Category: Travel NP Advice

One of the benefits of working locum tenens is you are paid hourly. So if you have a busy day and end up staying an extra hour or two to catch up on documentation, you can bill for those hours. When those hours accumulate and exceed more than your 40 hour workweek, you get paid overtime (time and a half).

Most medical providers work beyond the 40 hour workweek. Unfortunately, those that are salary do not get paid for the extra hours they put in. Working during your lunch or for an extra half an hour after the clinic closes can easily add up.

Some weeks I work 42 hours a week, other times I may work 50 hours that week. Although I do not like having to work more than my 8 hour shift, things come up. I am grateful I at least get paid for it in comparison to my co-workers. The extra pay does add up. I calculated that working an average of 2 extra hours per week of overtime all year, can accumulate to one month’s income. This makes up for unpaid time off we use for vacations.

Some sites may be stricter with paying overtime, while others are more lenient. In my experience, as long as your are straightforward and do not take advantage; the sites will pay the overtime hours worked, no questions asked. I think most medical facilities are aware that their employees work more than the 40 hour workweek.

Each month I will include a blog entry answering some of the most common questions I get from readers about locum tenens as a nurse practitioner. Feel free to comment any questions you have or email me at travelingNP.com@gmail.com.

 

• How long does it take to start your first assignment?

 

The answer to this question varies depending on if you are looking to work in your current state or accept a federal healthcare site position. In these cases, you can start your first assignment within 1 week.

If you are looking to travel to a new state working in the private sector, then starting your first assignment can take about 1-3 months from initiating your search.

After realizing you are interested in working as a traveling nurse practitioner, your first step would be to contact multiple agencies and become credentialed with them. Then you want to go ahead and apply for one or two licenses in another state. Check out my licensing page to see the average timeline for states licenses. Ideally for your first job you want to choose a state that will grant a license quickly such as Montana or Washington.

So that first month is really about establishing a relationship with agencies and recruiters, and obtaining licenses. In the mean time, you can search for locum tenens positions and your recruiter will present you to these sites while your licenses are pending. The timeframe between being presented to a job, interviewing, and then accepting an assignment can be 1-2 weeks. After accepting an assignment you will need to become credentialed, depending on the site this can take 1 week to 1 month.

To be on the safe side try to plan for at least 1-3 months before starting your first assignment. That means do not quit your current job until you have officially accepted an assignment. If your current lease is ending in the upcoming months, start your job search at least 3 months out.

Check out this article I wrote for www.travelnursing.org about common mistakes made by new travel nurses:

http://www.travelnursing.org/7-most-common-mistakes-made-by-new-travel-nurses/

Each month I will include a blog entry answering some of the most common questions I get from readers about locum tenens as a nurse practitioner. Feel free to comment any questions you have or email me at travelingNP.com@gmail.com.

 

• How do I know if a particular locum tenens job is right for me?

 

Upon searching for an assignment, you can easily become overwhelmed because there are so many jobs out there. I think you will need to first narrow down your job search to a particular state. Then consider what you value the most out of a job. Is it the type of facility (urgent care vs community health center)? Is it the hours worked (day shift vs night shift/ weekends vs weekdays)? Is it the length of an assignment (4 weeks vs 6 months)? Etc.

 Remember sites are looking for locum tenens nurse practitioners because we are supposed to be flexible. So if this new job is open on Saturdays, they will likely request you to work some Saturdays. If working on weekends is not an option for you, then do not accept the position. If you are a new nurse practitioner, you should definitely stay away from solo-practice settings. This means you are expected to work alone which isn’t ideal for a new grad, because you need mentors to ask questions to.

 Be sure to ask the right questions when you are being interviewed. See this past post for more details:

Interview: Travel Nurse Practitioner

 To answer this question, there may not always be the “perfect” assignment, but as long as it meets your needs, you should be fine. The more I work in locum tenens, the more I narrow down my job search to meet my maximum patients-per-day ratio. If a job is in my ideal city with a 30 patient per day schedule, I would rather choose the job with a 20 patient per day schedule in a city 1 or 2 hours further away. This way I know my work-life will be less stressful.

Each month I will include a blog entry answering some of the most common questions I get from readers about locum tenens as a nurse practitioner. Feel free to comment any questions you have or email me at travelingNP.com@gmail.com.

 

• Should I apply for state licenses during the search process, or wait until I have accepted an assignment?

I personally apply for state licenses as I go. Most of the time sites will want someone who already has their state license or at least pending (already started the application process). Sometimes agencies will work with you and assist you in obtaining licenses in states that are plentiful with jobs (such as Arizona, Oregon, California etc). I think new locum tenens nurse practitioners think that the process often starts with accepting an assignment and THEN getting the license. However, obtaining a license can often take 1-2 months (since we need both the RN and ARNP license), so sites typically do not want to wait more than 1 month for their provider to start. On the plus side, if you keep all of your receipts then the site/agency will reimburse you for the licensing costs once you start the assignment.

I was recently interviewed along with fellow locum tenens nurse practitioner, Katherine Padilla, about my experiences working in locum tenens by Clinician Today.

“When most people graduate from a nurse practitioner program, they look for a permanent position in their area. However, there’s another option that offers its own benefits, especially for NPs who crave freedom and flexibility. Locum tenens, or becoming a traveling NP, is an attractive option for many.

But what’s it really like to be a traveling NP, and why do some make the choice to forgo a traditional position for a traveling one? To answer this question, we talked to Sophia Khawly and Katherine Padilla, two NPs who are currently working in locum tenens positions.

Today, we’re sharing five fascinating truths about traveling nurse practitioners, straight from the source.”

Click below to read the remainder of the article:

http://cliniciantoday.com/5-fascinating-truths-about-traveling-nurse-practitioners/

Every provider should have a “CAQH profile” that allows insurance companies to enroll you as a provider with their plans.

As a locum tenens nurse practitioner, I am frequently asked for my CAQH number and login information during the credentialing process. In order to enroll you as a participating provider with the insurance plans the sites accept, they need supporting information that the CAQH profile provides.

I recommend that you keep your profile up to date to help facilitate the credentialing process. Each time I obtain a new license or liability insurance, I make sure to update my CAQH profile. This way, when I accept a new assignment, my CAQH profile is already ready for review.

In your CAQH profile you will need to keep updated records of your:

-RN and ARNP licenses (numbers and expiration dates)

-Malpractice insurance names and dates (with each assignment)

-Education and certifications

-All work history (including contacts and addresses)

-State Medicare and Medicaid numbers

-Professional references

 

If you do not already have a profile, I recommend you create one by clicking the link below:

CAQH Profile

Each month I will include a blog entry answering some of the most common questions I get from readers about locum tenens as a nurse practitioner. Feel free to comment any questions you have or email me at travelingNP.com@gmail.com.

Do locum tenens nurse practitioners get paid more than full-time employees?

Yes. You should expect to be paid at least $10/h more than you made as a full-time employee. I personally wouldn’t take less than $70/h for a locum tenens assignment. Keep in mind that government sites often pay less than that.

In addition, technically we get paid more than our salary co-workers because we are able to accumulate overtime hours when we work more than 40 hours per week. If I have to work during my lunch break, or stay an extra hour to see a walk-in patient or catch up on my documentation, I am paid time and a half.

If an assignment offers you an extension, do not be afraid to negotiate a higher hourly rate. They need you and enjoy having you work with them, so they will often be willing to increase your hourly rate by another $5/h.

For the first 2 weeks of my assignment, I lived at the Towneplace Suites Marriott hotel. My stay was enjoyable because I had a full kitchen, free breakfast, and was able to accumulate more Marriott Rewards points.

In the mean time I was provided with a couple of apartment options and visited the apartments before narrowing them down to one. The apartment I selected was a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom furnished apartment. It was nice because the agency had the entire apartment filled with everyday items such as dishes, towels, bed linen, pillows, a television, etc. Since I often stay at Airbnbs or hotels, I do not typically travel with these items, so it was great that I didn’t have to worry about obtaining them. Once you start jotting down all of the household items you need to travel with, it starts to accumulate.

I am usually pretty open to housing options when working locum tenens. I think the most important thing to me is having a kitchen, especially for longer assignments. Be sure to ask about your housing options BEFORE you accept an assignment. Believe it or not, some agencies do not offer apartments as housing alternatives. Other times, the town you will be working in does not have anything better to live out of than a motel 8.

Rarely, you may be able to negotiate a housing stipend but be aware of low-ball offers. For example, a fellow traveling Nurse Practitioner was offered $2000/mo housing stipend for the San Francisco Bay Area! In somewhere like Texas, that goes a long way. However, the average agency spends $4000/mo on housing for locum tenens nurse practitioners in the Bay area, since housing is extremely expensive there! Luckily, I was able to provide her with that insight and she re-negotiated her housing stipend.