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Whether you’re on your lunch break or on the road between travel assignments, podcasts are a great companion for a travel nurse or allied professional. Sure, they can be entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking—but let’s be honest, having a familiar podcaster in your ear is also a bit like having a friend to travel with you.
Deciding what to listen to, however, can be overwhelming. According to Podcast Insights, there are more than 48 million episodes in circulation! Nursing-related podcasts still make up a small niche within that ocean with many emerging just over the past five years—including a slim selection of travel nursing podcasts.
To help you curate your best podcast playlist, we’ve put together a list of a few of our favorite informative podcasts. Have a listen!
Ask Nurse Alice
Frequency: 2-4 episodes each month
Host: Alice Benjamin, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C
Nurses and allied professionals have to navigate many different issues as both travelers and medical professionals. Ask Nurse Alice is a nursing podcast that draws on Benjamin’s more than 20 years of nursing experience and brings on a wide range of guests to share their personal stories and take a critical look at healthcare industry trends, day-to-day realities, and how to navigate health issues.
Episode to start with: “Travel Nurses Earn $10K a WEEK To Work Crisis Jobs, But Was it Worth It? Find out With Nurse Julia and Everett” was recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis but within that context, it takes a deep dive into what it takes to succeed as a travel nurse and hints at how expectations may change post-pandemic.
The Gritty Nurse Podcast
Frequency: Weekly
Hosts: Amie Archibald-Varley, RN, BScN, MN- CP Women’s Health and Sara Fung, RN, BScN, MN, IBCLC, CAPM
People rely on The Gritty Nurse Podcast for unfiltered and engaging conversations for healthcare professionals about topics that are often considered too taboo. Driven by a desire to get these issues on the table, Canadian nurses Sara and Amie dig into topics like racism, bullying, and accountability through the lenses of healthcare providers.
Episode to start with: In “Scrubs, Stethoscopes and Social Media: A Powerful Tool for Change and Knowledge Translation” Sara and Amie discuss how finding a balance between the great and the ugly on social networks can help you fight misinformation, be an advocate for change, and tap into the incredible online nursing community.
Travel Nursing & Allied Life
Frequency: New episodes released sporadically but regularly
Hosts: The folks behind TravCon, an annual conference for travel nurses and allied professionals
Travel Nursing & Allied Life isn’t just an obvious choice because of its name, the podcasts serves up a lot of different information for travelers—including episodes for those who are interested in taking assignments outside of the U.S. Since most episodes feature speakers and exhibitors from TravCon, a conference for the healthcare travel industry, the show can have a promotional flavor. However, it’s still a great way to meet interesting fellow travelers, discover new tools created specifically for this community, and stay on top of what’s new for your travel nursing career.
Episode to start with: One topic that comes up a lot in traveler circles: Can you travel with pets? In “Working in Cath Labs, Housing tips for pets, Medical Missions & Gold Plated Stents” Michelle Freitag and Jessica, a travel nurse, talk about the logistics of traveling with a dog—it can be done!
The Nurse Keith Show
Frequency: Weekly
Host: Keith Carlson, BSN, RN, NC-BC
Keith Carlson is committed to his own nursing career as well as coaching others, and he’s turned that passion into the Nurse Keith Show. Episodes typically feature an interview with guest nurses or other healthcare professionals with conversations about professional development, news and technology that can impact our work, and more personal topics such as burnout and mental health—factors that have prompted many in our field to pivot over the past few years.
Episode to start with: “The Beauty in Breaking: Trauma, Healing, Racism, and Justice on the Front Lines of Healthcare” is a powerful interview with emergency physician Michele Harper that speaks to our roles not just as healthcare providers but also as observers and advocates for all of our patients.
Freakonomics M.D.
Frequency: Weekdays
Host: Dr. Bapu Jena
While this podcast is broadly related to healthcare, Dr. Jena is a Harvard physician and economist who brings this dual perspective to a cross-section of topics. Some topics are things you may have pondered during a long shift while others may seem a bit more abstract, but every episode offers a thought-provoking discussion that may change the way you think.
Episode to start with: We’ve all seen the placebo effect in action. In “Is the Placebo Effect for Real?” Dr. Jena explores how the placebo effect works and whether there’s a way to put that effect to good use in practice.
Atlas Obscura
Frequency: Weekdays
Host: Dylan Thuras, co-founder of Atlas Obscura
Fuel your wanderlust with short features about weird and wonderful sites in the U.S. and around the world. The Atlas Obscura podcast draws on the website’s extensive collection of stories and can put all kinds of detours on your radar for future assignments.
Episode to start with: Pick an episode that hits close to your current backyard and go from there. A couple of spots that intrigue us: The Museum of Quackery and Questionable Medical Devices at the Science Museum of Minnesota and this 8,000-year-old sacred spring in Los Angeles.
We hope you found this article helpful and that you can check out these podcasts. Are there any podcasts you would recommend for travel nurses? Comment them below.
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