2 week nursing travel assignments

Short-Term Nursing Travel Assignments: Embracing Short-Term Growth and Flexibility

by Trusted Nurse Staffing | Apr 1, 2024 | News

Maybe you’re a registered nurse who is starting to feel bored working at the same hospital day after day. 

You love what you do, but you could really use a change of scenery.

Your lifestyle is pretty flexible. You enjoy traveling, and you have a desire to help wherever there is a need.

Or maybe you’re already a travel nurse who is used to 13-week contracts and would like to move around a little more often.

In either case, short-term travel nurse contracts could be perfect for you.

In this article, we will highlight why travel nurses are so critical, the significant benefits of taking short-term nursing assignments, and how you can start your travel nurse career today.

Table of Contents

Why short-term nursing assignments are available.

• 3 Reasons Why Hospitals Need Short-Term Travel Nurses for Rapid Response 

3 Big Benefits of Short-Term Nursing Assignments for Travel Nurses

• Possible Cons of Short-Term Travel RN Assignments 

Trusted Nurse Staffing Can Offer You Short-Term Travel Nurse Assignments 

Travel nurses are trained registered nurses sent to hospitals and facilities with short-term staffing needs. 

To qualify for short-term travel nursing assignments, you must:

• Hold a nursing degree and have passed the NCLEX exam.
• Generally have a minimum of 12 months of recent acute care experience in your specialty of choice.
• Provide references.
• Obtain necessary certifications.
• Obtain RN licensure in the state where you’ll work or use a multi-state license based on the Nurse Licensure Compact .

Travel nurse contracts are typically about 13 weeks long but may vary depending on the job and facility. 

Most recruiters consider short-term travel nurse contracts less than 13 weeks in length — generally, anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks.

Short-term travel nurse jobs may become available in the following circumstances:

• Seasonal staffing demands
• Short-term staffing gaps
• Facility-wide nursing strikes
• Disaster relief 
• Crises resulting in surge capacity 

Short-term travel nurses are used to supplement facility demands at a moment’s notice. They are essential in providing patient care and support in times of dire need. If you find this possibility exhilarating, short-term travel nursing may be the career path for you. 

To get started in this rewarding and lucrative career path, you’ll need a travel nurse staffing agency that you can trust. Trusted Nurse Staffing is leading the industry with great benefits, pay, and a new way to find short-term travel nursing assignments quickly. 

You can use Pronto to sort jobs by specialty, location, pay, shifts, and assignment link. With Pronto, we allow our travel nurses to customize their search as much as possible so that they can find their dream assignment. Begin your search for short-term travel nurse contracts on Pronto today.

Rapid Response Travel Nurse

A rapid response travel nurse is the most common type of travel nurse because they are typically needed the most during situations that exceed a facility’s surge capacity. These situations may be crises caused by mass casualty situations, disasters, or pandemics.

Rapid response nurses are usually:

• Able to start very quickly — typically within two days to two weeks.
• Good at working under pressure.
• Highly adaptable and able to adjust to new environments.
• Flexible in their assignment length.

As a rapid response travel nurse, you might be able to negotiate for a better contract since you are usually needed quickly and on short notice. You may also likely have greater flexibility in the assignment length.

Travel Nurses Working During Nurse Strikes

Strike nurse travel jobs are usually available to help fill regular hospital staff positions while they are off of work due to a labor dispute. While labor strikes are vital to driving change in the healthcare industry, facilities and patients still rely on nurses for treatment. 

Sometimes, strikes can leave a facility altogether void of nursing staff. For example, in January 2023, 7,000 nurses went on strike at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai in Manhattan. To supplement the staffing gap during the strike, travel nurses were called in to continue to render care and avoid delays in patient treatments.

As a strike nurse, you:

• Are probably needed very short-term, maybe a few days to a few weeks.
• May receive high pay since hospitals are in dire need of nursing staff.
• Might have a few weeks’ notice (hospitals usually know a few weeks in advance if their staff will be striking).

3 Reasons Why Hospitals Need Short-Term Travel Nurses for Rapid Response

Short-term nursing assignments for rapid response happen quickly and are often an unexpected need.

There are three common reasons that hospitals tend to need short-term travel nurses for rapid response situations:

• When hospitals update medical software
• For filling remote positions
• An increased need for staff due to a crisis, natural disaster, etc.

Reason #1: Electronic Medical Records Conversions

Electronic medical records ( EMR ) conversion is a complex process that involves migrating paper patient files and/or legacy EMRs whenever a facility adopts, updates, or switches software. 

This may sometimes require the facility to pull staff members from the floor to complete the necessary training, which may leave gaps in the schedule and require additional nurses. 

For example:

Nicole is an ICU nurse at a busy hospital. Every few months, she and her coworkers must undergo training to ensure they’re up-to-speed on how all of their medical software works. These different training sessions can last hours, sometimes even the length of an entire shift, depending on the type of training.

Instead of operating understaffed, rapid-response travel nurses can be utilized to adapt to scheduling and patient needs. This allows the facility to operate safely, remove excess burden on staff nurses, and provide high-quality patient care. 

Reason #2: Remote Positions 

Remote positions are considered hard to fill because they are not highly desired by nurses.

A remote position is a job at hospitals or clinics that are further away from “civilization,” like many travel nursing jobs in Montana .

These positions are often at facilities in secluded areas that are typically less busy, which may make be difficult for them to retain steady, full-time staff. 

Since there may be an expected turnover rate for these hard-to-fill positions, extra staff may be needed to supplement gaps caused by absenteeism, terminations, and resignations. 

As a short-term travel nurse, you can take on a remote position for a limited time and then be on your way to a new assignment in a matter of weeks — maybe another short-term assignment or a typical 13-week assignment.

Reason #3: Unexpected Fluctuation in Staffing or Patient Loads: 4 Crisis Scenarios 

Sometimes, hospitals experience an unexpected fluctuation in their staff or patients, which leads to an increased need for more nurses. These fluctuations may be the result of the following crisis scenarios:

• Natural disasters
• Man-made disasters

These situations may enact surge capacity protocols, often involving contingent workers like short-term travel nurses. Contingent staffing helps curb the consequences of these crises by:

• Supplementing nurse-to-patient ratios to reduce poor patient outcomes.
• Reducing the need for overtime in staff nurses.
• Supporting permanent staff to remove additional burdens and curb mental exhaustion, stress, and burnout.

Trusted Staff Nursing is on a mission to connect facilities with top talent at a moment’s notice. We also help travel nurses find in-need facilities quickly and efficiently. 

Don’t want to spend too much time sorting through countless short-term travel nursing assignments? You can set up notifications that alert you when a job with your requirements comes up. 

Scenario 1: Flu Season 

Flu season generally begins around October and is most active between December and February. In many locations, flu season can last into the spring as late as May.

The CDC estimates that although we are only in the 10th week of the 2024 flu season there have been an estimated 29 million cases, 320,000 hospitalizations, and 20,000 deaths. These numbers can easily overwhelm a facility already suffering from staffing gaps. 

Since the elderly are at greater risk for complications from the flu, states with higher populations of senior citizens — like Maine and Florida — may have a greater need for short-term travel nurses during flu season.

Scenario 2: Natural Disasters

Natural disasters can cause major injuries or illnesses that might cause an increase in patients at hospitals.

The following qualify as natural disasters:

• Earthquakes
• Landslides or mudslides
• Extreme heat
• Winter weather

In the event of a natural disaster, short-term travel nurses can help with:

• Blood drives
• Health education (CPR, first aid)
• Staffing hospitals
• Providing extra resources
• Alleviating the strain of other care facilities like nursing homes

Scenario 3: Man-Made Disasters

A man-made disaster results from hazards caused by people or groups. These disasters include:

• Civil disturbances
• Terrorism attacks
• Cyber-attacks
• Biological or chemical threats

During these disasters, short-term travel nurses help facilitate care, support staff nurses, and assist in the coordination and other logistics involved in disaster response plans. 

Scenario 4: Pandemics

A pandemic is a global illness that affects a large number of people, such as COVID-19. 

The flow of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic maxed out most facilities’ emergency departments and intensive care units. While the lack of staff and supplies initially impeded hospitals’ ability to evaluate and supply aid, travel nursing was an effective resolution to a potentially catastrophic problem. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of travel nurses doubled as hospitals across the country responded to increased numbers of critically ill patients in their facilities. This spike in demand was not without reward. The growing need for travel nursing resulted in massive salary hikes for travelers. 

Short-term nursing assignments might not be for everyone. 

Maybe you don’t do well being distanced from your friends and family for any length of time.

Maybe you require more time to adjust to a new facility. 

Maybe the continual job searching is stressful and not as stable as you’d like to be.

However, for those who are committed to short-term nursing travel assignments,  there are some pretty big benefits that come along with the job.

Benefit #1: Shorter Assignments and Flexibility 

If you like to travel and have flexibility in your schedule and your life, short-term travel nurse contracts might be right for you.

The short contract lengths allow you to work in a variety of hospitals and positions. You get to travel, immerse yourself in our country’s different cultures, and make new friends.

It’s a flexible job opportunity that lets you get a taste of new experiences and settings. Once your assignment ends, you can immediately find another short-term travel nursing contract or take a break. And if you decide that you’re not ready to leave, the professionals at Trusted Nurse Staffing can help you extend your contract. 

Benefit #2: Great Pay

As of March 2024, the nationwide average salary of travel nurses is $1,944 per week, which is 1.1 times higher than the national average of registered nurses ( $1,689  per week). 

Keep in mind how much you make as a short-term travel nurse may depend on the following:

• Specialization
• Facility needs
• Geographical location
• Year of experience 

The highest-paying states for travel nurses are:

• New York : $2,310 per week
• Pennsylvania : $2,115 per week
• New Hampshire : $2,068 per week
• New Jersey : $2,037 per week
• Wyoming : $2,015 per week
• Washington : $2,012 per week
• Wisconsin : $1,998 per week
• Massachusetts : $1,998 per week
• Alaska : $1,992 per week
• Oregon : $1,976 per week

Benefit #3: Travel More Often 

Short-term travel nurse jobs allow you to break from your normal environment and enter new landscapes full of new horizons, opportunities, and adventures. With so much to do and see, short-term travel nursing assignments allow you to quickly flit from place to place so that you can see it all. 

If you love to travel , why not get paid to do it?

Imagine spending two weeks working in New York, then traveling to Miami for six weeks before finishing up with a four-week assignment in rural West Virginia. In just three months’ time, you earned good money while enjoying the big city, the beach, and the mountains.

Pronto and Trusted Nurse Staffing make it easy to find the right job in the right location for you. Sign up with Pronto to get scrolling toward your next big break today. 

Possible Cons of Short-Term Travel Nurse Assignments 

While the benefits of short-term travel RN assignments are appealing, the job might not be for everyone.

Some cons to short-term travel nurse jobs include:

• Feelings of homesickness or loneliness.
• Less choices in contracts compared to longer term assignements.
• Navigating the logistics of travel (time changes, language barriers, travel stress).
• Always learning how to work with a team that already knows one another well.
• Consistently having to adapt to new environments, policies, and procedures.
• Potentially limited choices in housing. 

Working short-term travel nurse assignments can be a fun and rewarding job. You can travel, negotiate your contracts, make good money, and have some flexibility with work.

You’ll also have access to these amazing benefits and perks:

• Travel, housing, and meal stipends
• Referral and completion bonuses
• Dental, health, and vision benefits
• Sign-on bonuses

At Trusted Nurse Staffing, we want to help our travel nurses explore all of the possibilities for flexibility, growth, and opportunity. We encourage our nurses to continue to hone their potential, which is why we now support employees with a tax-free student loan reimbursement of up to $5,250 annually.

We hope that this allows our nurses to breathe easier and pursue further education without being burdened by their student loans. 

It is also important that our travel nursing allies can find assignments granting them job satisfaction and purpose in an industry that can sometimes be hard to navigate. We created Pronto to give travel nurses the power to find and choose the travel nursing assignments that would best suit their preferences, needs, hopes, and dreams. 

Empower your travel nursing experience with the help of Trusted Nurse Staffing and Pronto. Begin your search for short-term travel nursing assignments today. 

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• A best-in-class support system and an exceptional experience. Enjoy accurate, weekly pay, and an entire team dedicated to your happiness on assignment, 24/7.

Plus, you get everything you expect from the largest healthcare staffing company in the industry:

• Exceptional benefits, including premium medical, dental, vision and life insurance beginning day one of your assignment. Want to take time off? Keep insurance coverage for up to 24 days between assignments.
• A generous 401(k) match.
• Paid company housing (we'll help you bring your pets along, too!) or a generous housing stipend.
• Paid sick time in accordance with all applicable state, federal, and local laws. Aya's general sick leave policy is that employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. However, to the extent any provisions of the statement above conflict with any applicable paid sick leave laws, the applicable paid sick leave laws are controlling.
• The industry's only clinical ladder program for RNs on assignment.
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With Aya Locums you get:

• Access to top hospitals and healthcare systems in diverse care settings.
• Highly competitive, transparent locum tenens pay.
• Dedicated application and assignment support.
• In-house credentialing and licensing teams.
• Full coverage of licensing costs.
• Travel and lodging coverage.
• Easy timekeeping and streamlined management of documents.
• Malpractice coverage and risk management support.
• Premium medical, dental, vision and life insurance beginning day one of your assignment.
• Paid sick time. Aya provides paid sick leave in accordance with all applicable state, federal, and local laws. Aya's general sick leave policy is that employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. However, to the extent any provisions of the statement above conflict with any applicable paid sick leave laws, the applicable paid sick leave laws are controlling.
• Generous 401k match.
• Aya may provide other benefits where required by applicable law, including but not limited to reimbursements.
• Aya coordinates all travel and lodging accommodations.
• Travel information is received the evening prior to your scheduled departure.
• Airfare is covered and, if driving to the assignment, reimbursement is available.
• Once notice is received, communication from our team is sent via email and text to ensure you are kept in the loop as soon as information becomes available.
• Your safety is Aya's top priority. We work closely with the facility to ensure additional security measures are taken onsite so you can focus on what really matters: patient care.
• Licensure, relocation and other reimbursements.

Experience the Aya difference today

• A dedicated recruiter who advocates for you every step of the way.
• We'll ensure the hiring manager prioritizes your interest and schedules an interview quickly.
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• Flexible start dates that work around your availability.
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With Aya, you get:

• Higher compensation - we negotiate on your behalf.
• Work-life balance - contracts are up to 40 hours per week, with workdays ending mid-late afternoon and weekends off!
• An employee advocate - our team ensures you have the support needed to be successful in your role.
• Options post contract - extend, convert to a permanent employee or find a new job.
• Paid company housing (pets are welcome to tag along) or a generous housing stipend.
• If qualified, continued insurance coverage over the summer.
• A generous 401k match.
• A robust team to support you every step of the way.
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• Freedom and flexibility around your current schedule.
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• Premium medical, dental, vision and life insurance.
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• A robust team to support you every step of the way to ensure you start on time, have accurate payroll and an exceptional experience.
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A Guide to Travel Nurse Assignments: Your FAQs Answered

Table of Contents

Whether you’re a new travel nurse or a seasoned traveler, travel nurse assignments can be confusing and sometimes difficult to understand the terms. Let’s review the advantages of working with a travel nursing agency and some FAQs below.

Find Travel Nursing opportunities all over the United States

Registered nurses have the opportunity to become travel nurses at any point during their nursing career. Most of the time, travel nursing agencies require at least two years of nursing experience before becoming a traveler. However, this varies by agency and specialty. 

Just like a career in nursing offers a variety of specialties and job opportunities, so does the world of travel nursing. As a travel nurse, you have the opportunity to work in your specialty while traveling the country. You get the opportunity to meet new people, work with a variety of patient populations, and expand your professional network.

If you’re interested in exploring what travel nursing opportunities are out there, many travel nurse agency websites offer job boards , including Health Carousel Travel Nursing. Most  job board postings detail the location, start date, assignment length, weekly hours, and expected pay ranges. Due to most job boards’ transparency in this criteria, it’s easy to compare agencies and nursing jobs.

Advantages of working with a professional Travel Nurse Agency 

There are several benefits of working with a professional travel nursing agency. Get to know your recruiter first. Your recruiter should understand your needs, wants, and preferences in an assignment. Once they understand your assignment preferences, they can help you with your travel nursing job search . Oftentimes, they can better filter nursing jobs and may offer new jobs that haven’t been made public yet. 

Next, your travel nurse agency recruiter is your assignment advocate and liaison between you and the healthcare facility. They will prepare you for your interview by providing typical questions and prepping your responses. If you need any days off or a more flexible schedule, they will help you ask for these as well. 

Once you have an offer, navigating a compensation package can be pretty difficult to understand. An advantage of working with an agency recruiter is that they will help you through every step of the process. This can include benefits, sick leave, stipend amounts, etc. If you don’t understand an area or amount, or would like more compensation, then ask. Your recruiter will help you negotiate Your recruiter will help you negotiate your travel nursing contract with the healthcare facility, depending on their company policy. Typically, no two contracts will look the same.

Now that we’ve reviewed the advantages of working with a travel nurse agency, let’s detail some frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

How long are typical travel nurse assignments?

Travel nurse assignment lengths vary depending on the nursing demand, healthcare facility, unit, and season. Most assignments last 13 weeks but can be shorter or longer. Some crisis contracts are as little as two weeks. Other contracts start as 13-week assignments, but hospitals sometimes offer contract extensions of up to a year.

Do travel nurses get easy assignments?

Travel nurse assignments are based on nurse shortages and increased demands in the area and unit. Every travel nursing experience is different. There’s no way to determine beforehand if an assignment is going to be easy. We all know that one day at the hospital can be fairly easy and the next can be draining. 

To prepare, ask about typical unit assignments, patient-to-nurse ratios, and patient populations during the interview process. If the patient-to-nurse ratio seems high for your specialty, consider this before accepting an offer. 

How do I choose a travel nursing assignment?

Many travel nursing agencies offer nursing job boards for you to search for available assignments. Before beginning your search, write down a list of your preferences, including locations, units, and desired pay. This will help you filter your initial search. 

Many states are transitioning to the nursing licensure compact agreement . If you hold a compact license, this means you can practice nursing in that state without applying for a new nursing license. It makes it easier for travel nurses especially since they work in different states. However, keep in mind that you may only obtain a compact license if you reside in a compact state.

What type of travel nurses are most needed?

Travel nurses are  always needed. However, the demand for what specialty of travel nursing varies greatly, depending on the area, nursing shortages, and employers. Most of the time, there is a high demand for medical-surgical, intensive care, and emergency room nurses.

Is it hard to find jobs as a travel nurse?

Typically, it’s not hard to find travel nursing jobs. You may not get your first assignment choice, but there are always plenty of other options available. To make it easier during your job search, apply for several assignments and obtain your compact state nursing license if you haven’t already done so. 

Is travel nursing risky?

Working as a travel nurse comes with the same risks as working as a staff registered nurse. You will need to understand the state regulations, the scope of practice, and the healthcare facility’s company policies as you would with any other new nursing job. 

Is travel nursing worth the money?

Many registered nurses transition to travelers and make travel nursing their career. Most travel nurses find travel nursing worth the time and money. You get to travel the country, typically make higher pay than staff nurses, and make your schedule (for the most part). ZipRecruiter shows that the national average salary for travel nurses is $118,400, which is well beyond the average staff nurse salary.

Health Carousel Travel Nursing Boasts Travel Nursing Assignments To Advance Your Career

Health Carousel Travel Nursing has travel nursing jobs available for you throughout the country. Our recruiters work to understand your needs and want to keep you aligned with your career goals. We partner with top healthcare facilities throughout the United States, so you have many career options available. We also offer great benefits, including medical and dental insurance, and sick leave.

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Highest-Paying Travel Nurse Assignments

Updated july 14, 2024.

If you’re looking for a new travel nurse assignment—or just curious how much current travel nurse jobs are paying out—here are some of the highest-paid travel nursing jobs currently available across the country.

Cities Paying > $3,000 per week

• Parkersburg, WV: $4.3K in OR
• New Orleans, LA: $3.8K in OR
• Philadelphia, PA: $3.6K in OR
• Northampton, MA: $3.4K in OR
• Eureka, CA: $3.4K in OR
• Marshfield, WI: $3.3K in Peds/NICU/POR
• Oxnard, CA: $3.3K in OR
• Greenville, NC: $3.3K in OR
• Chico, CA: $3.3K in OR
• Wilmington, DE: $3.2K in Peds/NICU/POR
• Salida, CO: $3.2K in LD
• Green Bay, WI: $3.2K in Med/Surg
• Rochester, NY: $3.1K in Telemetry
• Scottsbluff, NE: $3.1K in L&D
• Malone, NY: $3.1K in Med/Surg
• Pittsburgh, PA: $3.1K in OR
• Dayton, OH: $3K in Peds/NICU/POR
• Woodland Hills, CA: $3K in Oncology

Speak with a recruiter about available travel nursing assignments today!

Highest-Demand Cities

• Albany, NY: at least 149 assignments up to $2.4K/week
• Oklahoma City, OK: at least 86 assignments up to $2.5K/week
• Rochester, NY: at least 84 assignments up to $3.1K/week
• Yuma, AZ: at least 36 assignments up to $2.3K/week
• Louisville, KY: at least 36 assignments up to $2.3K/week
• Baltimore, MD: at least 35 assignments up to $2.8K/week
• Tucson, AZ: at least 31 assignments up to $2.4K/week
• Chicago, IL: at least 30 assignments up to $2.7K/week
• Springfield, IL: at least 30 assignments up to $2.9K/week
• Springfield, MA: at least 29 assignments up to $2.6K/week
• Cleveland, OH: at least 27 assignments up to $2.7K/week
• Boston, MA: at least 26 assignments up to $2.4K/week
• Omaha, NE: at least 26 assignments up to $2.3K/week
• Rapid City, SD: at least 26 assignments up to $2.9K/week
• Medford, OR: at least 26 assignments up to $2.8K/week
• Peoria, IL: at least 25 assignments up to $2.3K/week
• New York, NY: at least 22 assignments up to $2.8K/week
• Stanford, CA: at least 22 assignments up to $3K/week
• Marquette, MI: at least 21 assignments up to $2.2K/week
• Utica, NY: at least 21 assignments up to $2.2K/week
• Saint Louis, MO: at least 20 assignments up to $2.2K/week
• Shreveport, LA: at least 20 assignments up to $2K/week

Emergency Room

Here is a sampling of ER travel nurse jobs available across the country:

• AK: $2.4K/week
• AZ: $2.4K/week
• CA: $2.7K/week
• CO: $2.3K/week
• CT: $2.2K/week
• DC: $2K/week
• IA: $2K/week
• IL: $2.3K/week
• KS: $2.1K/week
• KY: $2.3K/week
• MA: $2.6K/week
• MD: $2K/week
• ME: $2K/week
• MI: $2.1K/week
• MN: $2.2K/week
• MO: $2.6K/week
• MT: $1.9K/week
• NC: $1.9K/week
• NE: $2K/week
• NH: $2.4K/week
• NJ: $2.4K/week
• NM: $2K/week
• NV: $2.1K/week
• NY: $2.8K/week
• OK: $2K/week
• OR: $2.2K/week
• PA: $2.4K/week
• SD: $2.3K/week
• TN: $1.9K/week
• TX: $2.5K/week
• UT: $1.9K/week
• VA: $2.1K/week
• VT: $2.2K/week
• WA: $2.2K/week
• WI: $2.5K/week

Labor & Delivery

We found the following opportunities for L&D travel nurses:

• AK: $2.9K/week
• AZ: $2.5K/week
• CA: $2.8K/week
• CO: $3.2K/week
• CT: $2.1K/week
• HI: $2.5K/week
• IA: $2.3K/week
• ID: $2.2K/week
• LA: $1.9K/week
• MA: $2.8K/week
• ME: $2.1K/week
• MI: $2.5K/week
• MN: $2.5K/week
• MO: $2K/week
• MT: $2.1K/week
• NC: $2K/week
• ND: $2K/week
• NE: $3.1K/week
• NH: $2.1K/week
• NM: $2.9K/week
• NV: $2.4K/week
• NY: $2.6K/week
• OR: $2.7K/week
• PA: $2.1K/week
• SD: $2.8K/week
• TN: $2K/week
• TX: $2.2K/week
• WA: $2.3K/week
• WI: $2.2K/week

Operating Room

There are numerous high-paying OR travel nursing assignments available.

• AZ: $2.8K/week
• CA: $3.4K/week
• CO: $2.9K/week
• CT: $2.6K/week
• FL: $2.5K/week
• GA: $2.8K/week
• IL: $2.9K/week
• IN: $2.3K/week
• KS: $2.3K/week
• KY: $2.2K/week
• LA: $3.8K/week
• MA: $3.4K/week
• MD: $2.4K/week
• MI: $2.4K/week
• MN: $2.4K/week
• MO: $2.3K/week
• MS: $2.5K/week
• MT: $2.3K/week
• NC: $3.3K/week
• ND: $2.4K/week
• NE: $2.6K/week
• NJ: $2.8K/week
• NM: $2.3K/week
• NY: $2.5K/week
• OH: $2.8K/week
• OK: $2.1K/week
• OR: $2.8K/week
• PA: $3.6K/week
• SC: $2.7K/week
• SD: $2.6K/week
• TN: $2.6K/week
• TX: $2.3K/week
• VA: $2.9K/week
• VT: $2.8K/week
• WI: $3K/week
• WV: $4.3K/week

Find available travel nursing assignments near or far.

Here are some of the highest-paying MICU/SICU, CVICU and CICU travel nursing assignments we found across the country:

• AL: $2K/week
• AR: $2K/week
• AZ: $2.3K/week
• CA: $3K/week
• CO: $3K/week
• GA: $2.1K/week
• IA: $2.2K/week
• ID: $2K/week
• IL: $2.5K/week
• IN: $2.1K/week
• MA: $2.5K/week
• MD: $2.8K/week
• MI: $2.2K/week
• MN: $2.1K/week
• NC: $2.2K/week
• ND: $2.1K/week
• NE: $2.3K/week
• NH: $2.3K/week
• NY: $2.4K/week
• OH: $2.2K/week
• OK: $2.5K/week
• OR: $2.3K/week
• TX: $1.9K/week
• UT: $2K/week
• VA: $2.2K/week
• WI: $2.6K/week
• WV: $2.3K/week

For those who prefer working with children, there are NICU, PICU, pediatric OR, and general pediatric nursing opportunities available in multiple states, such as:

• AR: $2.8K/week
• CA: $2.9K/week
• CO: $2.5K/week
• CT: $2.3K/week
• DC: $2.1K/week
• DE: $3.2K/week
• IA: $2.1K/week
• ID: $2.1K/week
• IL: $2.7K/week
• IN: $2.5K/week
• LA: $2.1K/week
• MO: $2.1K/week
• NC: $2.5K/week
• ND: $2.3K/week
• NE: $2.8K/week
• NH: $2.5K/week
• NJ: $2.5K/week
• NM: $2.2K/week
• NV: $1.9K/week
• OH: $3K/week
• PA: $2.2K/week
• SC: $1.9K/week
• SD: $2.9K/week
• TN: $2.2K/week
• TX: $2.6K/week
• WI: $3.3K/week
• WV: $2.2K/week
• WY: $2.2K/week

Medical-Surgical

For medical surgical nursing assignments, here are the highest-paying opportunities per state:

• AL: $2.7K/week
• AR: $1.9K/week
• AZ: $2.1K/week
• CO: $2.1K/week
• DC: $1.9K/week
• IN: $2.4K/week
• KS: $2.5K/week
• MA: $2.4K/week
• ME: $2.8K/week
• MO: $2.5K/week
• MT: $2K/week
• NC: $2.4K/week
• NJ: $2.2K/week
• NY: $3.1K/week
• SC: $2K/week
• SD: $2.1K/week
• WI: $3.2K/week
• WY: $2K/week

If telemetry is your area of expertise you can look in these states:

• AR: $2.2K/week
• CA: $2.6K/week
• CT: $2.9K/week
• GA: $1.9K/week
• IN: $2.2K/week
• KY: $2.5K/week
• LA: $2K/week
• MO: $2.2K/week
• NC: $2.1K/week
• NE: $2.1K/week
• NJ: $2.3K/week
• NV: $2.2K/week
• RI: $2.2K/week
• VT: $2.1K/week
• WI: $2.4K/week
• WV: $2.4K/week

There are many oncology travel nursing assignments available:

• AR: $2.3K/week
• CO: $2K/week
• GA: $2K/week
• ME: $2.3K/week
• MT: $2.9K/week
• NE: $3K/week
• OH: $2.4K/week
• OK: $2.2K/week
• TX: $2.1K/week
• VA: $2.3K/week
• WA: $2.6K/week

Speak with a recruiter about available travel nursing assignments!

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Everything you need to know before accepting a travel nursing assignment.

Travel nurses and allied professionals go where the wind takes them. Or rather, where there is a shortage or immediate need for their skills. Travel nursing was created to address shortages of registered nurses in various parts of the country. There is always demand for qualified nurses anywhere you go, but there’s not always enough personnel to meet the demand. This is even more true in times of a medical crisis. 

Because travel nursing and allied pro assignments are run as-needed, the length of time and the kind of work you can expect to do as a travel nurse will vary from post to post. You might find yourself filling in for a nurse on parental leave for 6 months on one job. Then turn around and help an overloaded ER for a week on your next assignment. What you need to take with you and how you prepare for each job will change with each assignment. In this article, we’ll go over need-to-know information to help you prepare for your next adventure as a travel nurse.

How Does Travel Nursing Work?

Before we jump in, let’s talk about what it takes to be a travel nurse. The basic qualifications to become a travel nurse are the same as standard nursing. Travel nurses must hold an associates or bachelor’s degree in nursing, be certified in BLS and ACLS, and hold an LVN or RN certification. Here at Medely we also require a minimum of one to two years working in the specialty of the specific assignment. 

The most common length of travel nursing and allied pro assignments is around 13 weeks, although shifts can vary from 1 week to upwards of 26, depending on the need and your preferences. Many agencies, including Medely, allow travel nurses to search for assignments with specific time parameters. Getting travel assignments with Medely works essentially the same as any other job-hunting platform. Positions are posted by the facilities, allowing you to browse potential assignments. Urgent needs may be highlighted or promoted. Nurses and allied pros can apply for your ideal position with the click of a button, which will kick off an interview and approval process. Once the facility approves your application and you sign your contract, you’re off on your adventure!

But before you hop on a plane, there are a few things to get in order: 

• Housing – Staying in a hotel gets old fast. The good news is, there’s better options.
• Pet/Plant Sitting – Do you have plants or animals that will need care, either with you or while you’re away?
• License – Travel nurses have to be licensed in the state they are working in. Make sure your license and other credentials are up-to-date for the state your assignment is in.?
• Travel – How are you getting to your new assignment? Does your agency offer reimbursement? (Medely does)
• Expenses – What is the cost of living in the new city? How much does your agency cover? (again, Medely has you covered with the maximum tax-free stipends available for your assignment)

In the next section, we’ll talk more about specific needs and top tips to follow, no matter the length of your assignment. 

Nursing and Allied Pro Assignments by Length

1 week travel nursing assignment.

Shorter assignments, including week-long jobs, typically fall under the “rapid-response” category. This means nurses working these fast-turnaround positions will need to be ready to go in as little as two days. 

These assignments are easy to pack for but the planning and financial aspect can be rough. Last-minute plane tickets get expensive fast. However most agencies reimburse travel costs, especially for rapid-response assignments. 

Housing can also be a little tricky, but you might be able to get away with staying in a hotel for such a short duration. 

If you have children or pets that need to stay home, longer assignments might be a better fit for you. 

As with all short-term assignments, be prepared for a potential extension.

2 Week Travel Nursing Assignment

These assignments are rare. But if you’ve been bit by the travel bug and only have a small window of availability, you ask your agency to keep an eye out for these short assignments. 

As with 1 week assignments, you might need to be ready to move fast as facilities will typically need you to start right away. We recommend finding housing through a travel-nursing specific website, for a more affordable and more amenity-filled home away from home during your stay.

3 Week Travel Nursing Assignment

The biggest considerations as nursing assignments lengthen are housing-related. It’s easy enough to pack everything you need for short-term assignments, but you want to start thinking about practical concerns as your job extends. Look for affordable, comfortable housing with proximity to your place of work, laundry facilities, and grocery stores or restaurants. 

4-6 Week Travel Nursing Assignment

One month is the magic number for many nursing assignments. In fact, it’s the minimum length of assignment  Medely offers. Additionally, many travel nurse housing sites also have a four week minimum. 

Four week and longer assignments typically have time between application and orientation, giving you some breathing room when it comes to planning housing and travel. We recommend looking for locations you think you’ll enjoy when considering these longer assignments.

8+ Week Travel Nursing Assignment

Nurses on tour! Home and home-away-from-home begin to blend together when you’re working in a new location for this long. But they are often easier to budget and plan for and you can take your time in figuring out next steps. Longer assignments are often a good bet for travel nurses with families and animals.  The assignment length means you have the time to make the necessary arrangements for your loved ones. 

Last Thoughts: Travel Nurse Assignments

What you need for your next travel assignment will vary by length. There’s a world of difference between a 1-week stay and a 2 month job. But by planning and preparing ahead of time, you’ll be ready to go no matter what. 

Not sure what to pack? Medely has the answers. Check out our post: The Nomad’s Packing Guide for Travel Nurses .

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Two 13-week travel assignments, at once - feasible?

Specialties Travel

Published Jul 24, 2019

If I have a fixed schedule for the entire 13-weeks, guaranteed by the nurse manager and the director, 36 hours, 3 days a week...and another facility could take me in on a similar schedule but on the alternate days, would it be possible to do two assignments, with 2 different agencies?

Anyone ever done it?

• + Add a Comment

1 Article; 5,774 Posts

Nope, and it is nutty for several reasons. First, you are better off financially and sanity wise to take rapid response type of jobs where you can work seven days a week if you want. Overtime instead of 72 or 84 hours of straight time. Second, the logistics would be crazy. Schedules are seldom truly fixed for travelers, and all contracts allow changes. Finding two travel assignments that offer fixed and compatible schedules would be, umm, challenging. Third, many contracts have specific language requiring that it be your only job. Fourth, travelers who are working away from home have tax advantages. Your second contract would have to be fully taxed, reducing your take home pay. No double dipping.

Even if you find such compatible contracts, illness on your part or a staff member that requires you to step in may get you terminated from both jobs. If you must do something this bizarre, better to work in an area that has a lot of local agency per diem to fill in your days off. Those shift commitments are easy to cancel. That is doable, and I do meet travelers with so much excess energy that they do just this. Often they take several back to back contracts in the same area, because it would be a pain to sign up for per diem in a new area every three months. But generally, per diem will pay less than your total hourly compensation for travel contracts so it seems nutty to me. I've never been tempted to work more and take a pay cut (yes, your gross pay will still be more).

OK. Two question. Why would the 2nd contract be fully taxed if home is still working away from home? How do you find per diem agencies?

Why can't you double dip? Would it be legal to collect two person's welfare checks? The why is irrelevant anyway, it is the law. The workaround is to travel with an unrelated traveler and split things. If you are married, collecting two housing stipends would be disallowed in an audit because you already share housing.

How to find per diem agencies? Google. Yellow pages if they still exist. Ask around the hospital where you are working. Typically you need a large urban area. Los Angeles, the Bay area, Chicago, DC/VA/Baltimore all have healthy per diem that I know of personally.

Thanks NedRN. By why i meant "what's there reason behind it", not a "how come" complain. Thanks for explaining. Googling for information on this part of the law, but I can't find anything. I am sure I'm phrasing it wrong. Any idea how I should word it?

Are per diem agencies the the same as regular 13-week assignment agencies? Or are they agencies that specialize in per diem?

Seriously? Common sense will tell you you can't double dip. The underlying laws and regulations are complex. You can do a few hours of reading about them on PanTravelers and TravelTax. Irrelevant anyway as you will not be able to work two concurrent assignments.

But let me break it down a little here. The housing stipend is actually a "reimbursement" for an expense. If you take two reimbursements for the same exact expense... get the picture?

Agencies can do both. But you want a national agency for travel, and a local agency for per diem. The same agency for both will not employ you for both because of overtime laws, they would lose money on paying you 40 hours of overtime when they can only bill flat time.

3 minutes ago, NedRN said: Seriously? Common sense will tell you you can't double dip.

Wow. It's unfortunate that your knowledge is buried under that character.

WanderingWilder, ASN

Stipends are tax free because it pays for housing, the second stipend wouldn't be paying for your housing (since the housing is already paid for by the first stipend) which is why it isn't tax free.

9 hours ago, Sunnysandy said: Wow. It's unfortunate that your knowledge is buried under that character.

I take it you haven't traveled before based on your questions, repeated after I answered them thoroughly. I was nice (not sure why you would be offended at "common sense" and double dipping) and helpful and you have a surprise coming your way if you have never traveled before. You don't get coddled (typically) like you might be used to as a staff nurse, or even on this rather well behaved (typically) forum. It's harsh out here and expectations of travelers are high. Are you really ready? Even the internet has you ruffled. A single snide comment to anyone on a travel assignment can lead to termination.

On 7/26/2019 at 2:56 AM, WanderingWilder said: Stipends are tax free because it pays for housing, the second stipend wouldn't be paying for your housing (since the housing is already paid for by the first stipend) which is why it isn't tax free.

Aha! Got it now! Awesome! Thanks!

Would the 2nd assignment being a traveling distance from the first one make a difference?

If you have a tax home you haven't abandoned and are working away from home on business, and the nature of the job requires that you have local accommodation to rest between shifts (or other considerations like callback time), then that accommodation is tax deductible. There is no limit on how many such accommodations you might have (picture a sales person with multiple cities to visit), but they don't normally overlap.

In the almost impossible scenario where you take two concurrent travel assignments in which you cannot commute from one to the other, and you don't simply stay at hotels for the nights needed in the two locations, you might be able to justify having two apartments if the cost is less than the hotel rooms, but not if it is more. That is the only way you might be able to justify having two housing stipends and not paying tax on either. But your out of pocket will be significantly higher, erasing any benefits (the costs will be higher than the taxes would have been).

You do have to keep and hold housing receipts to prove in an audit that you do have duplicated costs at the remote site and your tax home.

Besides housing, the other major benefit of travel is tax free per diems (known as M&IE by the IRS). As the name suggests, these are paid daily like housing and are significant. Under no circumstances could these overlap between two concurrent assignments, again making this whole discussion an exercise in futility.

You do know you have to keep up a permanent residence as well? If not, this whole thing is moot as all compensation is taxable, not even tax free housing once.

RN/WI, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN

Why ?! It’s not possible and even if it was it would be illegal. But first of all you would make more working one and collecting overtime for more hours you would stick into the second job. Did you decide to travel?