Are you a registered nurse ready to kick off 2023 with a new adventure? If you’ve ever considered becoming a travel nurse, there’s no better time than now! With nurse shortages at an all time high, America needs adventurous legends like YOU to help at medical facilities across the nation.
This list comprises some of the highest paying travel nurse specialties available in 2023. If you’re ready to reignite your passion for nursing, boost your income, meet new people, explore new places or simply dive into a new adventure in the new year – travel nursing could be the next move for you. With the current shortage in medical staff, travel nurses are in high demand with weekly salaries ranging anywhere from $3,000 to $5,500.
Emergency Room Travel Nurse
Travel ER nurses will be called on to travel to places where there is a higher need for emergency services whether it be due to a disaster event or lack of medical staff. In such an intense environment, one will need to be able to make decisions both quickly and accurately as well as take on a leading role among the staff, using specialized medical knowledge to stabilize and treat patients with life threatening injuries and diseases.
Pediatric Travel Nurse
Travel PRNs will work directly with children and families. Travel nurses in this specialty will need a variety of clinical and interpersonal skills as they will be administering treatments for diseases and injuries with a wide range in severity. Due to the patients often being very young, often pediatric nurses will also need to calm and soothe their patients with gentle communication and therapeutic techniques. As such, they will need to have discretion and a high level of emotional intelligence beyond what is expected from other travel nursing specialties.
Post Anesthesia Care Unit Travel Nurse
PACU travel nurses are essential to postoperative care because their job is to help patients recuperate after surgery. A travel nurse in this specialty will have to be attentive and quick on their feet to provide a comfortable atmosphere and meet patients’ needs while they are in recovery. Tasks carried out by a PACU RN include taking vitals, monitoring patients’ condition and alleviating pain. A PACU travel nurse will also need to have a high level of flexibility due to these units being frequently understaffed.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Travel Nurse
A travel NICU nurse will be expected to treat newborns and babies born prematurely whose conditions are life threatening. They will be caring for some of the most vulnerable patients in the hospital. The job requires someone to be highly intuitive and make keen observations, while also being very sensitive and compassionate to the families who are affected by the condition of their newborn. It’s also important to be able to work in substandard circumstances as nursing equipment will not always meet one’s expectations.
Intensive Care Unit Travel Nurse
A travel nurse working in an ICU will be met with many challenges. ICU nurses care for people who have life threatening conditions and need ongoing medical treatment and supervision from a hospital facility. They will be looking after patients who are constantly hooked up to life sustaining equipment and whose vitals can drop at any moment. More than anything the job requires mental and emotional fortitude. An ICU nurse needs to be ready to respond when a patient’s condition falters and do so quickly while under pressure. Not only is it a demanding job, but a rewarding one as well. ICU travel nurses are in high demand and are compensated accordingly.
Operating Room Travel Nurse
An operating room travel nurse will be expected to take on more of a supporting role in a hospital setting. They are there to help the doctors carry out operations on patients as safely and efficiently as possible. Tasks in this profession include coordinating and managing patient care, monitoring equipment during surgeries, and providing sterile tools and equipment for the surgeons to use. There is a need for an increased level of flexibility as an OR nurse because of the broad range of tasks one is required to complete and due to the fact that an OR nurse is also often required to appear on disaster scenes to recover and operate on trauma victims who can’t make it to a hospital.
Oncology Travel Nurse
An oncology travel nurse is a nurse assigned to attend to patients with cancer. This specialty requires that you have the specific training to meet the special needs of cancer patients who are often in the later stages of cancer and are very weak because of it. Oncology nurses also have to have a wide knowledge of cancer treatments and their side effects as well as the communication skills to properly relay that information to patients and their families. An oncology travel nurse may also be called upon to go to locations where there are a large number of people contracting cancer within a short number of time to attend to patients there as well as prevent further cases.
Medical-Surgery Travel Nurse
Medical surgery travel nurses will be working with a medical team to care for people who have undergone medical procedures. Though it is a specialty on its own, med-surg nurses can work in essentially any unit and are considered to make up the foundation of the nursing profession. Though the doctors are in charge of carrying out medical procedures, the nurses must be able to respond to a patient if they have an unexpected emergency while undergoing a treatment or surgery.
Coronary Intensive Care Unit Travel Nurse
A travel nurse in the coronary intensive care unit takes care of people who have gone into intensive care because of heart failure or who have recently had heart surgery. Like other practices within the ICU, a cardiac care nurse needs to be able to respond quickly to emergencies. Some daily tasks in a cardiac care unit include monitoring patients vitals such as heart rate and blood pressure, administering medications, and communicating with patients and their families.
Telemetry Travel Nurse
A telemetry travel nurse does all the jobs of other nurses while also being required to use an electrocardiogram to monitor patients conditions and treatment processes. A telemetry travel nurse must be adept at using the equipment and be ready to fix any connection issues or use equipment they may not be fully accustomed to. They must also be good verbal communicators so that they are able to talk to doctors while reading the electrocardiogram.
With demand for medical staff remaining strong in 2023, almost any type of nurse can become a travel nurse but the most common are those working in an acute care setting. Thousands of high paying temporary assignments are available today in desirable cities in all states! If you’re ready to take on a new challenge, reconnect with yourself, your lifestyle and your career – we’re here to help you get there. Get in touch with one of our Adventure Partners today.