case your first choice doesn’t pan out.
Luckily, we did have alternate plans, just in case Alaska didn’t work out. Actually, we had two backup plans, and it’s a good thing we did! Because we needed them.
Our first backup plan was to go to Montana for a job in Kalispell near Glacier National Park. We didn’t have an offer in hand, but we left for Glacier National Park anyway for a family summer road trip. Upon arrival, we learned that Lynda had missed out on the job, so we were back at square one.
Fortunately, she was offered a lucrative job in Hermiston, Oregon – our 3rd choice for her summer assignment. So we pivoted, and she took that job.
This doubly worked in our favor, as the agency was struggling to find a Home Health Nurse already licensed in Oregon. They offered Lynda an extremely high-paying position – nearly double what she made in San Rafael. Plus, we get to live in a smaller city with a much lower cost of living.
5. Finding Short Term Housing is More Challenging than it Appears.
Don’t assume that it will be easy to find short-term housing to accommodate your travel nursing assignments.
We are experienced world travelers, and I thought that finding short terming housing on a whim would be a cinch. After all, I had no trouble finding us temporary places to live elsewhere on the globe. But apparently, this is an easier task while abroad than it is on our home turf!
Finding short-term housing has been challenging, especially in smaller communities with limited corporate housing options. And the thought of living in hotels for any length of time is neither appealing nor cost-effective.
I was fortunate to find a family renting their lovely three-bedroom home on 1 acre of land on the outskirts of Hermiston, Oregon, on Craigslist. This is where we are currently living, and it’s less than we paid for a very small two-bedroom in the Bay Area!
At first, I thought it was a Craigslist scam until we finally met the couple. We signed the 3-month lease upon returning from our road trip on Sunday. Just one day before Lynda started her job on Monday!
Talk about a close call.
travel nursing Lessons