Travel CNAs: History, Education Requirements, Hiring Process, Precautions, and Job Outlook

Travel Nurse Aides are frontline care workers. They travel to distant locations for performing nursing care services on a temporary basis. 

If you are a CNA and not satisfied with your job position and salary, you can also become a Travel Nurse Aide for work flexibility and better compensation and benefits. You will also get an opportunity to visit distant locations of your choice for performing nursing services. These jobs offer work independence because you can decide your time and place of working, and accept or decline offers. You will be hired for short duration assignments, and after the tasks are over, you are free to apply for another employment in another location as per your convenience. 

The wages and benefits offered to travel nursing professionals are always higher than compensations offered to permanent nurse aides. They are also more skilful and knowledgeable because their employments in various locations and different facilities expand their knowledge base.

History

Travel Nursing is a new phenomenon that began with the nursing shortages in early 1980s. According to Healthcare Traveler, hospitals in the city of New Orleans were facing nurses’ shortage during Mardi Gras celebration in 1978. The facility owners hired nurses on a contract basis for a short period to ease the sudden influx of patients during celebrations. The benefits of enlisting the services of nurses for a short-period also encouraged other facilities to follow suit. The system got a boost during a nationwide nursing shortage of 1980s because these contract nurses greatly helped in minimizing nursing shortage prevailing that time. The nurses, who travelled to distant locations for short assignments became popular as Travelling Nurses, and the system came to be known as Travel Nursing.

Both the employers and nursing professionals also found these arrangements beneficial to each others because travel nursing offered nursing professionals an opportunity to visit new destinations and receive higher compensations and benefits for their short-term assignments. In the same way, employers favoured travel nurses over permanent nurses because they were able to save money by hiring them, which otherwise be spent hiring permanent nursing employees for a longer period. The hiring of temporary nurses also helped employers in easing nursing shortages or meeting their short-term demands for nursing professionals during seasonal or peak periods.  

Education Requirements

A Travel Nurse Aide should complete state-approved CNA training program that meet the national standard and OBRA-87 requirements. The length of the program should be at least 75- hours that can be completed in 4-10 weeks depending upon the training institutes. However, there are also states that have minimum training requirements of 100-150 hours. The program curriculum features classroom knowledge instructions, lab training, and hands-on clinical experience with patients in the local facilities. The course curriculum includes both general and nursing courses. The program trains individuals in basic nursing cares and activities of daily livings.

The successful completion of the training program provides students eligibility for CNA exam that features Witten or Oral Test, and Skills Tests.  The competency evaluation tests are state-approved and meet the OBRA requirements. The test also evaluates the competencies of nurse aides for offering safe and competent nursing cares. The candidates must pass both test segments to prove their nursing skills and for earning Certification. The possession of Certification allows nurse aides to apply travel nursing jobs.

Hiring Process

The certified nursing aides can apply to hiring agencies for travel nursing jobs because employers from different locations place their demands with these agencies. The placement agencies post their demand and invite the job applications from nurse aides and other nurses. If the experience and skills details provided by the nurse aides match the employer’s requirements, hiring companies call the selected candidate for an interview. The successful candidate gets a job offer, and if the salary, benefits, job location, and task requirements suit the nurse aide, he/she will accept the offer. 

Job Precautions

Travel CNAs must take certain precautions prior to accepting travel nursing assignments. They must ask for a written and signed agreement from these hiring agencies that explicitly record per hour wages, work duration, payment modes, employment terms and conditions, work benefits, work leaves, and traveling and housing allowances.  The signed agreement becomes necessary when facility owners may ask travel nurse aides to perform tasks that are beyond their job descriptions, or fail to pay arranged compensations or benefits. In such scenario, the signed agreement with details come handy when settling disputes between the placement agencies, facility owners, and travel nurse aides. 

The nurse aides must also ask the hiring agencies for the references and contact details of past Travel CNAs placed by the agencies. The reason being, these past travel nursing professionals can guide nurse aides in this field, and inform them about the travel jobs and problems. They can also give their opinion about the reliability of placement agencies, working conditions, pay package, and benefits. These past employees can be the best helps for the nurse aides in their travel nursing employments.

  

Job Outlook

Travel Nurse Aides have excellent job outlook because their demand is rapidly increasing among the facility owners and home health agencies in the country. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for nurse aide employments will grow by 21 percent in 2012 to 2022 or 312,200 more nurse aides will be required for performing direct care services. The demand for travel nursing professionals will also be higher among the facility owners because their short duration enlistments can help owners save money on long-term workers, and assist them in coping nursing shortages.

Also, the clients are changing and demanding better service standards. The travel nurse aides are better equipped to meet these demands due to their past experiences in this field when they served different types of patients in facilities located in different locations. These qualities are also one of the basic reasons for their demand among different health care units throughout the country.

LPN Program in New York

New York is known world wide and it is also the capital of US. New York leads in almost every kind of industries, and nursing industry is also not the exception. The health care industry of NY is well build, effectively equipped and properly organized. Hence, it comes down the list of world’s famous nursing industries.

But similar to other states of US, NTC is also facing the problem of shortage of nurses. It is noticeable that among all sorts of nursing professionals, demand of licensed practical nurses is much high, the reason being, the practical nurses are basic care taker of the patients as well as of the health care organization. Hence they are always required in large numbers in any sort of nursing care center.

It is plus point for all the aspirants of practical nurses that complete their training classes in NYC because it is known in all over the world and also very reputed. The aspirants that are aiming to become LPN should give the priority to NYC for completing their LPN program NYC.

The candidates who are interested in working as a practical nurse in New York, needs to match up with the eligibility criteria led by the New York board of nursing, which include- candidate must be 18 years of age, must have an graduate or equivalent degree, should be the sincere citizen of the state having no criminal record against him/her, must have attended the training period from an approved nursing institute and lastly, must have cleared the National Licensure Exam for Practical nurse.


The tenure of the practical nurse training class is between 9 and 18 months and the cost of the fee of such classes are also very low and affordable. In the training classes the students are taught the basic concepts and principles of nursing and also they are made to practice the actual skills, which practical nurses perform in their daily job work. The students are taught by the experts, which are considered as the plus point of the classes. At the end of the training session students are put in to the practice test to develop the confidence in them and to remove the nervousness for the exam. The candidates getting their training through these classes perform well in the exam and also face no difficulty in handling the job work of practical nurse. lpn programs in illinois

The candidates, who complete the training, are allowed to appear in the exam. The examination format is consisted of practical and theoretical portion. Candidate successfully clearing the exam is tagged as LPN

RN to BSN Programs in Connecticut

Connecticut is also known as the Constitution state and The Land of Steady Habits. The state is name after the river Connecticut, one of the major rivers of the United States. The river bisects the state into two parts. The capital of the state is Hartford and the state share its boundary with Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, the state of New York to the west, and by the Long Island Sound to the south. The climate condition of the state is cool. The health industry of Connecticut is very well developed and it is known for its technique of advanced and effective treatment.

Like all the states of the US, Connecticut is also suffering from scarcity of healthcare professionals. The nursing industry is in need of skilled professionals and there are few nursing professionals who are well skilled and experienced. Hence, the nursing aspirants can find themselves between lots of opportunities, if they are skilled and well qualified. The nursing industry of Connecticut also provides better opportunities for promotion for their present staff members.

To go on to higher position you always need to be better than your competitor. Present age is of competition, in this generation only the person can survive that is able to defeat the opponent by his/her ability. In the nursing industry, the registered nurses generally possess associate degree in nursing. The RNs, who want to avail the high designation, can make their dream come true through joining the RN to BSN online Programs. After completing this program the RNs are considered senior than the simple RNs. There are several accredited institutes in Connecticut offering this program. Some of the well known institutes are as follows:

American Sentinel University

Baker College Online

Capella University

Chamberlain College of Nursing

Colorado Christian University

The offline classes are offered by various institutes but you have to make sure that the institute is accredited by the Connecticut state board of nursing. The offline classes offer night classes because the candidates during the day time remain busy with their job work. The online classes are also offered by the some institutes, especially for those candidates who are unable to join the offline classes. The candidate must be a registerd nurse if he/she wants to pursue this program. Apart from the designation of senior registered nurse, the candidates are offered variety of job positions after completing this degree program in RN to BSN Programs in Connecticut.

The salary of the registered nurse with BSN degree is always high than the simple nurse and the range of their salary lies between $75000 and $85000 per annum. They also get various other benefits and various chances of growth too along with increment of salary.