Questions to Ask Before Signing a Travel Nurse Contract
Before you sign on the dotted line you want to make sure a few things are very clear to you before you are put in a poor situation. Here is my checklist of things I always clarify before signing a contract!
Time off Requests- Even if I don’t have anything planned I will utilize time off requests granted to me. Some hospitals only allow you to take 5 days off so I will utilize that for a weekend and try to plan something fun for that time off if I didn’t already have prior obligations. Having a good work- life balance is key to maintaining this lifestyle. If you have time off days set in your contract they CANNOT schedule you!
Expectations of the unit- If you are hired as an ICU nurse, it's important to know the facilities' policy on floating. The majority of hospitals will float you to the intermediate care or medsurg floors if the census is not high enough for the scheduled staff. Some hospitals have strict ratio policies on how many patients an ICU RN can take and some do not. If you are concerned about ratios outside of your comfort zone I would clarify this before signing.
Scheduling- if you are traveling with a friend or partner who is also working on the unit, some facilities will allow similar or block scheduling if you ask you recruiter in advance which can be written into your contract. Unit scheduling procedures vary and will not be clear until after orientation. I recently worked at a facility that did not allow travel nurses to trade shifts so please verify this with your recruiter if this is something that concerns you!
Verify contract length and hours required to work for the week- majority of travel nursing contracts are 13 weeks. Some companies offer shorter 4-8 week contracts so make sure you pay attention to the length of the assignment. It's also important to know how many hours you're working for the week before signing. It's been more common recently to see 48 or even 60 hour/week contracts.
Guaranteed hours- Many contracts offer the benefit of guaranteed hours. If you are cancelled for one or more shifts during the week this is a guarantee that you will still be paid for your contracted hours. Also note that if you request some of the days off in your contract, they do not have to give you a minimum of hours for that week! Most hospitals will work around your schedule if you only request off 2 days but just know some hospitals will not be accommodating.
You can be canceled- This is always a possibility with over-hiring. I always ask my recruiter how the hospital is with honoring contracts and if they often cancel nurses before the start date. Unfortunately as a travel nurse you can be canceled before your start date or anytime during your contract. The contracts that are more likely to be cancelled are high paying crisis contracts or assignments where you are working for a hospital going on strike. I personally have never had a contract cancelled but it’s good to be mentally prepared for the chance of it!
Some hospitals require an interview before you get offered a job- It’s important to be prepared if you are applying to a specialty floor (oncology, neurology, etc) that they may ask you questions related to this patient population. The interview is typically by the Nurse Manager or someone who works in management from the unit. I’ve been hired on specialty units with and without an interview so be prepared with general knowledge for those floors in case they decide to interview you!
