There’s no job quite like travel nursing. It combines the highly-skilled world of medical and nursing care with a variety of other unique qualifications and personal characteristics. While it may not be for everyone, every travel nurse can become more successful by working on a few key skills. Read on as we break down the five most critical ones.
1. Communication
So much of life boils down to effective communication, including the most important parts of travel nurse jobs. Of course, all nurses need to be clear and compassionate communicators to their patients, but adding the travel element introduces new challenges. For one, travel nurses will often deal with a much wider variety of patients than nurses who stay in the same place. This requires understanding how to navigate the crucial but typically subtle cultural and social differences required to make diverse patients comfortable.
Travel nurses must also communicate well with their colleagues and develop this communication quickly. Rather than traditional medical professionals who spend months or years getting to know one another, travel nurses need to be ready to step into established teams and provide top-level care immediately. While different colleagues may have different styles, the best travel nurses take it upon themselves to learn to communicate with them all.
2. Time Management
This is another skill required of all nurses that is only amplified for those who live on the road. Managing your responsibilities effectively involves dedication and hard work, something made even more challenging without the benefit of routine and habit that traditional nurses enjoy. Whether it’s patient care duties or administrative paperwork deadlines, top travel nurses can constantly reprioritize the most critical and urgent issues without letting anything get forgotten.
Time management is also critical for traveling nurses in their personal lives. Naturally, many want to spend lots of time exploring their new homes. However, it’s important not to push yourself too hard. Leave enough time for rest and recovery, and ensure basics like laundry, grocery shopping, or cleaning up around the house aren’t neglected or slip through the cracks in your busy life.
3. Flexibility and Adaptability
It may sound obvious, but traveling to different places and working in a wide variety of settings requires a personality that can roll with the punches. All nurses and medical professionals generally need some level of flexibility to work with the unusual hours and demands of patient care. But traveling nurses may often require more adaptability than usual, as part of their existence depends on hospitals and clinics needing help to fill crucial gaps and additional demand.
Once again, the same skills travel nurses need to be professionally successful also apply to their personal lives. Living circumstances can range from comfortable to less than desirable for reasons ranging from location, space, price, and more. Like all new arrivals, travel nurses also need to quickly learn about the rhythms, benefits, and drawbacks of life in their current home if they want to make the most of their time.
4. Self-Sufficiency
Most folks take for granted the benefits of being physically part of a community, surrounded by neighbors, friends, and family they know and love. Unfortunately for traveling nurses, they no longer enjoy this support as easily as in the past. While some may travel with a partner or family, others are constantly relocating to new towns on their own, needing to make new friends and maintain old relationships long-distance. Therefore, successful travel nurses must be highly self-sufficient, able to keep up with work, and explore their new destinations with lower levels of support than most others typically experience.
Luckily, it’s easier than ever before to feel close to those important to you, even if you’re hundreds or thousands of miles away. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are familiar with video calling software and services, meaning a friendly face is just a few clicks away.
5. Humility
There’s no doubt earning a nursing degree is an impressive accomplishment that requires an above-average amount of dedication, intelligence, and skill. The same is true for living the sometimes challenging lifestyle of a traveling nurse, for all of the reasons discussed above and much more. But the best travel nurses also realize their limitations and the things they may not know.
Overconfidence or brashness can lead to serious trouble not only when medically caring for patients but also when traveling to new places and adapting to new locations. Approaching new situations from a humble, open perspective is also one of the best ways to keep yourself receptive to learning new skills and ideas, both personally and professionally.
Cultivate These Key Skills For Travel Nursing Success
There’s a lot that goes into a successful career in travel nursing. But these five skills go a long way toward allowing you to enjoy life on the road while thriving professionally. By keeping these tips in mind, there’s no limit to how far travel nursing can take you.