Episode 14: Our Travel Nursing Experience

July 05, 2019

Things covered in the podcast:

Our travel nursing experience

First comparing the life on the unit at a home base hospital vs traveling.

What we wanted in a contract: Pay, hours, shift, location, housing prices

California and weather

A good weekly pay

Night shift

Good hospital

Housing price/availability

Overall how our contract looked

Cancellation Clause (if applicable): Ability to cancel no more than 2 shifts through-out entire contract

0 - 3.99 hrs per scheduled shift	Classified as no shift missed; fee $ 0
4 - 8 hrs per scheduled shift	Classified as a half-missed shift; fee $ 160
8.01 + hrs per scheduled shift	Classified as full missed shift; fee $ 320

Pay Break Down

Regular Pay Rate Per Hour: $ 20

Overtime I Pay Rate Per Hour: (applicable after 8 hours in a day, but before 40 hours in a week) $ 30

Overtime II Pay Rate Per Hour: (applicable after 12 hours in a day, but before 40 hours in a week) $ 40

Overtime III Pay Rate Per Hour: (applicable after 40 hours in a week) $ 70

Time off approved (if applicable): N/A

Holiday Pay Rate Per Hour: $ 40 (Paid Holidays if worked: NYD, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day)

On-call Pay Rate Per Hour: $ 3

Call-Back Pay Rate Per Hour: $ 30

Charge Pay Rate Per Hour: $ 20

Meals and Incidentals Allowance per week: $ 300

Housing Allowance per week: $ 900

What did we learn about our contracts:

Call-offs

Floating, lots of it

Poor hospital communication: the manager was on-leave, checklists

Error in the contract: 7/6 vs 7/9 dates mixed up on when our last contract day is.

The pay wasn’t the best in the area compared to the cost of living.

Hospital environment

What did we like vs dislike

staff/coworkers - Very helpful

Union experience

Required breaks

Strict policy and procedures, job outlines

Outside environment

Hiking trails

San Francisco

Palo Alto - Visited google and apple

Oakland - Food places, Keller beach

The neighborhood which we lived in

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