Traveling Nurse

Thanks to the traveling nurse program at Tempe St. Luke's Hospital, we are able to provide a better consistency, continuity, and quality of care that results in a better environment for employees and patients alike.

Traveling nurses are nursing professionals, typically registered nurses, who work at different hospitals for short periods of time in order to bridge a staffing gap. The idea to create positions for travel nursing emerged in response to the national nursing shortage. Today, there are approximately 25,500 people throughout the nation with travel nurse jobs.

We contract directly with nurses, who go through the same hospital orientation, computer training and nursing orientation as our regular staff nurses. Although traveling nurses may end up working in any nursing department, we have the strongest need for traveling nurses in our ICU and specialty care units.

All traveling nurses will work with computerized bedside charting, electronic medical records, and bar code medication system technology. Candidates should be committed to providing exceptional service to all of our customers, be team oriented, and demonstrate a high level of professionalism.

Although requirements can change depending on the department, most traveling nurses should have at least three years of experience, license to practice as an RN in Arizona, and certification in Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support.

Each traveling nurse assignment lasts for 12 consecutive weeks, with 72 hours scheduled bi-weekly. This assignment can be extended if there is a continuing need in the nursing unit; traveling nurses may transition into a regular staff role if there is a need in the department.