If you’re about to complete your nursing studies, or are a nurse looking to make a career change and are looking for a lucrative growing field in the nursing industry, then now is a great time to explore Travel Nursing.
Travel nurses fill longer-term, temporary vacancies, usually ranging from four to 13 weeks. Nursezone.com reports travel nurses are in high demand, thanks to a confluence of positive factors affecting the health care industry. As a result, travel nursing companies today have an unprecedented number of available jobs across the country.
Travel Nursing: A Booming Industry
The Affordable Care Act’s mandates are playing a role, as are an aging healthcare workforce and more nurses cutting back on their hours. “The increased demand has been extraordinary,” said Randle Reece, an investment firm research analyst. “There’s a natural increase in the number of insured people with continued employment growth.” AMN Healthcare, which supplies travel nurses to hospitals and other facilities, has seen requests double and triple the travel nurses in the past few years. That has led to greater opportunities for nurses who are seeking those jobs.The top requested nurses are those that are specialists. AMN Healthcare Chief Clinical Officer Marcia Faller, PhD, RN, says travel nursing jobs are plentiful and offer many choices. “The demand is greater than the supply,” she adds. “For nurses interested in travel, there are great locations, great facilities and great pay packages. It’s a wonderful time to be a travel nurse.” National health expenditures are expected to grow during the next five years, in part due to an improving economy, declining unemployment, increasing numbers of newly insured people, and an aging population that requires more services. As a result, Staffing Industry Analysts’ growth forecast expects travel nursing will have increase by 10 percent by year’s end, and 8 percent again in 2016.
Being a nurse is a rewarding experience. Becoming a travel nurse can add new locations and a diversity of assignments--not to mention excellent financial incentives in some cases.
To start your path into travel nursing, check out Fortis’s programs in Practical Nursing, Registered Nursing, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs offered by Fortis.
