It’s a new year with all new opportunities, especially if you’re a trained medical professional seeking to explore the country as part of your career.
Maybe this is the year you decide to shed the shackles of a traditional per-diem job and embrace the freedom offered by the life of a traveling medical specialist. If you’re someone who loves meeting new people, seeing new sights and participating in new experiences, the lifestyle could be perfect for you.
While travel nurses are always atop employers’ wish lists (the volume of working travel nurses was up 4 percent as of July), analysts say a number of other skilled professionals will be highly sought after this year as well.
According to global employment site Monster traveling specialists expected to be in the greatest demand in 2019 include those working in respiratory therapy, medical technology, nuclear medicine, vascular sonography and interventional cardiovascular fields. The website also points to multiple travel openings in pharmacy; physical, radiation and occupational therapy; radiologic and surgical technology; and fields such as bone densitometry, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, mammography, speech pathology and ophthalmic ultrasound.
Because of California's sizable population and its regulatory environment requiring specific nurse-to-patient ratios, the Golden State is expected to again top the list of states generating the highest demand this year for traveling RNs and other medical professionals. Fortunately, salaries there are usually adjusted upward, which could be good news for those seeking a profitable escape to a warm, sunny tourist destination. You need some Cali sun, and great-paying job while you’re at it? Well, check out all of our current California jobs here
Other states with high demand are expected to include Texas, Florida, Illinois and Colorado, due mostly to their high populations and to shifting demographics involving the mass retirement of baby boomer-aged medical professionals. But opportunity abounds across much of the U.S. Browse all of our jobs across the country (here)
“Travel healthcare workers are in demand all over the world,” notes Jennifer LeClaire in the Monster report. “Larger U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles, or more exotic locales like Alaska and Hawaii, typically offer more opportunities than smaller, less-traveled regions.”
Let 2019 be the year you think outside the box and consider a career as a traveling medical specialist.