Traveling is not for everyone. To travel you need to have the interest to hop from one place to another. Traveling while you earn is the most exciting opportunity for people who like to be on the move. Working as a certified nursing assistant can give you this opportunity to earn and explore various destinations.
A person with a nurse aide certification obtains jobs in varied settings with health care providers such as in hospitals, private nursing homes, clinics, military hospitals, and universities. One such job is a traveling nurse assistant. If you decide to pursue a career as a traveling CNA, you need to find a reputable place of employment that offers this job.
What is a Traveling CNA?
A traveling nursing assistant is not only required to travel to the residence of the patient to provide basic medical care but to even different health centers in remote places and places where such assistants are not available or are experiencing a staff shortage.
Sometimes these assistants need to travel to more than one health care facility to carry out their tasks. A traveling nurse aide’s job is similar to that of other nursing assistants. The work timing may depend on the patient’s health condition or as required.
They work in different health care settings and yet pay equal care and attention to all. They interact and meet different people and usually strike an emotional chord that makes them amicable and a welcome guest.
A patient requires emotional support, along with medication and treatment. A patient needs to be mentally strong enough to fill himself with optimism for a positive outcome of his treatment. A nursing assistant can do that as they spend a lot of time with such patients and even the patients feel at ease with them and open up about their fears and apprehensions.
A traveling aide needs to be kind and sensitive to patients and should try to show them the positive side of the coin and help them relax.
Travel CNA Position Requirements
The job responsibilities of nursing assistants include providing basic nursing services and provide them with the required assistance with daily exercise, taking them for a walk, helping them take a bath, dress and undress them and maintain their hygiene.
Besides, some nurse aides also provide their service with household duties such as cooking, cleaning and laundry for their patients. Travel certified nurse assistants also aid physicians and nursing staff members with procedures.
Travel nurse documents patient interactions if needed and takes precautions and remedial measures for the safety of patients. Such nursing assistants are paid more than those who work in a single location.
The traveling aide is paid more for the fact that they travel to multiple locations and balance the care and support to multiple patients.
The average salary of a traveling CNA ranges between 25,000 and 30,000 USD per year. Some traveling nursing care agencies also pay a fee for the distance covered every day to perform the duties. The more is the experience, the greater is the possibility of him/her being paid more.
Sometimes even the number of patients a nurse aide attends tends to have a bearing on the salary a CNA draws. Travel assignments are on contracts with paid travel, living expenses, and benefits. There are fewer openings for travel nursing but they are available to places such as Hawaii.
Benefits of a Travel CNA Job
Since the nurse aides attend to more than one patient throughout the week, if needed, they are sometimes required to stay back for more than the time they allot to a particular patient. They are paid for any overtime they work. Individual patients need a different type of care and attention. A nursing assistant is sometimes required to work on holidays or even during the leave. This increases their potential to earn extra for the time devoted beyond regular working time.
Some travel nursing agencies also offer other perks like life insurance, paid time off, health insurance, and retirement savings. Sometimes, a certified nursing assistant is paid more because he is not offered extra benefits.
So, such an assistant is compensated with a higher salary for the services rendered. The purpose of such agencies is to help other facilities who may be experiencing a staff shortage, or the agency may assist a new facility that hasn’t yet established a full-time staff. Traveling certified nursing assistants don’t have any particular working time.
There are some hospitals or agencies which provide traveler-friendly facilities and are top-rated to provide such facilities.
Some of them are
- Ketchikan General Hospital – Ketchikan, AK
- Seattle Children’s Hospital – Seattle, WA
- Scripps Green Hospital – San Diego, CA
- Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center – Los Angeles, CA
- Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, WI, and many on.
The job is challenging as well as rewarding. A traveling CNA is usually paid more for the personal care and service that one provides to the patient than what the traditional jobs offer. This is such a position with which you will not only get to see the different destinations but will enhance your experience. You will strengthen your skills through various specialty areas and different types of facilities. One of the interesting benefits is you will definitely avoid the boredom of routine and working at the same location.