RN’s in the nation’s best travel nurse jobs are setting a great example for colleagues and patients by showing their hearts are in the right place. On February 4th many of them will observe “Wear Red Day” to help raise awareness on stroke and heart attack prevention. But every good travel nurse knows this isn’t enough. Throughout the calendar year, it’s important to raise cardiac health awareness and practice what we preach by living an active, smoke-free lifestyle and eating right.

A Travel Nurse Career Makes Your Heart Fuller!

Valentine’s Day has amazing potential for RN’s and therapists in featured travel nurse jobs from coast to coast. Leave your heart in San Francisco in high-paying California nursing jobs, or get cozy for the rest of the winter in New England nursing jobs. Don’t like the cold? Catch a romantic sunset in Florida nursing jobs—no matter where you go on the nursing career path, when it’s with American Traveler you decide the length of your assignment and work closely with our recruiters to find ideal free private housing in the city of your dreams.

If you need inspiration, click on these related Valentine’s Day stories:

• Travel nurse who fell in love in time for Valentine’s Day
• R.N.s who really love their travel nurse jobs

American Traveler wishes everyone a happy Valentine’s Day, and encourages those who crave an exciting, action-packed travel nurse career to call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today.  Members of our full-time team enjoy top pay and benefits that include free private housing with amenities like gyms, swimming pools and nearby recreation that keep our R.N.s and therapists happy and healthy in all 50 U.S. States! What’s not to love about that?

Did you know…

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and American Heart Association have acknowledged the first Friday in February as “Wear Red” Day since the 1960s, but it’s just a small part of the war being waged against America’s #1 cause of death. Over 700,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year and over half of those incidents are recurrent coronary events; while these statistics are sobering, millions of us are heartened to know that prevention is key!

Footnote: If you’re  looking for a comprehensive guide on symptoms and prevention tips, visit the CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. Dietary approaches for avoiding hypertension, as well as exercise guidelines and targeted information for both men and women concerned about heart disease are available through the CDC and American Heart Association.

It’s that time of year again! U.S. News & Report has just released its top ranking hospitals for both rehabilitative care and pediatrics—some of the names on this list are our trusted affiliates. American Traveler is proud to have staffed over 75% of the facilities ranked “AMERICA’S BEST HOSPITALS” By U.S. News & World Report.  Our nursing jobs and therapist jobs are offered nationwide and you might just find yourself working in one the America’s best hospitals!

Whether or not your workplace appeared in 2011-12 rankings, we congratulate all our R.N.s and therapists on a job well done. It was a banner year for high quality healthcare and we hope we see more of your good work in years to come.

When it comes to name recognition and prestige, PICU jobs from the Northeast to the West Coast and the Midwest region in between are HOT!   American Traveler is proud to offer Pediatric nursing jobs in a wide variety of high-paying and rewarding specialties. Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today for your pick of flexible nursing jobs in all 50 U.S. states. We provide comprehensive benefits and your chance to “make the list” in your nursing career this year!

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Therapist Jobs

• Sign up for Physical Therapist jobs
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American Traveler had the pleasure of checking in with a new member of our travel nursing staff, Cindy Burbatt, R.N. who shared some of the details of her first travel nurse job in Kansas City, Missouri. We talked with Cindy on the eve of her birthday. She was full of excitement for the road trip planned the following morning, departing from North Carolina en route to the heart of the Midwest. As the mother of three grown children, Cindy decided it was the right time to change up her 16-year background as a permanent staff telemetry/med surge nurse by accepting a travel nurse job in America’s heartland.

While the truck she drives may not be anything that unusual for a R.N. moving to Kansas City, one standout detail is the 17ft. long trailer attached. It accommodates her longstanding and beloved pets, George and Ash; these are Cindy’s horses, and during the car trip to Missouri they’ll be staying in farms sprinkled throughout various states—places Cindy found through an online network called Horse Motel. When they arrive in Kansas City, Cindy will take up residence in a townhome, compliments of American Traveler’s private housing arrangement. George and Ash will live in a stable close by, on hand for Cindy to ride in her time off from the hospital.

How Did She Work Out a Travel Nurse Assignment that Suits the Whole Family?

While admitting to being an adventurous and take-charge person, Cindy credits her consultant, Jennie Rayner with convincing her how rewarding and fun the travel nurse lifestyle can be; in fact, at the end of Cindy’s nursing job in the Show Me State she hopes to go further west in her travel nurse pursuits, exploring Utah travel nurse jobs. With her bright smile and self-admitted “hippie cowgirl” approach to things, Cindy should be a wonderful addition to that landscape, and we’re looking forward to hearing how she fares in the Midwest too!

Are you on the fence about leaving your permanent R.N. or therapist job in favor of the travel nurse lifestyle? We look forward to hearing more stories like Cindy’s: about skilled R.N.s adding their talents to hospitals, clinics, out-patient centers and home health jobs across America—sharing their positive attitude along the way. It should be as Cindy says: “not so much about leading your life, but letting your life lead you—to see where you can go!” Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today to start your own travel nurse adventure!

Learn more about a travel nurse lifestyle – What’s a travel nurse

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 healthcare employers almost $3,400 more per worker per year for lost productivity and health care, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Though worker’s rights groups like the National Workrights Institute and American Civil Liberties Union object to smoking bans at hospitals, saying the practice discriminates against smokers and those who use “lawful products” – it’s unlikely either will win this battle, Bacurin said. There are simply too many proven health risks, including cancer and death, associated with smoking.

Join the Great American Smokeout

Every year on November 17^th, the American Cancer Society holds the Great American Smokeout, a day dedicated to encouraging smokers nationwide to quit and to live healthier lives. Now in its 36^th year, the saying for the day is “Help create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.”

While some healthcare employers will celebrate the Great American Smokeout for just one day, others will ban smoking permanently, and even more will ask for nicotine screens in travel nurse drug tests.

Want to learn more about Travel Nurse Jobs, Nursing Jobs in Florida, or other spectacular communities? Call American Traveler at 800-884-8788 or apply online today.

Read about living longer and happier as a travel nurse

American Cancer Society Guide to Quitting Smoking

*Poll: Should hospitals ban smoking? Sun-sentinel October 18, 2011. Results not scientific.

**A. G. SULZBERGER Hospitals Shift Smoking Bans to Smoker Ban, New York Times, February 10, 2011.

Looks like you just landed a new travel nurse or travel therapy job. Congratulations! Your next step is to pack light and relocate to your new city. You brought your skills, bright smile and determination; your consultant at American Traveler is handling the rest, and will soon send a detailed driving route and other vital information to make your assignment worry-free and the ultimate healthcare travel job experience!

Travel Nurse Housing Essentials

For a complete pack list, click on up-to-date Suggestions for Completing Your Apartment, and be sure to bookmark the American Traveler Housing Tips page for future reference. Here are the basics!

• Kitchen: A good set of kitchen knives, complete set of cutlery, silverware tray, waste basket, coffee maker & mugs,  toaster oven, veggie peeler, can opener, cork screw, strainer, cookie sheet and frying pan. Don’t forget to pack or purchase, a dustpan and broom, and all the bowls & plates you’ll need during your travel nurse assignment.
• Electronics: Your important electronic possessions may include a T.V., DVR , cell phone, PC or laptop,  printer, alarm clock, iPad, stereo system. Bring all that apply, and don’t forget the phone charger, spare package of batteries and/or battery recharger.
• Bedroom: With furnished apartments, the only things you need are a bedspread, blankets, pillows and pillow cases, queen sized fitted sheets and flat sheets.
• Bathroom: A bath mat, bath towels and linens, shower curtain, liner and the hooks to hang them. You can buy the cleaning supplies later, and pick up a small waste basket if you didn’t pack one already; these small bins are a nice way to transport smaller odds and ends.

We Work Closely With Our Travel Nurses

Your consultant helps set your mind at ease when you move into, or out of travel nurse housing, and are on call 24/7 should you have a question about moving. The following is a shortlist of the things we advocate for every Traveler embarking on a new travel nurse job:

• Of Upmost Importance: a walk-thru before moving in. Document and submit to the landlord and the recruiting agency anything in need of repair; retain a copy for yourself. When traveling with American Traveler, we ask you when possible, to submit before and after pictures to our housing department at housing@americantraveler.com
• We also recommend—especially for travelers with pets—arranging a “Condition upon Departure” walk through when you move out of travel nurse job housing.
• Create checklists that help you clean every room thoroughly, including the inside of the oven, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, drawers, carpets and/or tile floors.
• Remember to return all door keys, fitness room keys, mailbox, storage, and gate keys to the rental office before you leave your travel nurse housing

Make American Traveler Your #1 Nursing Career Resource!

Got a question? Go ahead and ask it! We enjoy getting to know you, and want to see you succeed in all your travel nurse jobs. Whether you are wondering whether or not it’s okay to bring your pet? (it definitely is!), have specific concerns about a first floor apartment, a certain amenity, or have questions regarding a housing stipend, filling out a “Got a Quick Question” form on our website is a great help, or email our travel nurse housing department. You can also call 800-884-8788 or apply online today to expedite travel nurse jobs and their exciting possibilities in all 50 U.S. States! We hope to see you soon!

Related Page: Traveling Nurse Housing Tips

Spreading the word about the importance of an annual flu shot means you’re in good company with the Center for Disease Control. The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months-old and up get vaccinated. The 2011-2012 flu strain is identical to last year’s, including the H1N1 virus; that means if you were vaccinated last year, you need only receive 1 shot this go around. Click here to find flu shots near you and be sure to post a comment on our Facebook page when you’ve done your good deed for the day!

American Traveler Encourages Flu Prevention Tactics For R.N.s

Some controversy has surrounded mandating the flu shot for medical personnel. Interested Registered Nurses can read about this on a related healthcare employer blog that discusses flu season in America and the waivers some hospitals are willing to grant: if the reluctant hospital staff agrees to wear a badge alerting patients and colleagues, as well as a mask that covers the nose and mouth. As American Traveler has always believed travel nurses need flu shots, we encourage everyone in R.N. and travel therapy jobs to do the responsible thing by getting vaccinated ASAP this Fall.

We don’t have to remind our registered nurses how to stay healthy during flu season, or how to manage the illness if they do succumb. But for refresher’s sake, we would like to offer a few gentle reminders.

A Travel Nurse’s Dos and don’ts During Flu Season:

• Do use hand soap at your work station, in restrooms and at home.
• Don’t go out if you’re sick. Stay in bed!
• Do take a multivitamin, and try incorporating more garlic and Vitamin C into your daily diet
• Don’t stress! The last thing you want is an increase in your body’s production of cortisol.
• Do drink plenty of water and exercise between glasses. It’ll help flush toxins out of your body!

American Traveler’s Flu Season Tips Keep Your Nursing Career in Good Health

If you’re looking for even more flu fighting facts, visit this government website that offers a flu app for your iPhone and other handy features; one of which will track the rate of flu in your neighborhood. Again, we cannot stress enough how important it is to avoid stress, and would point R.N.s who want to relax, toward our travel nurse jobs in tranquil areas with plenty of forests, parks and fields to roam. Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today to keep your spirits in good health. Here’s to navigating your way through another healthy flu season!

What will nursing education look like in the future? Beginning this fall, The National Simulation Study (NSS) aims to find out. Researchers and volunteer participants spanning 10 different U.S. schools are familiarizing nursing students with SimMan, METIman, and Noelle with Newborn Hal; not actors but high-fidelity mannequins, with chests that rise and fall. Studies find that many nursing students prefer this to the traditional clinical experience of live patients. Just click on the Meet the Sims link to read more about why they appeal to faculty and students alike.

In Sim settings, nursing students make decisions and see the results without posing risk to a living person, as well as better predict how the patient will respond to care. The NSS study also revealed that Sim patients allow students to fully take on the role of a nurse, and that faculty like the option of role playing a doctor—or even a member of the patient’s family.

If you’re in med/surg nursing jobs you may know why simulation training is catching on like this. Using a med/surg environment as a clinical training site is a challenge, as the number of nursing students the faculty supervise impede the ideal clinical experience; it’s much the same in pediatric units where more nursing students continue to receive Sim training to eliminate risk. With all its advantages, hospital employers predict that simulation training is here to stay.

Video – NCSBN National Simulation Study Overview

American Traveler Reports the Latest Healthcare Trends, Offers Superior R.N. Jobs

Nursing students in the NSS study are evaluated for clinical competency and judgment, better preparing them for the PBDS test most healthcare employers give upon hire. Click here to read more about this important nursing test. Know that we report on trends, gadgets and technologies that are improving hospitals nationwide, like the mobile vans that will travel to schools and hospitals offering simulation training, and centers. It’s the shape of things to come in nursing education. You heard it here first!

A premier staffing agency, we welcome registered nurses with a minimum of 12 months acute care clinical experience, and urge you to learn more by liking us on Facebook. Remember that once you fill out an online application, it’s easy to return and update your skills in our database. Before you know it, a recruiter will be calling with travel nurse job opportunities from coast to coast. It’s a chance to reap the rewards of referral bonuses, as well as free private housing and other amazing benefits. Who needs Sim City when you could be working in the real life city of your dreams? Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today!

American Traveler’s Med/Surg Nursing Jobs Cover Virtually All Areas of Practice

We recognize the high demand for specialized medical talent, and put our recruiting experts to task in working closely with Med/surg nurses and placing them in America’s best hospitals. Here are just a few of the areas where med/surg nurses apply their skills and clinical training every day.

For the R.N. looking for career advancement in specialized work settings that can keep up with a penchant for traveling the country, start your med/surg jobs here. Travel nurse jobs have approximately 30% more total compensation than permanent positions; plus the allure of unlimited CEUs that advance your clinical skills.

For a complete list of nursing practice areas in which med/surg nurses are changing lives for the better—or to send an e-card, print a poster for your healthcare facility and learn of other ways to promote this important nationally celebrated week in healthcare, visit AMSN.  There are decorative ribbons for R.N. name badges, ball point pens and lapel logos that get the word out on how awesome med/surg nurses are this month and every month of the year.

The AMSN recognizes the ongoing contributions of these highly trained R.N.s, found at virtually every level of healthcare, from inpatient and ambulatory care units, to urgent and long term care centers, surgical centers, and teaching hospitals. It’s no wonder med/surg nurses are credited as being the backbone of adult-care health institutions.

Med/Surg Nurses Can Do More Than Mark Their Calendars November 1-7, 2011

Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online for rewarding nursing jobs in all 50 U.S. states. Our R.N.s enjoy free private housing and healthcare as part of a generous benefits package, as well as a recession proof nursing career in an industry that continues to grow. If you’re a med/surg nurse looking to improve patient care through evidence-based practice and grow in your specialty in ways you never imagined, aligning your talents with a premier staffing agency is the way to go. Thank you for your invaluable contributions to healthcare. We look forward to meeting you!

Related blog: Medical Surgical Certifications

If you enjoy technology, you’ve often heard “there’s an app for that.” Well, get ready to hear it again. Registered nurses and their female patients will be heartened to know that, now, there’s a free app for tracking the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. It is easy to upload, view and work with this app on their smart phone or iPads—just click on the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Diary App to register.

Once that’s done, you’ll notice the color of the app’s interface: a tranquil crystal blue; just like the ribbon for National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in May, observed by American Traveler every Spring. Like the OC National Alliance, we’re eager to increase awareness on a cancer that has been called “the silent killer”; yet with as many as 21,000 women diagnosed with this disease every year, we cannot afford to be silent, or unknowledgeable. Please take the time to click on our related blogs about healthcare technologies and gadgets, doing their part to increase patient survival rates in the face of ovarian cancer, and wide range of illnesses.

R.N.s Will Love this Smart Phone App Because…

The stand-out feature on the ovarian cancer app is its ability to track symptoms on the day to day, and get an alert if the symptoms’ persistence warrants a visit to the doctor for further testing. Because ovarian cancer symptoms, i.e. frequent urination, difficulty eating and abdominal pain mimic a host of other illnesses, the app helps women create a consistent and more helpful report for the doctor. Users can create personal risk profiles, email full symptom reports, and update the account by phone.

Get a full tour of the app by watching the video below; hosted by a 24-year ovarian cancer survivor.

Use Your Smart Phone to Apply For A Groundbreaking Nursing Career!

We don’t have to remind our RN travel nurses and other healers on the nursing career path that knowledge is power. Take the short time required to register for the free Ovarian Cancer app today; a few minutes spent there may be worth a lifetime down the road. You can do it all on your phone! Dial 1-800-884-8788 or apply online for groundbreaking nursing careers offering free healthcare as part of a generous benefits package. We have opportunities in all 50 U.S. States! But no matter where you go as a compassionate R.N. or travel therapist, listen to your body and continue caring, just this well, for your patients and yourselves.