What does a travel nurse do?

What is a Travel Nurse?

A travel nurse is a registered nurse (RN) who takes on short-term assignments, typically lasting from a few weeks to several to months, in hospitals, clinics, or other healthcare facilities that are experiencing seasonal surges or staffing shortages.

These nurses ‘travel’ to different locations, often across state or national borders, to fill temporary needs. The role offers flexibility, competitive pay, housing or travel stipends, and the opportunity to gain diverse professional experience while exploring different regions or healthcare systems.

What does a Travel Nurse do?

Duties and Responsibilities
Travel nurses do the same kind of work as regular nurses, such as caring for patients, giving treatments, and working with other healthcare staff. However, they often have to adjust quickly to new workplaces and procedures, sometimes with little training time. Here’s a simple breakdown of what they typically do each day:

Clinical Care

• Assess and monitor patients’ health conditions, including vital signs and symptoms.
• Administer medications, treatments, and injections as prescribed.
• Respond to medical emergencies and provide immediate care.
• Operate and monitor medical equipment relevant to their specialty (e.g., ventilators, IV pumps).
• Provide compassionate, patient-centered care while managing varying workloads.
• In emergencies, natural disasters, or public health crises, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel nurses play a critical role in rapidly reinforcing overwhelmed healthcare teams.

Coordination and Communication

• Coordinate patient care with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
• Communicate effectively with multidisciplinary teams and patients from diverse backgrounds.
• Educate patients and families about care plans, medications, and discharge instructions.

Documentation and Compliance

• Document patient information accurately in medical records and charts.
• Follow hospital policies and infection control procedures to ensure patient safety.
• Maintain required licenses and certifications for each state or assignment.

Adaptability and Professional Growth

• Quickly adapt to new environments, workflows, and electronic health record systems.
• Support seasonal surges (e.g., flu season) or staff shortages (e.g., due to vacations, maternity leave, specialized skill gaps, or turnover).
• Stay current with medical best practices and continuing education requirements.

Different Types of Travel Nurses
Travel nurses are often in high demand for positions that require specialized skills. They are usually distinguished by their specialty or area of expertise:

• Critical Care / Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Travel Nurse works with critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs) or coronary care units (CCUs); requires experience with ventilators, IV medications, and advanced monitoring.
• Emergency Room (ER) Travel Nurse handles patients in urgent and unpredictable situations; needs strong triage, trauma care, and fast decision-making skills.
• Medical-Surgical (Med-Surg) Travel Nurse provides general care for hospitalized patients with a variety of conditions; this is often a starting specialty for many travel nurses.
• Labor and Delivery / NICU Travel Nurse assists mothers during childbirth or cares for newborns in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit); requires knowledge of maternal and neonatal care.
• Operating Room (OR) / Surgical Travel Nurse assists in surgeries, prepares operating rooms, and provides post-operative care; requires perioperative experience and knowledge of surgical protocols.
• Pediatric Travel Nurse specializes in caring for infants, children, and adolescents; works in pediatric units, clinics, or specialized hospitals.
• Psychiatric / Mental Health Travel Nurse provides care for patients with mental health or behavioral conditions; often works in psychiatric hospitals, rehab centers, or community clinics.
• Specialty Travel Nurses work in specialized areas such as oncology, dialysis, cardiac, rehab, hospice care, or telemetry (the monitoring of patients with cardiac and other conditions using continuous vital sign and cardiac rhythm monitoring); typically require additional certifications or focused experience.

Travel nurses may also work across multiple specialties if they have broad experience, making them highly versatile.

What is the workplace of a Travel Nurse like?

Travel nurses are employed by a variety of organizations, either directly or – more commonly – through staffing agencies that contract with healthcare facilities. Here’s a breakdown of who typically hires travel nurses:

• Staffing Agencies – Most travel nurses are hired by nursing or healthcare staffing agencies. Agencies match nurses with short-term assignments in hospitals, clinics, or specialty centers. They handle contracts, licensing verification, pay, and sometimes travel and housing arrangements.
• Hospitals – Large urban medical centers or small rural hospitals experiencing staff shortages or seasonal surges or needing support for special projects may directly hire travel nurses.
• Clinics and Outpatient Facilities – Some specialty clinics, urgent care centers, or outpatient surgery centers hire travel nurses for temporary coverage or special programs.
• Government and Military Healthcare Systems – Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, military hospitals, and public health agencies sometimes employ travel nurses for temporary assignments or emergency response.
• Disaster Relief or Humanitarian Organizations – Travel nurses may be employed by organizations that respond to natural disasters, pandemics, or public health emergencies, providing short-term staffing where care is urgently needed.

Essentially, any healthcare facility that needs temporary, skilled nursing support can employ travel nurses.

The workplace of a travel nurse is fast-paced and constantly changing. It can look very different from one assignment to the next, depending on the facility, location, and nursing specialty. Travel nurses often move frequently, which can mean time away from family and less long-term job stability. Because they help fill staffing shortages, travel nurses are often placed in busy or high-pressure areas like emergency rooms, intensive care units, or labor and delivery. The job requires flexibility, quick learning, and strong communication skills to adjust to new teams and deliver excellent patient care. Outside of hospitals or clinics, travel nurses also handle travel arrangements, housing, and licensing, making their “workplace” both clinical and mobile.