Travel Healthcare Market: Openings, Competition High For Colorado Winter Jobs
A lot of healthcare travelers like to fly south for the winter, but there are still plenty who are looking for cold temperatures, snowy climates or a quick-start position with extension potential. For those reasons, Colorado has been a highly desired winter assignment destination in previous years, and 2018 is no exception. Agencies are seeing triple-digit needs for travel nurses and surgical techs across a wide variety of specializations, according to market data provided by Tailored Healthcare Staffing and LiquidAgents Healthcare. “Most of [the hospitals] are looking for nurses to start within a couple of weeks,” senior recruiting team lead Shelbie Summers at Tailored Healthcare Staffing said. “No pre-books for January starts as of yet.” Contact Shelbie Summers at Tailored Healthcare Staffing >> Geographically, most of the jobs are located in or within a one to two-hour drive distance from Denver, the state’s capital. This includes popular tourist cities like Boulder and Pueblo close to the Rocky Mountain range The most in-demand and higher paying specialties are for surgical positions which include OR, PACU and OR certified surgical techs, said Jamison Reitinger, a client advisor for LiquidAgents Healthcare. This falls in line with typical market trends, as more elective surgeries are scheduled near the end of the year in the U.S. Openings for more common specialties like medical-surgical, telemetry, ER and ICU are available, but pay is on the lower end for these positions, ranging from $1,200-1,300 weekly gross. PACU is significantly higher with bill rates at or near $90, which can translate to more than $2,000 weekly gross depending on the agency. Contact Jamison Reitinger at LiquidAgents Healthcare >> Competition is quite high for Colorado positions currently, with at least 15 to 20 submittals for core specialties (medical-surgical, telemetry, ER, OR and ICU) and 10 to 15 for less popular specialties, Reitinger said. Part of the competition is caused by nurses looking for a great winter vacation spot during the snowy season, Summers said. “There are a lot of nurses who enjoy traveling to Colorado this time of the year, so you may not see the same opening if you wait too long to submit for a position,” Summers said. Here are a few other things for travelers to consider before applying to work in The Centennial State. Colorado is part of the Nursing Licensure Compact Colorado joined the enhanced Nursing Licensure Compact this year, so travel nurses with compact licenses can work in the state with no wait and no extra licensing fees. For non-compact license holders, you can still apply for a temporary single-state license, but be aware it can take 10-14 business days to process. For RNs—prepare for a (potential) Prophecy exam “Quite a few CO hospitals require that you take a Prophecy exam before being submitted to the position, so be prepared to pass your core Prophecy testing,” Summers said. For surgical techs—get your Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) certification Colorado is unique in that surgical technologists must get their DORA certification before submitting to any jobs, Reitinger said. This will involve a fingerprint background check with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. You can apply for a DORA certification by clicking here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dora/dpo Expect good snowfall this year According to weather data from the NOAA, Colorado residents should expect to see above average precipitation totals and average temperatures, especially for those in the Southeast region of the state.
The 5 Most Expensive States for Travel Nursing
One of the main benefits of travel nursing is the travel itself. What your recruiter or agency might not tell you is that some of these locations will leave an expensive dent in your wallet. By using data from our Travel Nursing Pay Packages and Cost of Living By State guide, we’ve put together a ranked list for the five states where you might actually spend more money than you make. Using the exact opposite criteria as our Five Best Value States for Thrifty Travel Nurses, we looked at the bottom 20 lowest paying states and singled out the locations that were at least 5 points above the 100.00 baseline of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ regional price parity index (PPI). In locations above baseline, you can expect to pay more for rent and other basic consumer goods like food and gas. While three of the most expensive states are popular vacation destinations, two states on the list were surprising to see. 5. Colorado At No. 5, we had to make a special exception for Colorado because it is only at 103 points on the PPI. However, it ranks at No. 34 for highest pay packages, which puts it in the 20 lowest paying states. This isn’t a huge surprise. The state is one of the most popular vacation and travel destinations, especially in the summer for travelers that are looking for cooler temperatures and beautiful mountains to explore. As far as “most expensive” travel nursing state, you could certainly do much worse than Colorado. 4. New Hampshire New Hampshire also barely made the list, with a 105.9 PPI rating and a No. 41 ranking on our Highest Pay Packages list. The Granite State mirrors its neighboring states with high costs of living like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, but doesn’t offer comparatively high pay packages. Travelers also don’t apply to New Hampshire that often—it’s ranked at No. 37 or lower this year in terms of total applications each month, according to StaffDNA job board data. On the plus side, if your heart is set on seeing big cities like Manchester or Concord, chances are you won’t be competing against many other nurses for a spot. 3. Connecticut Another New England state with a high price tag, Connecticut comes in at No. 3 on our list. The state offers some of the lowest average pay packages in the country while having a PPI rating of 108.7. On our Highest Pay Packages list, it ranks at No. 48. Despite the low pay and high cost of living, those who want to visit New York City without actually working in New York City may be in luck—several of the major metropolitan areas in the state are a short 2-hour drive away from the Big Apple. 2. Washington D.C. (District of Columbia) It’s not technically a state, but most agencies and job boards treat Washington D.C. as its own region. So for the purposes of our lists, we do the same. It’s no secret that D.C. is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S., mostly because of sky-high rent, food and public transportation prices. But when you’re smack dab in the middle of our nation’s capitol, there are endless opportunities to experience historic landmarks, iconic monuments and some of the best museums in the country, most of which are free to visit. D.C is also a great place to visit if you prefer to rely on public transportation because it has some of the best systems in the US. 1. Hawaii If you’ve been sold on the dream of making a fortune in travel nursing while lounging on the world-famous beaches of the Hawaiian Islands between shifts, it’s time for a reality check. Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in the U.S, with a PPI rating almost 20 points above the national average at 118.4. Unlike its West Coast neighbor California, the state ranks near the bottom of our Highest Pay Package list at No. 38. (California ranks at No. 1) Hawaii’s popularity as a vacation destination contributes to the lower than average pay packages in the state. Since competition is always high, hospitals can bring on travelers who aren’t afraid to break even or even lose money while working. Experienced travelers know the draw of Hawaii is not the pay, but the adventure. It may be wise to save up from other assignments during the year before planning your paradise vacation contract.
Colorado, New Mexico Pass Compact Nursing License Legislation
The governors of New Mexico and Colorado signed legislation that adds their states to the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC), just one day ahead of the nationwide implementation deadline. This allows nurses with compact nursing licenses from each of those states to practice in any of the other eNLC member states without needing an in-state license. It also frees up any nurse with a compact nursing license from the other 27 eNLC states to practice in both Colorado and New Mexico. The signing of these two bills brings an end to the original Nurse Licensure Compact, leaving Rhode Island as the only original NLC state to not transition to the eNLC. Read our full breakdown of the new eNLC laws here, or visit the National Board of Nursing website.