Cross Country Travel Nurse

Hugo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:08:40 +0000

The lack of Nurses in some countries is creating a new type of Nurse: Travel Nurse.

A Travel Nurse goes Cross Country to fill the needs on a determined health area for a short time but with incredible perks.

The entire world is made with differences. There are countries with a surplus of Nurses like Portugal, and there are other countries with a shortage of nurses like U.S.A or Switzerland.

So the countries needing nurses are constantly recruiting to fill their needs. And they do this through Travel Nurse Agencies or Companies. Recruiting with these agencies makes the life much easier for the Hospitals and for Nurses, because the amount of paperwork is usually big, specially if the Nurse is working for a different Country.

As i said before, Nurses shortage opened the doors for this new type of Nurse. If they can’t find a nurse to fill the position they need to find somewhere else. But where if there are no nurses available?

This is when recruiting nurses from other countries or states comes in.

Let’s take the U.S. example. We know that America is short on Nurses, but the health demands, specially in geriatrics is rising everyday and simply there isn’t enough nurses available. This demand made the economic benefits rise making a Cross Country Travel Nurse a very attractive lifestyle. Let’s face it, wouldn’t you decide to work for a 3 month job making as much as 3x times the normal salary you would on a Hospital? And knowing that after finishing your job it would most likely, to appear a new job for you with the same attractive conditions? I sure would.

In the United States, a Cross Country Travel Nurse usually goes from state to state, filling the needs from where he/she passes. But there is also an increasing rise of Cross Country Nurses, that travel from different countries. Let me give you another example.

Emigration from Portuguese Nurses

Unfortunately for Portugal, it is producing to many nurses each year, and fails to give proper jobs for them, although they are required in the National Health System, but economics dictate the rules, so it seems…

European countries are taking the surplus of Portuguese nurses in their favour. The education of the Portuguese nurses is known to be top quality and surpasses its European colleagues. In Portugal Nursing takes 4 years to complete while in many EU countries it takes 3 years. So an Exodus of Nurses is happening right now, making them Travel Nurses, and many don’t know it.

The current flow of Nurses is Portugal -> Spain -> France -> and ultimately the majority goes to United Kingdom or Switzerland.

Becoming a Cross Country Travel Nurse as it’s pros and cons. One of the pros is the salary indeed, but i will leave the rest of the of the pros and cons for a following post.

Really, if you are a Nurse and want to get something more for doing what you love, consider in taking a Traveling Nurse Job. I am a nurse and i will soon become on Travel Nurse.

Traveling Nurse Job » Cross Country Travel Nurse

Cross Country Travel Nurse

Emigration from Portuguese Nurses

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