Featured Travel Nurse – Nicole Gohring
Nicole had her heart set on travel nursing from day one. She attended job fairs in college and talked to travel nurse recruiters in preparation for graduation. After finishing school and getting a year of clinical experience behind her, Nicole set out travel nursing to Reno, Phoenix, Austin and Seattle and looks forward to future assignments in Alaska and New England.
“I was planning to travel nurse for only a year,” said Nicole. “But I’ve been doing it going on five years now and I still love it.”
Nicole thrives on mountain climbing, hiking, camping, white-water rafting and other outdoor recreational activities. She’s renewed her American Traveler assignment in Denver several times already and recalls a group of traveling nurses who first met at an Arizona travel nurse job a few years back.
“We call ourselves the “The Phoenix Girls” and still arrange a get together somewhere in the country at least once a year.”
The 28-year-old, Telemetry / Med / Surg RN grew up in the small town of Wessington Springs, SD where she was inspired by nurses at the local hospital. She recalls the going away party thrown by family and friends upon accepting her first travel nurse job away from home.
“The biggest benefit to travel nursing for me is flexibility and scheduling, I’ve never missed a wedding, have Christmas off and can go on vacation anytime I want.”
– Nicole Gohring, RN
“I was crying, my friends were crying…but it turned out to be the best decision I could have ever made.”
Nicole advises first time travel nurses to have no fear and to stay focused on predetermined goals and objectives. Start networking in orientation and at the hospital on day one and get as many names and phone numbers as you can. “Not everyone will become your lifelong friend,” she says, “but you’ll end up meeting some wonderful people and sharing lots of great times together.”
In terms of clinical gains, Nicole says travel nursing has afforded her opportunity to train and work with computerized patient care systems around the country and to become familiar with eMAR (Electronic Medication Administration Record), the state-of-the-art patient-care protocol targeted at reducing and eliminating patient medication errors.
Nicole says she sticks with American Traveler because not only has her recruiter Anita become a dear friend, the travel nursing agency provides a type of one-on-one, personalized service which she hasn’t been able to find anywhere else.
“You give your kids wings and roots,” Nicole’s Mom used to tell her, “She apparently gave me wings,” said Nicole.
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