Healthcare Traveler - September 2008 - (Page 12)

Field Notes P E R SP E C T I V E S F RO M E X P E R I E N C E D M O B I L E P RO F E S SI O N A L S The Magazine for Healthcare Travel Professionals Traveling with my best friend www.HealthcareTraveler.com Editorial Advisory Board Members are mobile providers nominated by their respective travel company representatives. As schedules permit, they submit story ideas and/or manuscripts and agree to be interviewed. By discussing issues with our staff, they assist Healthcare Traveler in creating a base of knowledge, experience, and insight for defining and developing editorial content. I first heard about travel nursing from a clinician who accepted an assignment in Wichita, Kansas, in the catheterization lab where I worked as a permanent staff member. When I am in one place for too long, I have a tendency to get restless. So, the idea of a new setting every 13 weeks or so appealed to me. I began traveling when my son, Bryce, decided he wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin. That was more than 6 years ago, and I have loved every minute KURT AND I standing on our deck, which of it. connects our fifth-wheel and hot tub trailer. For me, one of the major highlights is the variety. At some hospitals, for example, pressurized bags on flush solution are used or sponges are counted during pacemaker procedures, while other facilities do not follow these practices. It still strikes me as extraordinary, the number of different techniques and sets of protocol I have experienced. I love my profession, and the adjustment period at the beginning of a new assignment is fun for me. It keeps me on my toes, which is why I never get bored. I make lots of friends—a mix of regular staff and other healthcare travelers—on the road. And I have a few buddies from every contract location with whom I keep in touch on a weekly basis. But my best friend and constant companion is my husband, Kurt. Since he is a carpenter and can often find short-term work, Kurt travels everywhere with me. In fact, he takes care of all the little details for every assignment—from negotiating contracts on my behalf, to determining where we’ll stay at each location, to plotting our journeys every step of the way. I think Kurt talks with my recruiter, Nicole, at Omaha, Nebraska-based Medical Solutions as much as I do. The more I travel, the more I appreciate the difference a recruiter like Nicole makes! I don’t have to worry about anything except showing up for work. Nursing Members Mary Jo Alessio, RN Supplemental Health Care Teresa (Terri) Allen, RN Onward Healthcare Lora Anderson, RN Banner Health Travelers Virginia Bialk, RN Bridge Staffing Brian Bidan, RN Cross Country TravCorps Paul Bier, RN Innovative Placements Dayne Bowers, RNC, RN Network Pam Campbell, RN Trustaff Rose Cousineau, RN Medical Express Nigel Day, RN MedCall NorthWest, Inc. Dorothy Del Valle, ADN, RN First Assist Katrina Essenburg, RN Clinical One Christopher Freedman, RN NursesRx Tim Groves, RN American Mobile Healthcare Terry Hall, RN Trinity Healthcare Staffting Group Jennifer Hamrick, RN, CNOR NovaPro Staffing Glenda Hardy, RN PPR Healthcare Staffing Karen LaBlanc, RN Aureus Medical Group Christopher LaCounte, RN, CEN, NREMT-P, LP National Healthcare Staffing Vicki Lawson, RN Attentive Health Care Yvonne Lawson-Thomas, RN InteliStaf Travel Jean Magnuson, RN Soliant Health Charlotte Mansfield, RN, FNE, SANE Advantage RN Monti (“Micki”) Marsh, RN HRN Services Inc. Joni Parcell, RN Favorite Healthcare Staffing Bill Pletch, RN Professional Nursing Service Rosemary Primeaux, RN Preferred Healthcare Staffing, Inc. Bonnie Richlin, RN Matrix Healthcare Services, Inc. Susan Sabatula, RN The Right Solutions Mandeep Smith, BSN, RN Procare USA Jenny Thompson, RN American Traveler Staffing Professionals Aleksey Yukhvid, RN White Glove Placement, Inc. Twice the fun My husband and I travel with two trucks and two trailers. Kurt tows the fifthwheel recreational vehicle (RV) that we live in while I’m on assignment. We usually arrange to stay at a mobile home park rather than an RV campground because— in our opinion—they are more secure, and there is more space on the lot. I tow a custom trailer that we splurged on after a particularly stressful time in our lives. It houses a two-seater hot tub, gravity chair, and palm tree. Kurt built a deck that runs between our fifth-wheel and our little oasis. At the end of the workday, we can just soak our cares away. It’s heaven! Allied Health Members Emily R. Brawner, OT American Traveler Staffing Professionals Keith Carregal, PT Sunbelt Staffing Marsha Dexter InteliStaf Travel Josephine Feldman, RT TeamStaff Rx David Garrard, BHS, RRT, RCP, CCEMT-P, PNCCP Cirrus Medical Staffing Time off with a “porpoise” Whenever Kurt and I have some free time, we head to Corpus Christi, Texas, to visit our good friends, Sonja and Erv, at the Dolphin Connection. I have always loved dolphins and used to visit them often at aquariums and water parks. But ever 12 Healthcare Traveler September 2008 Debora Janzen, RT (R)(T) ATC Travelers Erika Lee, PT Supplemental Health Care Richard Mahnke, PT Soliant Health Dawn Morse, PT Trinity Healthcare Staffing Group Apollone Reid, MPH, PT Destination Healthcare Staffing Joel Sauer, CNMT Favorite Healthcare Staffing Paule Thomas, OT PPR Healthcare Staffing Kurt VanZandt, ASCP, BS On Assignment Patti Witkiewicz, RPT Cross Country TravCorps Jodi Wolfgram, RDMS, RT Aureus Medical Group www.healthcaretraveler.com http://www.healthcaretraveler.com http://www.healthcaretraveler.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Traveler - September 2008

Healthcare Traveler - September 2008 Editor's Desk Contents In a Flash Paws for Thought Field Notes Regional Differences in the ED Joining Together Drug Update Clinical Tips Cityscape Advertiser's Index Name It Travel Tips Big Deals Tax Facts Dot.com Contest Rules Allied Corner Going the Distance Classifieds Tales from the Road

Healthcare Traveler - September 2008

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