This can definitely be hard and is probably one of the greatest challenges of traveling healthcare. It just isn’t for everybody. The first week is always the hardest as you are meeting new colleagues, meeting new patients, learning a new documentation system/clinic flow, all while moving into a new place which means unpacking, figuring out your commute, where you will get groceries, workout, and explore.
Sounds exhausting, right?!
Well truly it isn’t as scary as it sounds.
A New Job and Staff
At some point, all of us have started a new job, traveling healthcare is no different.
Every place you go to will have some form of an orientation and a ramp up period before your caseload become full. You aren’t just thrown to the wolves. They want you to succeed and enjoy your experience.
You are an expensive commodity and usually are helping to keep the current staffs sanity. No one wants you to feel overwhelmed or under appreciated to the point where you leave. In that case, everyone’s job at the current clinic would get much harder and they would be scrambling for coverage.
Remember, there is ALWAYS a reason that they need you.
If you remember this, you will never let yourself get taken advantage of.
I have heard stories of traveling healthcare professionals getting backlash or resentment due to the fact that they are making more money than the current tenured staff.
To this, I always say that each healthcare employee has the same opportunity as me to leave their home, family, and state to travel as well. They made their choice and I made mine. Don’t let it get to you!
Though, in my experiences thus far, everyone has been overly nice to me and helpful with learning the clinic flow and the documentation. I actually had one physical therapy fellow in training personally teach me new techniques, research, and clinical approaches in our down time.
It was of no benefit to him to train me, but he did. I learned, and we created a friendship. I still stay in contact with this PT and he actually just opened up his own practice which I help by promoting, writing reviews, etc. It always pays off to be nice to people.
A Word of Advice
My word of advice when starting at a new clinic would be to always offer to help out your colleagues when you have free time, especially right away when your schedule is lighter. Ask if you can get them anything, take a patient if they are swamped, or clean their treatment area.
Even if they decline, the thought of asking, can go a long way to quickly build rapport when working with a new group of healthcare professionals who have worked together for decades.
Secondly, and this should probably be my first word of advice. Treat your secretaries (if you have them), better than you treat your own family. Your secretaries are truly the ones who run the clinic and control your life, not your boss. If your secretary wants to make your life suck, they can. Treat them well, and it’s one more person you will have in your corner.
A New Location
Again, this should be fun. One of my favorite things to do before and right away when I get to a new assignment is to create a list of everything I want to do, see, and eat in the surrounding area. This lets me map out my free time so I’m not scrambling at the end of my contract to see everything, because that defeats the purpose of slow travel.
Google things, but more importantly talk to your colleagues and patients about all the great things that the average tourist might miss. I’m telling you, this is where the best food ideas come from!
But I do understand that not everything about a new location is the fun, exciting travel part. We do need figure our commute, where to get groceries, where to workout or walk your dog, or possibly do laundry.
So I always recommend determining where these things are in your town before you decide on your short term housing. This helps remove a lot of that first week stress that’s associated with completing all of these routine tasks.
Mapping Your Commute
Always, always, always map your potentially commute during the times you will be commuting to and from work. Rush hours are different in different places, so don’t assume.
I thought I understood commuting having commuted through Minneapolis-St. Paul so much… NOT the same as Boston. I almost made a very costly decision to live in an area of Boston that was mileage-wise very close to work…but time-wise would have taken me over an hour each way.
Same can be said for groceries, gyms, parks, running trails, or laundry (all depending on your routinely needs). Map where these locations are prior to deciding on where to live. If you know you go to the gym everyday after work, map it at that time. It may take longer than you think.
Determining this stuff prior to starting your assignment will significantly decrease your stress during your first week of work because you will already know where you plan to go and how long it will take to get there. This allows you to get into a routine quicker and definitely lessens the initial shell shock of being in a new area, especially if it’s in a heavily populated area.
A New Patient Population
People are people, whether you grew up in the North, South, East, or West. It’s all the same. If you are a nurse, nursing assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, doctor, tech, anything, you already know how to do your job. A different patient population isn’t going to change the anatomy of people, they are all the same. Don’t question your skills just because you are in a new place.
Yes, there will be cultural differences but you will learn these very quickly without even trying. This is one of the main things I love about traveling is expanding my cultural understanding.
In the South, I started calling my female patients miss and then their first name, as well as, saying ya’ll. You adapt much quicker than you think. Although, I still don’t think I can follow a conversation between two people with a heavy Boston accent.
And if you don’t know something. Just ask. It’s better to ask than assume and most of the times patients will appreciate your general interest in them.
If you are nervous about it, just treat people kindly, and nothing else will matter. My older patients love teaching me about the culture or history of an area, and I love learning it.
Conclusion
Yes, there will be many things that will be new. And yes, this can be very scary at times but just as exciting. However, putting in a little extra work in up front can go a long way in decreasing this fear and stress which will help to make it a pretty amazing experience. An experience that most people don’t get have. Always remember that!
Let me know below if you have any tricks or secrets to starting a new job or learning a new area quickly?
If you have any specific questions or want to get in touch with me regarding my traveling company or recruiter, feel free to message me here.
*Last Updated 3/11/20
