5 Unique Travel Nursing Career Paths You Must Try

Regarding nursing career paths, travel nursing opens up many unique opportunities. When you work in this field, there is no telling where you can go or your next assignment. The good news is that if you crave adventure and exploration, being a travel nurse is an exciting career.

As a traveling nurse, you have plenty of opportunities to go around the country for work and make memories. But you can also avoid the hospital setting to enjoy this line of work. You can go out of your comfort zone and explore other paths to nursing. Here are unique travel nurse jobs that you might consider doing.

Cruise Ship Nurse

Do you love traveling the seas? Becoming a travel nurse on a cruise ship is a different experience that you should consider. With an average of 3,000 guests, a nurse on board is a must. Many cruise ships hire a team of nurses to help their passengers in medical emergencies.

To become part of a cruise ship nurse team, you must be an NCLEX-RN with at least three years of full-time experience and an ACLS or Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support certification.

Flight or Transport Travel Nurses

Flight or transport-trained medical nurses help accompany patients when they are transported by aircraft. Most of the time, these patients are in advanced critical care, and it is the flight nurse’s responsibility to care for the patient while in transport. Many flight nurses are needed in rural areas that don’t have medical resources for emergencies.

To become a flight nurse, you must have 3-5 years combined ICU/ER experience and certification as a Certified Flight Registered Nurse or CFRN. You’ll have even better opportunities if you have flight and navigation experiences.

Resort Nursing

Working in this field exposes you to many unique travel nurse locations, cultures, and people. You can work in luxurious hotels in tropical countries or high-end ski resorts. Wherever you want to go, you always have options to choose from. As a travel nurse working in a vacation resort, you will be the primary point of medical contact for tourists and guests.

To qualify for this position, certifications in first-aid and CPR are needed. You must also have strong communication skills, and speaking a different language is a plus. A resort nurse also interacts with resort guests, mainly if you apply for a resort overseas or in other countries. You must also meet the license and degree requirements needed for the country you choose to work in.

Humanitarian Nursing

A humanitarian nurse is one of the best career paths in nursing that you can pursue. Nurses travel world with medical organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Medical Corps. They hire nurses to help them respond to global crises and emergencies. They help immunize children in villages and provide medical assistance to countries or places where natural disasters are on high alert.

You must have a few years of nursing experience to qualify for this position. You must also take relevant courses in humanitarian health provided by NGOs or universities. They also prefer nurses with a second language, so it’s a good advantage if you’re bilingual or multilingual.

Camp Nursing

Do you enjoy working with kids in the summer? If you love exploring the wild and campfires, then becoming a camp nurse is an ideal travel nurse job. You get to work with kids to ensure they are healthy enough to explore the outdoors across the United States. You have to determine what type of camp benefit most from your expertise and background. Many camps specialize in specific activities and focus on children with cancer, mental disabilities, and other special populations.

There are no specific certifications to become a camp nurse, but you must be certified and trained in CPR or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Be a Travel Nurse Today

Travel nursing is an exciting nursing field that opens doors to different opportunities. You get to meet other people, know many cultures and will touch so many lives with your profession. If this sounds like your dream job, go ahead and start sending out your applications! It’s still possible to pursue a travel nursing career. It may be the opportunity you are looking for!

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