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.

In a recent New York Times article entitled: “When the Nurse Wants to Be Called ‘Doctor’ ” author Gardiner Harris emphasizes the modern day struggle that exists over the growing number of registered nurses achieving a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) degree and introducing themselves in a clinical setting as ‘Doctor.’

In the article, Dr. Roland Goertz, Chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said nurses who do this can confuse patients. It’s a misuse of the term, he said.

President of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Dr. Kathleen Potempa, doesn’t see it that way. She told Harris the nursing doctorate is about staying current and advancing in the practice, not competing with MDs.

“Professionals who achieve that academic level of education are entitled to be called doctor,” said Deborah Bacurin RN, Clinical Coordinator for American Traveler, a leading healthcare staffing firm. “With advancements in healthcare education and a system growing in complexity, we will see this issue either dissolve or be resolved.  Nurses are all about delivering safe and effective patient care.”

Richard Hader, PhD and Chief Nursing Officer for Meridian Health, shares a similar view – professionals who have earned a practice doctorate have the right to be called doctor. It comes with the territory after achieving a higher level of academic performance.

“The public will need to be educated on the fact that doctor is no longer used exclusively for professors or physicians—it’s a term used to denote excellence in academic achievement in a chosen profession,” Hader writes.*

Though terminal degrees and doctorates are commonplace in academia and across math, science and arts disciplines, nurses and doctors face a unique situation: generations of patients who for more than a century have called doctor, “Doctor…  and nurse, “Nurse…”

Harris poses the question: Do nurses have the right to introduce themselves as doctors if they achieve a DNP or terminal equivalent in another profession, such as economics, business or biology? How about a Physical Therapist who earns a DPT (Doctorate Physical Therapy)?

With DNPs growing in numbers and more states adopting laws that grant nurse practitioners the ability to diagnose, treat and prescribe – all without doctor’s consent – public awareness, no doubt, will happen quickly. Presently almost half of all U.S. states allow nurses to practice without a physician’s supervision or consent.

“It’s just a matter of time before DNPs become the norm and the argument over titles moot,” Bacurin said, adding that the number of DNPs has doubled in the past ten years and the doctorate soon to grow into the minimum educational requirement for certain nurse specialties.

Nurses chiming in to an active online nurse forum at allnurses.com generally agree that nurses earning doctorates have the right to use the doctor title, as long as they introduce themselves to patients clearly by the role they play on a patient’s healthcare team.

Still, seven states prohibit nurses from identifying themselves as ‘Dr.’ if they indeed are not a bona fide medical doctor: Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Oregon. Moreover, the American Medical Association (AMA) recently lobbied against 28 states proposing liberal nurse practitioner laws, claiming such laws degrade patient safety and result in a lower standard of care.

What do patients think?

In a survey published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing aimed at assessing patient views on care, patients saw doctors and nurses in two distinct roles. Patients said they preferred doctors for medical aspects of care, but for routine care, education and family support, patients liked nurses. Survey respondents indicated no problem distinguishing nurses from doctors or with confusing DNPs with MDs.

The debate over ‘Dr. Nurse’ has been long and will likely continue as federal and state laws aimed at universal healthcare and lowering costs put more ‘doctor duties’ in the hands of DNPs. It’s unlikely the AMA lobby will go quietly into the night as it becomes easier for nurses to practice independently and grow a ‘nurse share’ of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, a major concern of the lobby.

Are you a DNP interested in a permanent or traveling nurse position? Or perhaps you are looking for corporate nurse careers? American Traveler staffs top hospitals and nurse-managed clinics in all 50 States with travel nurses and more! Call 1-800-884-8788 or Apply online today.

Related blogs

• Effective Patience Care
• Doctor of Nursing (DNP)

*Hader is quoted in a May 2010 edition of Nursing Management

Travel nurses are busy people with places to go and people to see, but that doesn’t mean they can’t prepare, say, a pizza during a Chicago nursing job that takes its cues from Deep dish, or, during a Hawaii assignment mix things up in the kitchen with newfound Polynesian flair. With free travel nurse job housing featuring all the amenities (like great kitchens), and proximity to great shopping, R.N.s can pick up all kinds of in season fruits and veggies that make mealtime special. Just make sure the pantry isn’t lacking with this fail-safe checklist:

Must Have Pantry Items

• Sugar and flour
• Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, cashews)
• Rice (brown, white, long grain and minute rice)
• Dijon mustard, mayo, soy sauce, ketchup
• Chicken and beef stock
• Salt, Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Canned fruit and veggie goods
• Marinara and pizza sauce
• Tuna and salmon, packaged in pouches or cans
• Whole wheat bread, and pasta

Got the goods? Great! Now it’s time to get started on a delicious home cooked meal!

Five Cooking Do’s

1. Do: Save yourself time by cooking extra batches of chicken, pork or fish and store for future use. Once you seal it and freeze it, all you have to do is let it thaw, nuke it with a side of veggies in the microwave, and you’re eating in minutes!
2. Do: Wash and cut apples and other fast-oxidizing fruits, and vacuum seal them with a Ziplock vacuum starter kit.
3. Do: Try to devote one of your days off to grocery shopping and a little pre-prep. Clean and cut fruits and veggies; then refrigerate (in airtight containers) at eye-level for easy snacking.
4. Do: Store fruits and vegetables susceptible to drying out in perforated plastic bags (you can poke a plastic bag with the tines of a fork); this maintains a moist environment and lets air circulate at the same time.
5. Do: Dress up leftovers with fun and tasty accents from your pantry—a handful of walnuts can dress up a sweet strawberry salad, and splashes of soy and hot sauce recreate last night’s rice.

Five Cooking Don’ts

1. Don’t: waste money on bad knives. Every travel nurse needs an 8-inch chef’s knife, 4-inch paring knife and 12-inch serrated-edge knife.
2. Don’t: Use more than 2 tablespoons of regular butter or olive oil for sautéing; save Extra Virgin Olive Oil for yummy, subtle salad dressing.
3. Don’t: get a skillet that’s too small; a good rule of thumb is to use a 12-inch cast iron pan.
4. Don’t: hesitate to substitute ingredients—it could work out even better than you thought.
5. Don’t: miss an opportunity to take cooking shortcuts. Watch cooking experts like Sara Lee in Semi homemade, that show you that you don’t have to wipe down mushrooms one by one!

At American Traveler, our registered nurses are right at home in travel nurse jobs that span all 50 U.S. States; with free private housing that includes all the amenities, there’s no excuse not to enjoy a little home cooking in states that inspire with their delicious reputations: New Hampshire nursing jobs, California and Colorado, we’re looking at you! Call 1-800-884-8788 or apply online today to get your nursing career cookin’ NOW!

Risk-related incidents included patient falls from not understanding care instructions, unwanted circumcisions and surgeon/patient disconnects. In some cases, language barriers made it difficult to obtain patient consent, delaying treatment and jeopardizing outcomes.

Video interpretation services rely on a portable two-way video monitor system easily transported to the ER, bedside or visitor waiting area.  At a cost of about $0.80 to $1.00 a minute, the caregiver or registered nurse simply selects a language and the system conferences in an interpreter live via satellite almost immediately.

For healthcare employers serving large urban communities, video interpretation systems are a godsend.  They alleviate high costs associated with on-site interpreters and enable better patient care through improved communication with Limited English Proficient, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing patients.

For career nurses on the front lines, a video interpreter means they no longer have to wait for a live interpreter to arrive on-site. In as little as 60 seconds, registered nurses tap into a translation network of more than 150 languages, including American Sign Language.

Millions of previously uninsured foreign-born and disabled American citizens are soon to gain access to patient care in the face of healthcare reform. The flood gates to patient diversity will open and a deluge of non-English speaking citizens will engulf the healthcare system.

These same reform efforts require healthcare employers to ramp up patient safety, improve outcomes, reduce re-admissions and achieve “meaningful use.” None of which can be accomplished if healthcare employers don’t know what their patients are saying.

American Traveler is the nation’s leading travel nursing jobs and therapist staffing firm with opportunities for graduates, seasoned professionals and mid-career caregivers. Our healthcare staffing blog provides readers with information about current trends in nursing and therapy jobs staffing. To learn more about nurse job opportunities and staffing programs for healthcare providers, call 800-884-8788 today.

For busy registered nurses, earning continuing education units (CEU) via online courses is the preferred method. Whether R.N.s work as permanent healthcare staff or travel nurses, online education is a must, helping them keep up with state licensure requirements, as well as staying competitive; but beyond the necessity of continuing education, there’s also the draw of super convenience and exposure to cutting edge treatments and hot trends in nursing practice. In essence, CEUs are the fast track to improving patients’ safety and care.

Talking to Our Registered Nurses About CE Direct

Travel nurses and allied healthcare professionals benefit enormously—in their own living rooms—from unlimited (and free!) CEUs. R.N.s and therapists are eligible to register for CE Direct and may start earning continuing education credits now! The curriculum includes more than 500 courses; registered nurses and allied healthcare staff may choose from an online library of courses, with popular topics that sharpen their clinical skills and knowledge in specialized healthcare careers, like telemetry jobs, emergency and critical care.

Earn Continuing Education Credits in Nurse Leadership, Clinical Care and Development

American Traveler’s continuing education courses are offered through CE Direct’s Nursing Spectrum, recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nursing Spectrum provides members of the American Traveler team with a rich array of CEUs delivered in many forms: online, in print, audio podcasts, CE fairs, seminars—even CE cruises and study tours!

The online courses are known for their easy narrative style and graphics, and are in lockstep with initiatives set by your healthcare employer. R.N.s and therapists may register for refresher courses or classes with an advanced practice degree in sight. Busy travel nurses and therapists will also be gratified to learn that, upon successfully finishing each course, they can print a certificate of completion from home. To see a categorized list of courses offered, click on the CE courses link!

Continuing Education is a must for Career Advancement Opportunities

On the subject of continuing education for travel nurses, and for all motivated R.N.s, Clinical Coordinator, Debbie Bacurin says, “Online education credits are ideal for nurses; done at their own speed and time, the R.N. is also free to choose what is most interesting to them from both a personal and clinical standpoint. I can’t think of a better way to increase professional knowledge and ascend the career ladder at the same time—nor how to better familiarize oneself with how to get exactly where they want to go in their nursing career.”

Continuing Education with the General Practice Nurse in Mind

Other big name providers of continuing education for registered nurses include GE Healthcare, which offers a large selection of online courses, with the general practice R.N. in mind. Described as flexible and convenient by registered nurses who benefited from the curriculum by taking anywhere from 50 to 100 online classes a year, GE is proud to distinguish itself as the only medical device manufacturer dually known for providing continuing education. Popular classes in the GE Healthcare curriculum include Six Sigma Training, clinical coursework and personal development.
Take Off in Your Nursing Career Today!

Want to work for a leading nurse staffing agency that offers free and unlimited CEUs? Our nursing jobs are available in all 50 U.S. states and offer a comprehensive benefits package, including free private housing. With so many adventures to have as a registered nurse or therapist, you want to fit in a top-notch continuing education without breaking a sweat—think how happy everyone will be, when your patients have the very best healthcare possible. Apply online today! or call us 1-800-884-8788

Related blogs:
More on Registered Nurses and Ongoing Education

Starting in October, leading travel nurse agency, American Traveler, saw a spike in monthly nurse job postings and allied health positions, indicating an uptick in client side demand, said a company official, bringing to an end the worst two years in healthcare employment in over a decade.

Of the Bureau’s published list of 30 occupations projected to have the most job growth through 2018, registered nurses, therapists and physicians rise to the top, along with home health aides, personal care attendants and nurses aides.

Though the increase in healthcare jobs promises to put thousands of caregivers back to work, job seekers face extreme competition, as nurses and therapists laid off during the recession look to get their jobs back.

American Traveler has staffed over 75% of the USA’s best hospitals as rated by US News & World Report. Want to learn more about available nursing jobs and therapist positions at American Traveler? Call 800-884-8788 or apply online today.

You’ll see what we’re talking about when you visit our Go-To Guide for RN’s seeking more job opportunities in Compact Nursing States; it’s our newest career resource that lists the 24 states currently classified as NLC, in addition to criteria RN’s must meet to hold a valid compact nursing license. Visit our new page, and bookmark it today! As a travel nurse, opportunities beckon in multiple places, so why not know everything there is to know about multi-state licensure?

What is the Nurse Licensure Compact?

The NLC allows a nurse to have one license (in his or her state of residency) and to practice, both physically and electronically, across state lines in any other compact nursing state, subject to each state’s practice laws and regulations. This is great news for registered nurses, who will now find it much easier to qualify for travel nurse jobs that are posted throughout the country in compact nursing states. 

For more information on multi-state nursing licensure, qualified registered nurses are encouraged to contact American Traveler. Call us at 800-884-9788 or apply online today. We are a leading healthcare staffing agency, bringing “dream job” dreams to life!

Source: National Council of State Boards of Nursing

Nurse Managers and healthcare staffing experts agree that it’s a necessity—for any top-notch hospital—to have experienced registered nurses on staff, who float to departments experiencing staffing shortages and higher patient volume. In addition,  floating to departments experiencing staffing shortages assures hospitals that travel nurses really play an important role and can perform to the best of their ability.

Registered nurses, among them travel nurses, approach their float assignments capably and with a high degree of adaptability and skill; further good news—as revealed by a study that looked into flexible healthcare staffing approaches, like travel nurse jobs—found that, surprisingly, more nurses are choosing to float in today’s healthcare landscape, rather than waiting to be asked.

American Traveler checked in with Clinical Coordinator, Debbie Bacurin, R.N., a former Nurse Manager, to weigh-in on what drives this emerging trend for floating nurses.

“We are seeing more and more facilities post float nurse positions, this lets the nurse know upfront that she/he may work on any unit for their scheduled shift. Resource managers are helping nurses on float shifts transition more seamlessly into Med/Surg, telemetry, PACU hospital departments and more,—when a floating nurse does well, it leads to getting more experience in the ICU further down the road; they get over the initial reality shock of nursing. If there’s any discomfort, nurses on float assignment should remember—it’s just one shift—and there are always resources available to use for assistance during your shift.”

When American Traveler talked with its travel nurses and their experiences as floats, we discovered that the “guidance” Debbie talks about is owed, in part, to travel nurse jobs melding so well with the digital age. Web-based technology, used by staffing offices to fill shortages, assumes a lot of the credit in making floating shifts easier to come by and benefit from. Health IT is streamlining the sign-up process for floats, and encouraging diversification in nursing careers with opportunities galore for those lucky enough to be in travel nurse jobs.

American Traveler client expert on floating, Jamie Coshun, a staffing manager in a Boynton Beach, Florida hospital, concurs. Hiring managers at healthcare facilities are in agreement; in fact, records show that many employers use a nurse’s ability to float well as an additional skill in both team work and nursing skills for travel nurse jobs. But as much as there is to look forward to in floating, some older caveats apply.

Cons
Since a resource nurse helps guide the R.N. on float assignment, things generally go smoothly; still there are a few enduring reasons why many nurses prefer not to float. They are:

• A negative mental model kicking in
• Float nurses usually don’t know anyone on the floor
• Increased liability: skill sets need to be reviewed before being floated to a unit

Pros
Paper based approaches to sign up for floating shifts used to lead to urgent phone calls from nursing managers—a balancing act with shaky results. Here’s what strides in Health IT are doing for floating nurses:

• A wider selection of floating positions, viewable online
• Organization-wide awareness of work opportunities
• Increased understanding of hospital’s overall needs
• Gives registered nurses experiencing burn-out the discreet opportunity to try something new

With more registered nurses filling shifts online, floating is on the decline but won’t go away completely; enhance your travel nurse jobs by knowing how to float safely.

How to float safely

A Board of Nursing in every state maintains that floating nurse assignments should include only those duties and responsibilities for which competency has been validated.  Registered nurses are obligated to refuse the float assignment if they know themselves to be incompetent at providing a specialty level of patient care. Nurses, as well as their supervisory R.N., are subject to Board discipline in the event of injury to a patient. Ask your nursing manager for resource materials that explore safe floating strategies!

What American Traveler wants you to know …

Our nursing jobs are in award winning medical facilities and outpatient centers nationwide; contact one of our expert recruiters today for optimum job placement in both permanent and travel nursing jobs. Floating or not, the right nursing career anchors you to your goals. Set your world on fire and apply online today.

A Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree (DNP) is proof of mastery in advanced competencies, adding prestige, as well as higher earning potential to a nursing career. While registered nurses trained at the masters-level provide excellent care, significant technological advances, healthcare reform, and need for bigger and better service recovery call for a doctorate—a consensus reached by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in late 2004.

The trend mirrors what physical therapists and others in certain allied healthcare jobs have been doing for some time—taking their continued competency to the max—until it results in a doctorate. Pharmacists and psychologists made the move long ago; while their title is pronounced “doctor”, most patients understand they are not physicians.

DNPs do not complete a dissertation and the focus of their training is not as researched-focused; instead their training focuses on evaluation and use of research rather than conduct of research. Many DNPs are faculty members at teaching hospitals; whether they teach, work in leadership roles, or practice as specialists, DNPs are grabbing the attention of employers and job seekers alike, which paves the nursing career path with interesting new statistics. Take for instance, figures in DNP programs nationwide, jumping from just 70 enrollees in 2002 to more than 5,000 last year. The reason could be due, in part, to something revealed by ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioner’s Magazine in 2009: that DNP-prepared NPs earned $7,688 more than master’s-prepared NPs.

The AACN appointed a task force that determined registered nurses at the master’s level should acquire doctorate degrees by 2015. The DOCTOR OF NURSING SITE available at the AACN provides a Fact Sheet, Frequently Asked Questions page, career roadmap and tools, as well as reference materials, key curricular elements and competencies that must be present in a practice doctorate in nursing.  Of the 36+ states to offer DNP programs, the AACN highlights nursing job hotbeds in the country, with 5 or more DNP programs; suddenly Florida, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas nursing jobs are even more appealing destinations for ambitious registered nurses. If you’re a travel nurse interested in working your way toward the DNP degree, visit schools recommended by the AACN.

Recommendations regarding the DNP degree made by the AACN Task Force

The American Medical Association (AMA) stepping in and requiring all healthcare professionals, including physicians, to wear badges that clearly spell out their credentials is among the more prescient clues that DNPs are taking the nursing career path by storm. It’s important that registered nurses on the educational track for these credentials understand the recommendations brought up by the AACN Task Force.

• DNP curricula must include essential areas of content, like organization and system leadership/management, quality improvement, and utilization of technology.
• “Practice doctorate” must be used to refer to the DNP rather than “clinical doctorate”
• The DNP must be modeled after doctoral education and provide an additional option for attaining a terminal degree.
• The DNP must prepare graduates for the highest level of nursing practice beyond the initial preparation in the discipline.
• The Doctor of Nursing (ND) degree title needs to be phased out and replaced with DNP.
• RNs training to become Graduate Nurses should regard the DNP as the graduate degree for advanced nursing practice preparation, including but not limited to the four current APN roles of clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, nurse midwife, and nurse practitioner.
• A transition period should be granted to nurses with master’s degrees, who wish to obtain the DNP, and credits given for their previous graduate study and practice experience.
• The DNP needs to be research-focused and offer additional coursework that prepares graduates to work as nurse educators.
• Practice-focused doctoral (DNP) programs need to be accredited by a nursing accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education.

American Traveler offers a wealth of nursing career blogsoffering guidance in the nursing career path from well-established and nationally-renowned role models in healthcare.

With a strong understanding of DNP degree on hand, registered nurses have the tools they need to build on traditional master’s programs and strive toward quality improvement, leadership and increased value inside their field. Get on track in your nursing jobs today!

Its been said there’s more than one way to skin a cat. The same might be true of seeking licensure as a registered nurse; those on track to a permanent or travel nursing career can achieve success in several different ways—the interesting part of that statement being, no matter your chosen path to licensure, the examination at the end of your nurse training is exactly the same.

The options for students interested in nursing jobs break down into these avenues: you can get a four-year nursing degree, or bachelor of science (in nursing) and be deemed a “professional nurse”; you can get an associate’s degree, which takes two to three years—or you can go to a diploma school for about three years.

It so happens that community colleges produce more than half of the country’s new nurses; not surprising considering it’s the fastest and least expensive way to become an RN; should you go this route, you are deemed a “technical nurse” and may not get the same preferential treatment in hiring as professional and graduate nurses. The encouraging news for those new to a permanent or travel nursing career is this: starting pay is about the same, no matter your educational background. RNs should note, however, that pursuing higher/continued education that culminates in nurse licensing (in a specialty), leads to promotions in your permanent or travel nurse jobs.

But there may be a more compelling reason than this for future registered nurses to graduate from a 4-year college. Legislation has been introduced in New York and New Jersey that requires nurses to get a bachelor’s degree within 10 years of licensing; this new academic criteria is commonplace in Pennsylvania, too—where nursing leaders are discussing how to help registered nurses move up the educational ladder more easily.

Studies at the University of Pennsylvania may be part of the reason, showing that registered nurses with higher degrees produce better patient outcomes; healthcare officials and hospitals attribute this to stronger critical thinking and social skills learned in college, suggesting also, that a 4-year degree is the most ideal preparation in an industry that grows more high-tech in its hospital equipment and treatments with every passing year.

In today’s healthcare landscape, registered nurses work with increasingly complex machines to treat patients; they also engage in more sophisticated team-building with their co-workers. Hospitals’ demand for bachelor’s degrees in nursing staff is further fueled as they move toward evidence-based medicine, which requires RNs to translate new trends in healthcare—basically, to think fast on their feet at patients’ bedsides.

But beyond speculation, The Center for Health Outcomes Research at Penn’s nursing school is putting real numbers behind its demand for registered nurses with bachelor’s degrees, concluding in one study that a 10-percentage-point increase in the proportion of RNs with bachelor’s degrees is associated with a 5% drop in patient mortality.

Is the competitiveness of insisting on a 4-year-degree contributing to the nurse shortage?

Chief Nursing Officers at urban centers of hiring in New York nurse jobs and New Jersey nursing jobs report that competition remains intense, with anywhere from 300 to 600 degreed nurses on waiting lists for less than one hundred job openings.

For those RNs who obtained nurse certification in a two or three year program at community college or diploma school, the legislation coming out of New York and New Jersey is nothing so much as frustrating. The good news is, a technical nurse vs. a professional one with bachelor’s degree, is still in high demand in more rural parts of the country. Travel nurse jobs are an ideal way to fill these positions.

Whatever your educational journey in your nursing career, remember that registered nurses are constantly learning, and education is at a premium always; we leave you with this and a footnote from Debbie Bacurin RN, Clinical Coordinator at American Traveler.

Footnote: Debbie weighs in:

“A hiring strategy that consists of only utilizing BSN graduates would create a formidable staffing challenge for many facilities.  However, hospitals that create incentives for higher educational standards will reap the benefits of future leaders in healthcare. The key to creating an ‘all college grad’ nursing staff in my opinion, would be to do so in steps—hospitals can accomplish this by helping RNs meet the cost of BSN and MSN educations. This strategy will get nurses on the fast track to climbing the career ladder, and in doing so, add prestige and increased economic viability to hospitals and healthcare systems.”