Is your Healthcare Employer joining this year’s Great American Smokeout? It’s catching on as quickly as a smoking habit itself: more hospitals in more states putting an end to hiring registered nurse smokers. So far, Pennsylvania and Georgia, Missouri, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Texas lead the pack. Others are expected to follow. "Hospital administrators say it’s about improving worker productivity, reducing healthcare costs and promoting healthy living," said Clinical Account Manager, Deborah Bacurin for American Traveler Staffing Professionals, a leading provider of Florida nursing jobs.  "We're getting more calls for travel nurse nicotine screens and the buzz nationwide is to expand the practice." In a readers poll conducted by media giant, Tribune Company, more than half of 522 respondents said healthcare employers should ban smoking. Thirty-nine percent answered "no way," it’s a violation of smoker's rights, and five percent were undecided.* Cleveland Clinic director, Paul Turpeluk, told the New York Times** earlier in the year that his organization had received numerous requests in recent months from healthcare employers looking to transit to non-smoking environments. Cleveland Clinic stopped hiring smokers in 2007, pioneering a contagious movement to cut costs and improve employee performance. On average, smokers cost [+]

The last Monday in May is Memorial Day in America, capping a patriotic holiday weekend to be enjoyed by one and all. Travel nurses can find local events from coast to coast; here are just a few holiday highlights close to American Traveler staff in Florida, California and Washington D.C. nursing jobs. Memorial Day Planning Guide For D.C. Travel Nurses What better way for travel nurses to honor courageous military than spending the long weekend exploring our Nation’s capitol? The 2011 Memorial Day event schedule for D.C. includes a Sunday (May 29th) free concert on the west lawn of the U.S. capitol. On this day, the National Symphony Orchestra will perform, as well as top-billed celebrities. Click on the Memorial Day event link to learn more about this event, as well as wreath laying ceremonies at D.C.’s best known Memorials, a GI Film Festival, marching bands, Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally and more! Memorial Day Events For Our Florida Travel Nurses Are you a Florida travel nurse with a taste for crab? Then take a trip to Palatka, close to the well-known destinations like St, Augustine and Jacksonville for the Blue Crab Festival, held each year [+]

American Traveler has the utmost appreciation and regard for its nationwide workforce; recently, we honored our Sunshine State travel nurses with a Florida Spring Traveler Appreciation Party. It was a special evening for our travel nurse agency, because it allowed us to thank both our working professionals in Florida nursing jobs, as well as members of our corporate staff. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Florida Spring Appreciation Party Video Gallery, March 23, 2011 "][/caption] We invite travel nurses in all 50 states to click the video link and see pictures of their colleagues kicking up their heels in Florida. It was a night of sharing stories and fun from the nursing career path, over cheese & crackers, pizza, sandwiches and more. Camaraderie hung in the Spring air, thanks to our mix of impressive professionals, ranging from R.N.s new to travel nursing and on a first assignment, to Travelers logging ten years and counting with the company. More fun ensued when guests flirted with the chance to win an iPad2 for referring a qualified friend. Vice President of Company Recruitment, Mary Kay Hull, was impressed by the high morale at the March party, which put "a [+]

With 2011 in full swing, healthcare professionals and recent hires across the board are enjoying the fruits of the previous year’s trend toward job growth, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a December increase of approximately 35,700 jobs within the healthcare sector—that’s a lot of allied health and nursing jobs! The majority of these recently staffed healthcare jobs are in the ambulatory care setting, with rosy labor statistics forecasted for therapy jobs through the year 2016! Fourth Quarter Gains in the Healthcare Sector “Zero in” on Best Regions for Nursing Jobs Job growth statistics for November of 2010 also cited big numbers for nursing jobs in hospitals and in ambulatory care; in fact, Bureau of Labor Stats for healthcare professionals at large, show that their employment figures remained high throughout the entire fall season of 2010. The HWS Labor Market Pulse Index (LMPI) has determined where job demand is highest for healthcare workers. It includes Florida nursing jobs, near the Tampa Bay area, and Arizona nursing jobs near Phoenix, both regions ranked very high in the 4th quarter for job gains. Online Job Postings for Nursing and Therapy Jobs Are a Huge [+]

Find out which Healthcare Employers Topped Fortune’s List of 100 best places to work Fortune Magazine, well-known throughout the business world, has published this year’s results for the top 100 best companies to work for; not surprisingly, it includes 11 different hospitals and health systems across the United States—this is fantastic news for a leading nurse staffing agency that fills travel nursing jobs from coast to coast, and even better news for R.N.s who come to work for us! Our healthcare staff enjoys luxury private housing and other comprehensive benefits with some of the best travel nursing locations in the country as the backdrop—and the cherry on top? American Traveler is proud to be affiliated with America’s best hospitals, ranked year after year by U.S. News & World Report and frequent spot-holders on Fortune’s annual list. Need a Quick summary of Fortune’s list? Then feast your travel nursing eyes on this! Several of the hospital systems that made the cut are in coveted U.S. travel nursing locations, spanning the sunshine state—where Florida nursing jobs employ tens of thousands of registered nurses —to the west coast, where California nursing jobs are [+]

Ever wondered what it would be like to travel back in time to the Renaissance?  With a Florida travel nurse job, you can take a trip to that moment in history at the “Florida Renaissance Festival” January 8 – 23.  Come experience knights jousting, sword fighting & performing tournament games in the tradition of that period. You’ll also enjoy delicacies of the middle ages, food fit for a King -- or Queen!  Experience this entertaining festival and find high paying Florida nursing jobs in the sunshine state! [+]

How Emergency Department Interpreters are breaking down barriers Cultural diversity in the cities where travel nurses thrive in emergency room jobs is part and parcel to their exciting lifestyle. ER nurse jobs at American Traveler place registered nurses in travel and permanent emergency room jobs nationwide, from big urban cities to charming, small towns, so it’s hardly uncommon to treat patients with (LEP) limited English proficiency. The U.S. Census Bureau reported an estimated 48.4 million Hispanic residents in 2009, making them the nation’s largest ethnic race or minority; thus, as a well-trained professional in emergency room nurse jobs, you’re likely to encounter your fair share of patients who’s native, and, in many cases only language is Spanish. Since much of this growth has taken place in states that attract registered nurses to great travel nursing jobs like bees to honey, those in Florida travel nursing jobs and California nursing jobs, especially, have come to rely on medical interpreters, known as ED interpreters in hospital emergency departments. American Traveler’s Clinical Coordinator Debbie Bacurin, R.N., a former Nurse Manager and veteran of emergency room jobs, says: “It can be very stressful for everyone involved when the hospital [+]

In the late 80’s, a TV commercial starring the elderly woman who cried, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! generated wide-spread awareness that senior citizens are prone to nasty spills. We were relieved it was just an actress and that the pendant she wore, “Lifecall”, dispatched 911. Unfortunately, in real life, falls among the elderly are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries. It is estimated that 30% of people over age 65 will fall each year. New studies show that high blood pressure—a condition more likely to appear in older people—can alter the flow of blood in the brain and lead to falls. Fortunately, physical therapy is foremost among prescribed methods of treatment and rehabilitation for seniors. Because the elderly represent some of the most vulnerable patients, many of them receive help when physical therapists call on them at home in home health nursing jobs. Ironically, “home sweet home” can be a dangerous place for the elderly, as over half the falls treated in ERs report they occurred inside the victim’s house. Physical therapists can decrease these grim numbers by counseling their patients, and helping them fall-proof their homes. Here, we offer room-by-room tips on fall-proofing. In order to [+]

Physical therapists probably already realize they've chosen a health-care profession that happens to be highly in demand. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment for PTs is "expected to grow by 30 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations." With that in mind, the folks at AfterCollege.com have put together a list of the Top 25 Metro Areas for Physical Therapists.  It contains great info about each area, from employment rates to expected salaries to average rents. Though the article is aimed at new grads trying to identify where to go for their first job, it’s highly useful for everyone looking for the best physical therapy jobs! These 25 metro areas are some of the most desirable locales in the country. And, guess what: American Traveler has PT jobs ready and waiting in several of these markets!  Check them out on our physical therapy jobs page; or, better yet, subscribe to our  Physical Therapist Jobs RSS feed and be updated regularly on all the hottest new therapist job offerings. Here are some destinations for physical therapists to consider: The great state of Texas Dallas/Fort Worth (No. 1 on the list): Typical salary for physical therapy jobs [+]

From one side of the country to the other, big things are happening in healthcare; for nurses bound for Nevada travel nursing jobs or already working there, a discontinuation of hard card nursing licenses, effective January 1st of 2010, leaves some of us, who spent years faithfully carrying them, anxious and confused.  That’s one way of looking at it, but on the upside, this change literally lightens our load, and with support from the Nevada Board of Nursing, it should be a painless transition. If you’re wondering why the cards are history, here’s the reason: At a September ’09 meeting, it was decided that the hard cards failed to serve their intended purpose of keeping status and licensure information up to date. Some employers were accepting the card alone as proof of current licensure/certification status, without confirming on the Board’s verification system.  Since the accuracy of the information on hard cards is only guaranteed to be valid on the day the card is issued, a suspension, revocation or other imposed discipline may not show up—hence the Board’s recommendation that all employers of nurses/CNAs verify statuses online at the Nursing Board’s website, where we travel nurses [+]