When you think about careers with travel opportunities, healthcare jobs are probably not the first to come to mind. However, if you’re looking to combine your passion for the medical field with your hunger for travel, you’re in luck -- there are quite a few opportunities for you!
Hospitals and staffing groups are always searching for medical professionals with the flexibility to travel to new locations. These positions are lucrative for other reasons, too -- hospitals and staffing companies typically provide traveling professionals with a full benefits package, furnished housing, mileage reimbursement, and sometimes even a rental car.
If you think this type of hospital job might be right for you, here are fifteen traveling positions to check out:
A travel nurse is a registered nurse who is hired to work in a specific area for a limited amount of time (typically 13 to 26 weeks). Due to the high demand for nurses, it is not rare for there to be shortages in certain areas. That’s where travel nurses come in.
They will travel to new locations to fill gaps where they are needed -- and they often get to choose where they go! The growth for nursing jobs currently sits at a high 16%, but the demand for nurses who are willing to travel is even higher.
Additionally, while the median pay for nurses is around $68,000 per year, travel nurses can expect even more than that with the many financial benefits that come along with traveling. Usually, traveling RNs receive a stipend to cover housing arrangements while on the assignment, as well as transportation expenses and more.
To read more about what makes travel nursing an incredible hospital career, read our blog post all about it.
Interested in a career in travel nursing? Visit our travel nursing jobs page to find current opportunities.
Not yet a full-blown medical professional, but still want to get some great experience in a hospital job before continuing your education? Scribing is the way to go -- and it even offers opportunities for travel! If you missed our blog post all about the role of a medical scribe, you can read it here.
If you are currently a medical scribe, or have experience scribing, you might be able to become a Certified Trainer Scribe with opportunities to travel to facilities across the country. As a CTS, you’ll help implement new scribe programs in emergency departments for six or more weeks at a time.
Once your time at one facility is up, you can travel to a new location. Like travel nurses, Certified Trainer Scribes enjoy covered housing and transportation expenses, and in some cases, the company provides a rental car to drive while on assignments.
If you are a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, or in any other therapy job with a desire to travel, becoming a traveling therapist could be just what you’re looking for.
Often, a hospital or healthcare facility may have therapy jobs open due to absences and leaves, staffing training, or any other circumstance that results in a staffing gap. Typically, assignments last from 13 to 26 weeks, with the opportunity to travel somewhere new afterwards or take a break between assignments -- and you can choose where you want to go.
Also, like other traveling hospital careers, travel therapists enjoy numerous financial benefits.
If you are a medical school student or a practicing physician, this one’s for you. Locum tenens is a Latin phrase meaning “to hold the place of, to substitute for” -- which is exactly what these physicians do.
When a physician is on an extended leave, or hospitals are in need of staff during peak seasons, locum tenens physicians fill in for them. Practicing physicians choose to take the locum tenens route for a variety of reasons including a more flexible schedule, experience in different facilities and settings, extra income, and of course, travel opportunities.
Locum tenens placements can last from a number of days to six months or more depending on the position that needs to be filled. To find out more about locum tenens physicians, and how to become one, this website may be helpful.
Whether you are a physician, a nurse, a therapist, or simply trying to get more experience in the medical field, there is a variety of career opportunities that allow you to travel the country -- and many travel jobs let you choose where you want to go!
Also, because hospital jobs are in high demand, traveling comes with many financial and personal benefits. If you have skills in the medical field, a passion for taking care of people, a love for travel, and a flexible schedule, the possibilities of a traveling healthcare career are endless.
One great job that you should consider for travel healthcare jobs is becoming a medical devices sales representative.
Medical device sales representatives represent an important piece of the healthcare system, as hospitals, and healthcare facilities need medical devices to provide the most up to date care for patients with the new and exciting equipment.
One of the great benefits of becoming a medical device sales representative is the offer to travel.
Plenty of healthcare medical device sales companies need experienced and talented sales professionals to travel across the country for different regions, or globally in their efforts to expand in other countries.
Another benefit of working as a medical device sales representatives is that as a sales professional there are few limits to potential earnings.
Many medical device sales companies will provide a base salary, in addition to high compensation percentages for the commissions you make on each sale.
In some cases, plenty of medical device sales companies will also offer compensation for relocation expenses, and also cover any expenses that might be incurred during a sale such as sales lunches or business expenses.
Becoming a medical device sales representative is great for those who want to find a job that has a constant learning dynamic - as there are new medical devices being released each year that help improve patients daily lives and rate of receiving care. Take the time to view some of the sales related positions or medical device sales representative travel healthcare jobs available.
Similar to a medical device sales representative, another great travel healthcare job is a pharmaceutical sales representative.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives travel across the country to various healthcare facilities, healthcare clinics, and hospitals to match the pharmaceutical needs that might arise.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives, or commonly referred to as pharma-reps help educate healthcare and medical professionals that prescribe medication to patients about the benefits and drawbacks that their product lineup might have.
In addition, they help educate healthcare professionals about some of the differences from existing products in their lineup, and new changes in improving care for patients that the new product lineup might create.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives are a great job for those seeking a healthcare job for traveling, but it can also be stressful for those who hold the position.
Becoming a pharma sales rep can be stressful due to the fact that the sales representatives are tasked with learning all there is to know about each drug that they are trying to sell. This includes the chemistry makeup, method of action, potential side effects, and potential interactions with other drugs that the patient might currently be taken while receiving specific care.
Similar to a medical device sales representative, pharmaceutical sales representatives also have the ability to make a lot of money in the industry.
It is also one of the most engaging careers, due to the fact that there are constantly new medical drug innovations that help patients improve their care and return to their normal routine even quicker. Take the time to view some of the current pharmaceutical travel healthcare jobs, and pharmaceutical hospital jobs we have posted on HospitalCareers.
Another travel healthcare job to consider is a military health career. These individuals not only get to do what they love in serving patients, but also get to serve their country, and travel the world.
There are plenty of medical jobs or careers in the armed forces, as the US Army has roughly 31 different medical and emergency careers or jobs available.
As with any other armed forces occupation, typically you have to enlist for a set amount of time. Some enlistment periods differ depending on some extenuating circumstances or goals, so you will have to get in touch with a local recruiter to find that information out.
Depending upon whether you have any prior experience, education, or deployment experience you will receive additional training and appropriate rankings for your background.
This travel healthcare career is great for those who are looking for ways to serve their country, in addition to helping patients improve over time.
Not only do individuals who focus on a military health career provide aid to their fellow combat members and support staff, they can also provide care and relief to victims that need aid in foreign countries. In addition, there are typically enlistment bonuses upwards of $40,000 for qualified applicants who enlist or sign up for a specified term of service.
Another great travel healthcare career to consider is becoming a healthcare consultant. In the modern care age, hospitals and healthcare facilities need additional expertise to ensure that they can raise revenues, reduce cost, and improve patient care outcomes.
One great way of doing this is to bring in healthcare consultants who have expertise, and can find areas of opportunity in various regions.
Healthcare consultants are healthcare professionals who have prior experience in specific regions or overall healthcare business management.
Healthcare consultants provide valuable expertise, and are vital to improving hospital standards and procedures from an outside perspective.
In many situations, hospitals and healthcare facilities can get bogged down from similar viewpoints, and bringing in an outside expert to provide critical overview of the systems and procedures in place can provide a fresh take on ways to improve existing standards.
If you are seeking a unique travel job that provides a twist each day, then you should consider becoming a healthcare consultant.
Each hospital or facility you visit will present its own unique challenges and opportunities, and you will be tasked with navigating the waters and providing feedback.
Depending upon the task, healthcare consultants can be brought on for a short duration, or an extended duration based on the expected role you will play.
Some hospitals or healthcare facilities will only ask for an audit on existing systems, and seek recommendations. While other hospitals or healthcare facilities will ask for you to come in, perform an audit, and then oversee and manage any changes that need to take effect.
The latter can take a considerable amount of time, so if you are seeking a healthcare consultant role that travels quite frequently, you need to make sure that you ask important questions to understand the scope of your responsibilities at each hospital or healthcare facility you will travel to.
Another exciting travel healthcare job to consider is becoming sports medicine consultants. Sports medicine consultants have the luxury of traveling across the country and dealing with some of the finest athletes around.
Sports medicine consultants can come in a variety of potential positions or occupations such as physical therapy, athletic trainers, nutritionists, and more.
Athletes are willing to pay a pretty penny for those individuals who are willing to travel across the country and make sure their athlete(s) are in prime condition and maintaining peak well-being and health.
In many cases, organizations are willing to cover almost every single expense for sports medicine consultants, as these professionals will typically fly in and fly out after treating the athlete quickly.
In some cases, managers and companies who oversee athletes and their development will hire on sports medicine consultants for extended periods of time to ensure that they maintain their well-being and physical fitness throughout the duration of the athletic endeavor, for instance a training camp for a boxer.
This means that becoming a sports medicine consultant is a great position for those healthcare professionals who want flexibility in when and how often they work, due to the fact that they get to pick and choose which athletes or companies they work with, and for how long they wish to work with them.
For those healthcare professionals looking to travel across the country and work with athletes, and view some of the most attractive sporting cities or venues this might be the occupation for you.
Increasingly, hospitals and healthcare companies are looking for ways to stay connected with their patients and provide care in ways that hasn’t been seen before. One of these innovative ways is through the use of telemedicine techniques.
Telemedicine can be broken down into the sharing of information between patients and healthcare providers through the use of technology to provide healthcare and treatment for patients from a distance.
The reason that telemedicine is a great job for those looking to travel is that you can travel across the country or globe, and as long as you have a valid internet connection you can keep up to date and interact with patients under your care.
Currently there are four segments of telemedicine including: live video-conferencing, store-and-forward or asynchronous video, remote patient monitoring, and mobile healthcare.
Each one of these offer their own unique element of telemedicine that you can participate in for a travel hospital job or travel healthcare job.
Telemedicine jobs are going to continue to grow in importance over time as patients need care in new and innovative ways, and hospitals and healthcare facilities seek ways to provide that care to those patients who cannot get care in typical fashion by attending regular patient interactions or need constant care outside the hospital.
One great thing about technology today is that there are so many new opportunities available, especially those individuals looking into the technology side of patient care.
For those individuals who have a passion for technology and data science, there are plenty of opportunities available to those individuals who wish to travel as well.
Healthcare companies are looking for ways to improve patient care outcomes, and one of the best ways is through the use of big data and artificial intelligence. And there is a gigantic need for healthcare professionals who can develop, implement, analyze, and monitor systems that will help hospitals and healthcare facilities.
The great part about these emerging technologies is that there are plenty of healthcare information technology positions that can be done remotely. And if you can do a job remotely, then you should be able to complete your duties as long as you have an secured internet connection.
This means that there are plenty of information technology jobs available that offer travel opportunities for programmers, data analysts, software engineers, and informaticists who wish to improve patient care in the healthcare industry.
One great travel healthcare position that is extremely flexible are healthcare writers. These healthcare professionals help share their healthcare and hospital experiences online through digital mediums such as articles, blogs, magazines, and other publications.
One great thing about becoming a healthcare writer is that you can write from anywhere that you have access to a computer. This means that if you fancy writing a lengthy blog post from a beach while on vacation, you can do just that.
Healthcare writers are so valuable moving forward as they can provide a real glimpse into what it takes to becoming a healthcare professional, and guide new healthcare professionals moving forward.
One of the great benefits of being a healthcare writer as well, is that there are both opportunities with companies, or you can decide to be a freelancer.
If you decide to be a freelancer, you can dictate what topics you want to write about, and your schedule. Whereas if you decide to work with a company, you might not have that same flexibility.
Regardless, becoming a healthcare writer is a great way to showcase and share your valuable experience to those seeking advice, and enjoy your passion for traveling at the same time.
Another potential travel healthcare job for you to consider is participating in home healthcare. Home healthcare companies constantly seek affiliated healthcare professionals who can assist in shortages that might occur for home health care aides.
Home health care aides will drop by and check on patients and make sure that they have all that they need to continually improve their care or maintain status quo.
This means that there are opportunities for healthcare professionals who wish to travel and still provide care to patients in unique ways.
The only drawback about this position, is that one unique of being a home care aide is that you develop a relationship over time with the patients you see. If you are traveling through town and only check on them once or twice, you won’t be able to establish as deep of a relationship as possible.
Another healthcare job for those that love to travel is in the realm of social work. There are plenty of travel-based and remote-based opportunities for those individuals who enjoy interacting with patients and their families.
Social workers have a unique ability of interacting with patients and their families, and educating them to improve their overall well-being.
Social workers are critical for providing counseling, and guidance to patients and families as they navigate difficult care pathways and understand their treatment options.
Similar to telemedicine, social work can be done through various remote opportunities and doesn’t have to always be face-to-face. Although it is one of the main ways in which hospitals or healthcare facilities conduct business, there has been an increase desire to switch to remote-based social work opportunities to cut down costs and reach a wider patient audience.
This means that social work is a great job for those healthcare professionals who are seeking ways to impact others, offer guidance, and travel as well.
Another great travel hospital job or travel healthcare job that you should consider is participating in a non-governmental association. These non-government associations travel the country or globe to provide aid relief in some of the most embattled or poor regions.
These associations offer a great opportunity for you to impact others in a positive way as well as experience some of the most interesting and exotic locations.
One of the most common healthcare non-governmental organizations that most people know about is Doctors Without Borders.
This is just one example of a healthcare organization that offers travel opportunities. Some of them also provide salary, travel compensation, and food benefits with a commitment to the organization for a term.
As one can see, there are plenty of travel healthcare jobs and travel hospital jobs that you should consider if you want to see the world and impact patients in a positive way.
Are you a traveling medical professional? Tell us about your experience in the comments!