I recently announced on Instagram that I decided to return to hospital full time for the next few weeks as a travel nursing for the COVID-19 Crisis. So what does it mean to be a travel nurse? It means you’re hired temporarily to work in a hospital (contracts vary from 3 months to up to 6 months, with most of them being 3).
When I moved to California 6 years ago I came out here as a travel nurse. I wanted to work at a few hospitals to see which one I liked the best before signing on as a staff nurse. I worked as a traveler here in California for 14 months before singing on as staff at a nearby hospital. Recently, one of the travel agencies that I had worked with in the past was offering a 4 week contract because of the COVID-19 crisis and I couldn’t say no.
I’ve been going back and forth with the decision to return to nursing for a few weeks now since quarantine started. I’ve received emails almost every day from travel nursing agencies asking for help for both travel and local hospital assignments. I also received an email from the hospital I used to work at asking for caregivers to return to their previous roles.
So why did I finally decide to go back to the hospital? Well, I’ve had a really hard time the last month during quarantine. I’ve really struggled with being home alone all day long. I’m used to working from home and spending most of my time alone, but this is a new extreme. I can’t take the dogs down to the beach for a walk, I can’t grab a latte from my favorite cafe, I can’t get my nails done, I can’t meet my girlfriends for walks, and I can’t walk around Whole Foods just to walk around. I know most of these are first world problems, but they help break up my long days at home by myself. Before quarantine even started, this was one of my major struggles that I was working on in therapy. I’ve been working on learning to be okay with being alone. While I do enjoy quiet time and time myself, this is the first time in 3 years that I’ve lived alone so it’s been somewhat of a struggle.
I’ve also been struggling with my own small business. As an influencer, I haven’t had much work to do, which has allowed me to focus on creating more of my own content -but this has lead me to spending more time on social media – and more time on social media sometimes causes me to fall into the comparison trap feeling like I’m not doing enough. It’s been a cycle – one minute I’m creating content and connecting with amazing likeminded women and the next I’m comparing myself to others. So it’s time to put my focus elsewhere for a bit!
So to finally answer the question why am I returning to nursing? Well I’m ready to get out of the house and put my energy into something new. I need somewhat of a break from social media and working in the hospital full time will help me cut back on time spent online. I’ve had a really hard year and half so I’m ready to focus on something new again. I also feel like I should be helping out at the bedside right now. I’ve worked in the ICU for over 5 years and want to do my part in helping during the COVID- 19 crisis. I know it’s not going to be easy but I’m up for the challenge.
I’m excited to share my journey with you all as I return to the hospital during this pandemic. If you have any questions related to nursing in general or working as a travel nurse- please reach out! I plan on putting another post together in the near future!
