Travel Social Work FAQs

I'm not the biggest fan of finding my own housing while on contract, but sometimes, it's inevitable.  I have this weird thing that the less untaxable cash that flows through my hands the less liability I have with the IRS.  However, lately, even companies that almost exclusively put you up in hotels are now in the business of negotiating "all-inclusive" contracts with hospitals because it's less expensive for the hospital and it makes the agency more competitive in the staffing market. Here are the resources I've used or friends have used for housing while on contract. FurnishedFinder :   What I like about this site:  It's geared specifically towards travel nursing; the listings will tell you how close the nearest hospitals are and how walkable the locations are.   What I don't like about this site:   When you search for pet-friendly housing, it populates a list that includes housing that is clearly not pet-friendly There's no ...

One of the major barriers we experience as travel social workers is licensure.  Every state has its own requirements on what's required to represent yourself as a social worker.  But, in addition to that, every hospital's accreditation may have licensure or certification requirements written into their guidelines.  I recently finished an assignment in a Level 1 Trauma Center Emergency Department.  This ED was in a huge teaching hospital where the social work case managers were not required to be licensed, UNLESS they were working Oncology, Transplant or in the ED.  Inpatient social work case managers were allowed to have their master's degree with no additional certification or license.  When I booked the job, I was offered a few positions in the hospital, but I was most interested in the ED.  I love the pace, I love the schedule, I love what can be accomplished. My barrier, however, was that I needed my clinical license to be approved and there w...

This is a confusing topic for many in the travel world, period.  Not just social work, but travel nursing, PT, OT, SLP, Rad Techs, anyone, really.  The confusion, I've noticed starts when people hear about GSA rates... and then they look them up.   The GSA is the US General Services Administration.  They're responsible for setting the daily maximum reimbursement rate for lodging and meals & incidentals for the Continental United States (CONUS), whereas the Department of Defense sets the maximum reimbursement rate for Hawai'i and Alaska.  The key here is that they're setting the MAXIMUM allowable reimbursement rate, not the minimum and not the required.  They're saying that for this area of the US, at this time of year (they break down the daily rate and adjust monthly), that you can receive UP to this amount per day. The tricky part is that unfortunately, not every contract is going to even get near these rates in what they offer you in t...

A common question I've been getting lately is whether or not it's okay to work with more than one recruiter to maximize your opportunity, especially if you're new to getting in to travel social work.  Honestly, there's no right or wrong. Recruiters I've spoken to actually expect that when you're getting into the game, you're likely going to be working with more than one agency; however, they do kinda operate with a code of conduct within the same agency - the no poaching unwritten code.  A few years ago, a recruiter from my current agency reached out to me about a job (I don't honestly remember applying to them, but must have).  I responded to the email about being available for work shortly, as I was coming to the end of a long assignment and it was definitely during a time of the year known for its lulls in placement.  A few days later, my current recruiter emailed me and explained that they understood that Recruiter X had reached out to me, but the...

After a prolonged break from blogging (my apologies), I realized it's time to jump back in.  I've been getting a lot of questions on FB Messenger lately about why people might be having a hard time finding work this time of year.  It's tough, especially because when you have found something you want to jump in to (travel social work) maybe you apply, but haven't heard anything back.  Why is that? In the years that I've been traveling, I've noticed that there are a couple distinct slow periods in the year for opportunities:  end of summer, and winter holiday time. At the end of summer, people are trying to get their vacations in before kids have to go back to school.  This means decision makers are either not around, or they're just trying to fill in temporary gaps in staffing with their PRN employees to cover a few extra shifts.  You might be able to find local contract work during this time through an agency like Maxim or Social Work PRN.  ...

For those hoping to get their feet wet in the travel allied health world, there's a lot of stress around what the pay will look like.  Will it be comparable to what I'm making?  Will I get PTO or benefits?  What does the insurance look like?  A lot of people are interested in knowing how to negotiate the best salary. After reading through this blog, I'm hoping that you're starting to catch on to the fact that travel work is rather nebulous and there's no one good answer.  There are a couple ways in which the pay could work, and this totally depends on the company.  Remember, not all companies are hiring you as a traveler, but they're hiring you as a local contractor, so you won't be getting per diem.  For the travel contracts, I've seen pay structures a couple ways: The company essentially has a pool of money for you as the contractor from which you can expect: An hourly wage Per diem - to include meals and incidentals, continuing education ...

At the beginning of the week, towards the end of the day Eastern Time, an email was sent out to welcome the MedPartners Consultants to AMN.  The email was unexpected and might even been thought of as a mistake, as many MedPartners consultants have worked for AMN and are already part of their network. The email announced a merge of MedPartners into the AMN family, which includes Club Staffing, MedTravelers, American Mobile (which merged with AMN while I was on assignment in Hawaii), Nurses Rx, Nurses Choice...the list goes on and on.  While not particularly surprising - it's my understanding they've been hunting down MedPartners since inception, it feels a little unsettling. I'm open to seeing how this all plays out.  There are some major differences in how AMN pays and benefits its employees vs how MedPartners does business with its employees.  But all of those things will be hashed out in the months to come, I'm sure.  I've heard that the owners of MedP...