TNAA-Travel Nurse Across America provided this article.
Travel nursing offers many advantages for both your professional journey and personal experiences. You grow your professional network and gain valuable clinical experiences, all while exploring new destinations and embarking on exciting adventures.
However, there may be a point when you’re ready for a challenge through a change in your nursing specialty. Changing your specialty while continuing to take travel assignments can be challenging, but it’s not impossible.
Here are a few tips for changing your nursing specialty as a travel nurse.
Choose Your New Nursing Specialty
Changing your nurse specialty is a career-changing decision. You want to make sure you choose a new specialty that will give you a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment in your career. It’s essential to thoroughly research the specialties you are interested in transitioning to determine if they will help you reach your personal and career goals.
You’ll also want to take some time exploring your strengths, both professionally and personally, to find a new specialty that plays to those strengths.
Similar specialties
Choosing a specialty closely aligned with your current one can make transitioning to a new specialty easier for travel nurses. Some of these include:
- Med-Surg to Tele
- Tele to PCU
- PCU to ICU
- PICU to ICU
- NICU to PICU
Know Your Motivation for Changing Specialties
Deciding why you want to change nurse specialties is as crucial as choosing your new career path. Take some time to reflect on what’s driving your desire to change specialties. You may want a different schedule or feel burned out during your recent travel assignments. You may want a new challenge to expand your skills. Whatever drives your decision, you want to make sure you change specialties for the right reason.
Talk to Your Recruiter and Clinical Team
Your nurse travel agency recruiter and clinical teams are some of the best resources to help you transition to a new nursing specialty. They can guide you through the process and any options you may have for changing specialties while continuing to travel and could provide insights into different specialties and the current demand for them in the field. Contact them to explore your options for changing your nurse specialty.
Transitioning to a new nurse specialty can be a great way to expand your clinical skills and take on new challenges, but it can be difficult to do it while continuing to take travel nurse assignments. Researching your new specialty and exploring your motivations for changing specialties will help you know if you are making the right decision. Be sure to talk to your travel nurse agency team to help guide your new career change.
The Gypsy Nurse job board is a great place to search for your next travel nurse assignment. We have you covered with our housing page if housing is an issue. You can search for what you are looking for.
