Travel Nursing Contract - Always Get it in Writing!

I recently received an email from an upset travel nurse who had been shafted by her travel nurse company during her first (and last) travel nursing assignment.  She said her recruiter tried to talk her into taking a "weekend option" position at a hospital working two 12 hour shifts every Friday and Saturday night.  Her pay would be $37/hour.  After a little research she decided she really liked the hospital and location, but not the idea of working every weekend, and only 24 hours per week.  She eventually reached an agreement with her recruiter to work every other weekend for 36 hours per week for lower hourly pay ($30/hour).  Her recruiter also agreed to allow her to take her daughter's birthday off.

Get Every Detail In Writing
After verbally agreeing to the terms of employment, this nurse signed a contract with the travel nursing company.  However, instead of stating exactly what she and the recruiter had agreed upon the contract stated: "Travel Nurse will be expected to work every other weekend if needed." 

When she arrived at the hospital, she was given a work schedule which had her working every weekend instead of what she had agreed upon with her recruiter.  When she told the unit manager she was contracted to work every other weekend, she was told the only way she could get full time hours would be to work every weekend.  She was also required to work on her daughter's birthday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  All in violation of what she had discussed with her recruiter.

She contacted her agent at the travel nurse company, but couldn't reach her agent for over a week.  When she did get her agent, she was told nothing could be done about the work schedule except to get another travel nurse to cover the days she wanted off.  She was irate.

We all know that travel nurses are brought in to fill scheduling gaps, but let's be honest...this nurse was given the old "bait and switch" by her recruiter.  The moral of the story is: Make sure you get every detail in writing.  Read the contract over.  If there is more than one way to interpret a provision assume the agency or hospital will interpret it different from you.

Know Your Recruiter
Also, don't contract with a travel nursing company unless you have an excellent relationship with your recruiter.  Go with your instincts on this.  My instincts have served me well when dealing with recruiters.  If you have trouble reaching him or her before the assignment, chances are, you will have more trouble during your assignment.

A Seizure A Day Will Keep the Nurses Away

Let me see you fake another seizure!

Some guys will do anything to get a woman to touch them.  Last night while on shift I noticed several nurses running into a patient's room.  Feeling my help might be needed I too ran into the room.  When I got there I saw the door to the patient's bathroom open and the patient lying naked on the floor of the tub having an apparent seizure.  The nurses had turned off the shower and were patting the patient down with towels to dry him off.
I started to ask what I could do to help when a male doctor walked in.  Sensing something wasn't quite right about the patient's "seizure," the doctor called out the patient's name and asked him what was going on.  The patient temporarily halted his seizure and turned and looked at the doctor.  He then went back to his "seizure," apparently hoping everyone had just missed his seizure "time out."  Too late.  The doctor had called his bluff.

All of the nurses, myself included, were in a state of shock.  Who fakes a seizure just to have a bunch of nurses touch your naked body?  One of my male co-workers says "It depends on the nurses."  One of the nurses responded "Next time you get to dry him off."

Crazy stuff.

Being a Travel Nurse Near the Beach

St. George Lighthouse

South Georgia certainly has it's perks.  The biggest one, at least to me, is the close proximity to Florida's panhandle beaches.  Some of the nicest beaches I've ever been to are located in the panhandle.  My family took a winter beach trip this past November.  At first when my husband approached me about going to the beach during the winter, I thought he was crazy.  The beach?  Really?  You can't swim, or even wear a bathing suit this time of the year.  Why would I want to go there?  I couldn't have been more wrong.

St. George Island
We decided to rent a beach house on St. George Island, Florida.  St. George Island (or SGI as the locals call it) is just off the coast of Apalachicola in Franklin County, Florida.  As soon as we pulled up to the beach house my girls tore off their clothes, put on their bathing suits and headed straight for the freezing cold water.  For most of the day they ran in and out of the surf with their blue lips and chattering teeth.  We got a few strange looks from some of the older people at the beach.  Apparently a lot of snowbirds go to St. George Island during the winter months because the rates on beach houses are 1/4 the normal rates.  Some couples spend months on the island during the winter.  It is also apparent that they are not used to seeing kids spashing around in the freezing cold surf.

St. George Bayside

We brought a golfcart with us so we could cruise on the beach with the kids.  We found all kinds of cool conch shells and even saw a large dead octopus!  As the sun was going down, the kids used the golfcart to gather drift wood for a bonfire.  My husband was able to light the bonfire despite the fiersome wind.  It was amazing.  There's nothing like a night beach bonfire.  All that was lacking was a guitarist for a little Cumbaya.  :)

Tax Free Travel Nursing Benefits

Tax Free Travel Nursing Benefits - In conjunction with my post on keeping a Permanent Tax Home, this post deals with what is required to have your reimbursement for travel costs (like meals, transportation and housing) be non-taxable.  You have to start by looking at the way the IRS views travel related payments from your travel nursing company.  The IRS views travel related payments from your travel nursing company as either (a) income (and, therefore, taxable) or, (b) non-income reimbursement (and, therefore, non-taxable).  By way of example, if I am a non-travel nurse and I drive 20 miles to work each day and my hospital agrees to pay for my costs to make the trip, the IRS will deem that payment to be taxable income and not a non-taxable travel reimbursement.  Why?  Because 20 miles is a commuting distance which the IRS does not view as a travel expense. 

How do I Qualify my Travel Expenses for Tax Free Treatment?
The IRS uses three primary factors in determining whether a travel nursing company can reimburse you for nontaxable travel expenses. 

• Do you have a permanent tax home?  You can read more about a Permanent Tax Home here.  The travel nurse must have a permanent tax home.
• The travel nursing assignment cannot be within commuting distance of your Permanent Tax Home.
• The travel nursing assignment (including extensions) cannot extend beyond a one year period. 

What if you don't meet these requirements?
Permanent Tax Home - If your situation is such that you do not have a Permanent Tax Home then all of the travel related payments you recieve from your travel nursing company are taxable.  This includes all meal per diems, mileage reimbursements, housing allowances or company paid housing costs.  These items would be subject to payroll tax withholding.

Commuting Distance - The same conclusion as that in the above paragraph is reached if you live within commuting distance between your Permanent Tax Home and your healthcare facility.  Most travel nursing companies will not even offer reimbursement if you live within commuting distance.

One Year Time Limit - At the time you become aware that your assignment will extend beyond one year, all of the travel related expense reimbursements you recieve become taxable income.

Most travel nursing companies have a recruiter who can assist you in determining whether you qualify for non-taxable travel reimbursement.  You may also want to contact your accountant if you are still not sure.

Travel Nursing in Alaska

A Long Distance Travel Nursing Relationship

Last week at the hospital I met a guy who's wife was travel nursing in Anchorage, Alaska while he stayed behind to work in the Southeastern U.S.  Now that is a long distance relationship!  His wife had always wanted to go to Alaska and she didn't care whether he went with her or not.  He said the two of them didn't really mind living apart from each other for a few months because the travel nursing company she worked for paid for him to fly out to Alaska once every month to visit.  The travel nursing company was happy to do this because by keeping her in town (and, therefore, at work), she was able to make more money for herself and her travel nursing company.  A win-win proposition.

Salmon Fishing and Travel Nurses in Alaska 

He also said that there is a real need for travel nurses in Alaska.  One reason for this need, he said, was due to the seasonal shortage of nurses around salmon fishing season.  Apparently during salmon fishing season a lot of the local nurses decide it is more lucrative to catch and smoke salmon for the year than show up to work.  Many Alaska hospitals then have trouble getting the nurses to come in to work. 

Northern Lights
One thing he and his wife got to experience this past March was seeing the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).  He said it was something she will definitely never forget.  Since she worked twelve hour shifts, she was able to do a lot of sightseeing on her days off.  On some wildlife hikes she got to see mountain goats, caribou and moose, etc.  I absolutely love being out in nature and seeing unusual animals I have never seen before.  I can't imagine how cool it would be to get to go on an assignment like this where the wildlife is so abundant and unusual.  Alaska is on my list of places to travel nurse.

Benefits/Pay
He couldn't remember the name of the agency his wife was working for, but he did say that the pay was really good, they had great medical benefits and even provided her with a rental car for the entire assignment.  The housing was top-notch and they paid her utilities, among many other things.  Alaska is starting to sound really good to me.  Kids, start packing your bags.  School's out in June.