Travel nursing is a career choice that provides you the privilege to take short-term assignments across the country. If you are a licensed nurse who is contemplating to travel and gain financial success and stability, then becoming an international traveling nurses might just be the answer. Because nursing shortage is big, nurses are mostly in-demand.

Hospitals as well as many other medical facilities are paying top dollars for travel nurses for filling in positions even for short periods. Not just that, they also cover other expenses such as housing and other benefits.

The nursing position filled in by travel nurses usually lasts from 3 months to a year. This depends on the duration and distance from your home. But you can also customize your assignment duration depending on your needs. Because of this, employers often provide the basic needs of travel nurses.

Some international traveling nurses job are meant to last for just a short period where they fill in or temporarily replace a full-time nurse who has left and a replacement has not been found.

However, most hospitals try to encourage and recruit a travel nurse into a full-time job once they are happy with the performance and if the nurse is willing to take the position. This brings the traveling nurse into the driver’s seat where they can choose to work for a short term period with the possibility of making it as a permanent job.

So how can you find an international traveling nurses job position? Actually, there are various huge medical facilities that advertise directly for nurses. But the easiest way of getting a position is by signing up with a nursing recruiter.

There are many advantages with this kind of set-up like, you can narrow down your searches and get well-targeted options and a guaranteed minimum quality of living condition.

However, one drawback is that, most recruiters take good amount of fees; hence, you might get compensation which can be lower than what you actually earn. But this is often worth it since you get to find the best nursing career and the ideal place where you exactly want with a very little searching.

In terms of compensation, international traveling nurses may earn from around 10-15% more than the staff nurse. Not to mention other staggering benefits and incentives.

For many nurses, being a traveling nurse opens the opportunity to travel from other parts of the country and work to different working environments. This is a good expansion to one’s resume as the work experience is diverse. Above all that, a travel nurse has the power to choose his or her assignments.

This is a good advantage as you have the capacity to control the jobs and nursing positions you accept. Unlike a staff position where usually, you are not required to report to work everyday as per schedule unless you are on assignment. Whenever you are in between assignments, it is now your discretion whether you accept or decline. Also, as a travel nurse, lots of bonuses are offered once assignments are completed.

International traveling nurses opens up great opportunities in the field. For nurses who are good, intelligent, determined, has the passion for the job, and is not adverse to relocation, being a travel nurse is a sure success! This is a good way to further heighten your experience, serve people, and get to know other places of the country that you are not familiar with. But this type of career is not for everyone, only those who want to try different things and travel fits this job.

Registered nurses who have been practicing health care for years now have the option to shift their careers if they want to. New graduates of the nursing course can check if they can divert from clinical nursing to a seemingly more challenging career in forensics. Nursing practitioners or even physicians, can obtain forensic nursing certifications if they want to shift their careers or they just want to upgrade their skills.

The primary role of hospital nurses is in care giving. A forensic nurse can be a clinical nurse, who has great observation skills, can recognize and identify evidences, collect them and document them properly for use in convicting perpetrators of crime. This clinical nurse must of course, go through training and certification first before she can begin practicing professionally.

A professional certification is a document that recognizes an individual’s experience and knowledge in a certain field, profession or specialty. There are a lot of acronyms that refer to courses related to forensic nursing. There may be differences in the way they’re called but the curriculum is similar in all types. These training programs are:

• Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner – SAFE
• Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner – SANE
• Forensic Nurse Examiner – FNE
• Sexual Assault Nurse Clinician – SANC
• Sexual Assault Examiner – SAE

All these training programs include curricula, which give focus on:

• Victimology
• Perpetrator Theory
• Forensic Mental/Psychiatric Health
• Interpersonal Violence (same sex or otherwise)
• Criminology
• Criminal Justice

Those who undergo any of the training programs have classroom hours and hands-on hours that are supervised by trained forensic doctors and nurses. The following are the most recognized methods on how one can acquire forensic nurse education or training:

1. Via certification programs provided by universities that offer forensic nursing aside from traditionally structured courses that lead to a nursing degree
2. Via continuing education programs that professional nurses undergo for renewal of their licenses.
3. Via undergraduate or graduate nursing courses or elective subjects on forensic nursing that are often offered as part of a certification program
4. Via Masters of Science with a degree in Nursing, which also offers special subjects on collecting evidence, forensic law and science, etc. These programs also offer internship in forensic crime laboratories, medical examiners’ offices, shelters for crime victims, and the forensic psychiatry units of hospitals.

The International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), which was formed in the early 1990s as a result of a convention attended by 70 sexual assault nurses, has developed a certification program for all sexual assault nurse examiners. SANE-A Certification is a professional certification for sexual assault nurse examiners of adults and adolescents. SANE-P is intended for examiners of pediatric and adolescent patients.

The SANE is considered the stepping-stone to forensic nursing. The IAFN requires the trainees to be registered nurses. They are subject to 40 instructional hours and another 40 hours for on-the-job duties. During the training, the nurses’ skills are honed in collecting various evidences like hair strands, fibers, and fluids for DNA testing.

Although forensic nurses are more into sexual assault cases, they are still helpful in other cases like domestic violence and various types of abuse (verbal, physical, emotional, psychological).

Many forensic nurses can be seen in emergency rooms of hospitals so they can be on the lookout for shooting or stabbing cases. They gather the bullets and other possible evidences in the form of debris or fluid that can shed some light in the cause of the crime. Only a nurse that has undergone forensic nursing certifications can properly handle all these tasks.

Nurses are responsible, along with other health care workers or professionals, for the treatment and caring for the injured and acutely or chronically ill people.

Nurses attend to varieties of life and death matters in different health care settings. Emergency room nurses or ICU nurses specialize in rapid assessment and treatment, since every second counts in emergency cases. A nurse in this setting administers medication and assists physicians attending emergency room tasks related to medical care. Emergency room nurses are also responsible for keeping patient records.

Emergency nursing is a specialty of the nursing profession. Emergency nurses should always be ready to treat wide variety of illnesses ranging from throat infections to heart attacks or victims of severe trauma. The types of patients that show up in hospital emergency departments often depend on things like the weather, highway accidents, industrial accidents, fires and hundreds of unfortunate events. Emergency nurses are expected to care for patients of all ages.

Emergency nurses should be familiar with the policies of the facilities their working for, as well as procedures and protocols. The emergency department has a fast paced environment, as a nurse for this department, emergency nurses are needed to utilize their skills in time management. It does not only refer to prioritizing patients but also prioritizing the nurses’ time. Time management will enable nurses to confidently complete their duties. It is very important for an emergency room nurse to be able to do multitasking.

According to Nurses for Healthier Tomorrow (NHT), a coalition of nursing and health care organizations, there are three major roles an emergency nurse should carry out:

(1) Patient Care.

Emergency nurses should care for patients and families in hospital emergency departments, ambulances, helicopters, urgent care centers, cruise ships, sport arenas, industry, government, and anywhere someone could have a medical emergency.

(2) Education.

Emergency nurses should provide education to the public through programs that promote wellness and prevent injuries. Some of the educational programs such as alcohol awareness, child passenger safety, gun safety, bicycle and helmet safety and domestic violence prevention are usually conducted by nurses.

(3) Leadership and Research.

Emergency nurses also may work as administrators, managers, and researchers to improve emergency health care.

For all of the demands of emergency nursing, an emergency nurse should be prepared at all times to provide patient care for almost any situation. Some emergency nurses tend to specialize in trauma, pediatrics, geriatrics and injury prevention. Nurses are not only attendants in hospitals and clinics, they may also be involved in medical and nursing research.

Another important responsibility of the emergency room nurse is to continually be aware of their working environment; maintain proper supplies and appropriate medical equipments necessary in caring for the patients. As part of their job duties, emergency room nurses engage in educational activities to promote the nursing profession and keep them up to date on today’s advanced diagnostics, technologies, medical equipment and safety techniques.

Emergency nurses are very much in demand nowadays. Emergency nursing is a profession that requires adept skill in caring for ill and injured people with speed, efficiency and leadership.

Doing all of these medical tasks while attending to other duties requires skill in multitasking. That is why emergency room nurses are always up on their toes, always on duty. With all the responsibilities and duties being performed by an emergency nurse it is essential not to lose the thing that made us go into this profession, compassion and love for life.

Many people are certainly aware that there is a great shortage of nurses in many societies today. Hence, finding a career on this field is easy. But, you can get confused with all the nursing fields and career options available. Therefore, if you want to become a nurse, you can expect to encounter several and different choices when it comes to choosing the right nursing career.

These choices are plenty, and since they are plenty acquiring information on nursing careers vitally matters to you. By acquiring the essential information you need you can be guided in drawing your decision as to which among the numerous nursing careers are most fitted for you.

To help you determine the best type of nursing career that will perfectly suit you, you should grasp the broad idea of the different types of nursing careers and positions that are made available today. This way, you can easily find the specific avenue of nursing career that can help you meet your goals and objectives.

Different Types of Nursing Careers

Critical Care Nursing:

Critical care nurses are in great demand among the other types of nursing careers. Basically, critical care nurses supplies assistance to patients that are affected by life threatening diseases or injuries. In most instances, critical care nurses are allocated to work in departments like emergency rooms and other forms of intensive care units in hospitals and medical centers.

Nursing Informatics:

This career is intended for both men and women who have the heart to provide care as well as love to their patients and who also have the computer knowledge. If you think you have a competitive aptitude with computers as well as management; then, you can consider taking this one since this requires an important responsibility in information management. It has to be taken note that information management is crucial to the appropriate treatment and care of patients in today’s world.

Neonatal Nursing:

Neonatal nurses are responsible in giving care for newly born babies. Their responsibility is delinquent for they will also be holding cases of premature babies including those babies who are not thriving and are sick.

Oncology Nursing:

Oncology nurses are specifically assigned to provide health care and assistance to patients who are afflicted by cancer. These nurses significantly care for the patients at all stages of remission and treatment. This is why oncology nurses are regarded as the backbone of every treatment program for patients suffering from cancer.

Pediatric Nursing:

Pediatric nurses are definitely different from neonatal nurses. The former is responsible for nursing children while the latter is responsible in nursing newly born babies. Pediatric nurses provide health care to children of all ages. These nurses are also responsible in providing all facets of healthcare for children.

Psychiatric Nursing:

Another nursing career that can be of so much challenge is the psychiatric nursing. From the name itself, nurses in this area are expected to provide care for the patients with psychiatric or mental illnesses. Such responsibility is certainly crucial.

The Challenge

If you are truly fascinated in nursing careers, you may take time to reflect on the different facets of nursing careers that were mentioned above. Search for the best venue that will fit on your interest and passion. Carefully study each of the mentioned facets and ask yourself as to where can you give out your full service to the patients who need your assistance and care.

Information on nursing careers abound on the Internet, you just have to take your time to look for the data that you need so you can decide on what journey in nursing you should take on.

A lot of people think that after taking the required courses, the only thing stopping you from becoming a forensic nurse is the certification exam. Those who have taken it say that the exam itself is very challenging but did you know that you are not required to take it?

This is because you don’t need to have a license to work as a forensic nurse. The important thing is that you have your diploma. If you want to work in a specialized field, there are advanced classes you can take, which also means a higher position.

But why do some people still take it? This is because passing it adds credibility to what you do especially if you have to give testimony during a civil or criminal proceeding. The test consists of 5 parts namely dynamics of sexual assault, evaluation of the sexual assault patient, participation in the judicial process and professional practice/roles/issues.

If you don’t pass, the testing authorities will send you a breakdown of your scores in each of these categories so you will see where you didn’t perform very well. With this information, it will be easy for you to pass on the second try.

What you might find strange about the certification exam is that there is no passing or failing mark. You final grade depends on the scores of everyone who took the test. This means that there is a curve so if you scored 95 and more people scored lower, you are one of those who passed the exam with flying colors. However, if others did better, you could fail and that means taking the exam again.

On average, you have to get 75% of the questions correctly to be sure that you passed the exam so study hard.

But how do you review for the forensic nursing exam? You can enrol in a review program or do this by yourself. The important thing is to be able to answer almost any question they throw at you.

Passing the exam simply adds credibility to who you are. Since science has found new ways to help victims of violent crimes, you must keep up with the times by attending seminars and other courses whenever they are offered.

In fact, the American Nurses’ Association offers this and other benefits to its members. All you have to do is sign up.

Being a member, you become one of 2.9 million registered nurses working in its 54 constituent member associations.

The certification exam mentioned is only for those who want to become a sexual assault nurse examiner.

Given that forensic nursing is quite broad, you can explore other options. You could work as a specialist involved in tissue and organ donation, paediatrics, pathology, victimology or psychiatry.

Some forensic nurses shift from one field to another after working there for a few years so they don’t become stagnant in one specialty. All this experience could even land you a consultancy job later or even your own private practice.

The vast majority of forensic nurses today are involved in sexual assault. Should you take the certification exam? That is up to you but it wouldn’t hurt to be certified because it adds to your credibility when you are doing your share in bringing the suspect to justice.