Travel Nurse, Brenna Frigulti

[00:00] Michelle: My interview with Brenna Frigulti was so informative. She brought us everything travel nursing, from what to expect at a new hospital, how to avoid sketchy housing, how to negotiate a contract, make friends, and explore the surroundings. Listening to Brenna, you can just hear her knowledge and passion about critical care, and travel nursing in every word. I was inspired by her story about what travel nursing enabled her to do financially. She survived my hot closet, and she wasn't the least bit scared of the dolls. In the five-minute snippet, her bougie self makes an appearance. Five-star hotels for the win. Here is Brenna Frigulti. You're listening to the Conversing Nurse podcast. I'm Michelle, your host. And this is where together, we explore the nursing profession, one conversation at a time. Well, hello, Brenna.
[01:04] Brenna: Hi.
[01:05] Michelle: Welcome to my closet, my closet is dolls. So, you guys, I am going to post on Instagram because you've heard me say this a couple of times that I recorded my closet. And there's a lot of dolls in here and it can be kind of weird and creepy, but it's mostly nice. So thank you so much for being here.
[01:25] Brenna: Thank you for having me. And it's definitely not what I imagine. I thought it was going to be like hundreds of dolls sitting in here with little glass eyes. And these are collectors' items. Okay.
[01:37] Michelle: From my childhood. And there's other stuff in here, too, that you would find suitcases and stuff. So I'm glad you're not scared. I don't want you to be scared.
[01:46] Brenna: No, not at all.
[01:48] Michelle: Well, you're here today because we're talking about travel nursing, and it's huge. And let's just start out by talking about why we need travel nurses.
[02:02] Brenna: So I think travel nurses because we have such a shortage. I go into the hospital specifically and I do assignments for 13 weeks, about three months. And the hospitals are very short-staffed. They don't even have enough to cover their ICU shifts. And a lot of times we'll float out to other ICUs, too, but they're having problems stuff during the day, which is usually the easiest shift to staff. Everybody wants to work the day shift, and they will usually raise in for three months, and then at the end of three months, they decide if they need us to stay a little bit longer. Hospitals right now are having a really hard time retaining staff nurses. And I don't specifically think that's because of travelers. I think it has to do more. So with what's going on in the hospital, they're not paying their staff enough. They're not offering them enough bonuses to pick up shifts. I saw something the other day where this hospital put out mandatory extra shifts, not on-call shifts like where you take a call shift here and there. They were coming in each person for like one to two extra shifts a week, and it was mandatory or they were going to get in trouble and possibly lose their job.
[03:11] Michelle: Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, that's not sustainable for the nurses, obviously. A lot of us, as you've probably witnessed, are suffering from burnout after COVID and COVID is not done. So you hit on so many good points about hospitals not providing equitable pay, and it's a multifactorial thing and you checked a lot of them off. So we need travel nurses. You are here to stay until institutions find a way to fix all of those other issues. So tell me a little bit about how you got into nursing because I saw that you went into emergency room nursing right out of school, which is really unusual. So talk a little bit about that.
[04:15] Brenna: Yes. So my first job right out of school was in the ER, which was actually here, my cellular quiet Delta. I got super lucky because my preceptor that I had for school, well, my clinical instructor, I should say, for my last semester, was my preceptor in the ER for my leadership fellowship shifts at the end of nursing school. And he was an ER nurse. So I got lucky and I was able to do my preceptorship with him in the emergency room. I did my last six to eight clinical shifts with him and I was able to see the fast-paced environment. I really liked it. I already knew that I didn't really want to work on one of the floors. I would go and I'd get all my stuff done, like, really early and I'd be bored because there's only so much students can do. There was a lot more for me to do. There was always a job, like something for me to do, so I liked it. And then I got lucky because when I did my preceptorship, I did most of the work. So I learned the charting system and one of the managers that was working saw that I could chart everything, that I was getting most of the skill stuff done. Not necessarily. I didn't have all the critical thinking down, I won't go that far with just experience. Yeah, but I was getting the jobs done, like, to get all the tasks done. He was like, wow, this girl's fast. She learned the charting and after I took my inquiry, I applied for a job and they offered me a position.
[05:42] Michelle: I love to hear your story because I think it's important that we change how we do things in nursing in terms of the old days, and it's not really so old. They used to say that when you graduated, you needed to work on a med surge unit for like, one to two years to get that experience before you went to do the thing that you really loved and that you were really passionate about. And what they're finding is that when you're doing a job that you don't enjoy, you're going to burn out. And that was happening and a lot of nurses were leaving nursing within a couple of years because they were not doing what they wanted to do, what they felt like they were called to do. So I'm glad that institutions are changing that. I've talked a lot about the NICU because that's where I worked, and we had a great manager, well, she's still there, but she hired a lot of new grads because in nursing school, they were like, I loved my NICU rotation. This is what I want to do. They connected with the nurses. They connected with the patients, and that was their passion. And so why should they go be forced to work somewhere else when this is really what they want to do? So I like that managers are starting to see that and institutions are starting to do that. So I think that's just really valuable that you told me your story because we need to get it out there. So you worked in the ED for a couple of years?
[07:28] Brenna: Yeah, I worked there a year and a half. Okay. And I actually stayed on longer than that, but the purpose, so I'd come and pick up my extra shift down there. I didn't want to lose, like, my trauma experience and that kind of stuff, and then I transitioned into critical care, so I trained in ICU and CV. ICU we had abroad ICU there, where we did some neuro, we did surgical, we did trauma, and then I could go over to CV. So that was nice, too. If I learned a lot, I can say I learned so much from them. And then after being in ICU for about a year and a half, that's when I started traveling. And touching back on what you said about people going into the career that they want to, I think it's really important because I think that if I had gone to one of the floors, I don't really think I'd still be a nurse. I think that I would have been after a year, I'd have said, I'm bored. This isn't what I got into nursing to do. I always tell people, whatever job you really want out of school, obviously, you need to get a job, take a job. But if there's a job that you really want, go and be flexible and apply for as many times as you need to for that job, but branch out an hour away from home, 30 minutes away from home, maybe not just one hospital. And be persistent. You know, call a manager. Give a manager an email. You know, shoot them an email here and there and say, hey, I'm really interested because it's important to get into what you want to do, or you're not going to end up enjoying it in the long run.
[09:00] Michelle: Yeah, I mean, that gave me the chills when you said that you probably would no longer be a nurse. And it's sad because what you go through to be a nurse is huge, and that's your passion. And then to just have to leave it because you're not doing what you want, that's really sad. So thank you for sharing that.
[09:30] Brenna: So after about a year and a half in the ICU, and I was still doing ER here and there, I took my first travel assignment. And now I've been traveling for about five years, a little over five years, and I've just taken ICU contracts, whether it's CVICU or regular ICU. I did neuro ICU for a little bit over in Fresno. That was a really cool assignment because I learned a lot. They did, like, major neurosurgeries, and I was like, wow, I had no idea. That this whole other realm of ice. I'd never gotten into our experience from quiet. We did some surgeries there too, but definitely, Fresno was very level one on their game. They were big-time surgery. So I was really impressed with some of the outcomes that they saw there. But yes, over the last five years, I've basically just traveled around California and taken different intensive care unit assignments.
[10:25] Michelle: I love that. So talking about assignments, when you enter a new hospital, a new unit, all of that stuff, it might be unfamiliar to you. And so what resources are available to you if you need to look at a policy or can you consult the clinical nurse specialist?
[10:51] Brenna: What kind of resources are available to you? The nice thing about hospitals is on almost every website that they have, they have, like, a link that can go to almost all the policies for the hospital. We can go to print them out, whether it's like a protocol, whether it's your chest pain protocol, you know if you can't get a hold of the doctor. Every policy they have about falls, central line care if you're changing, addressing that kind of stuff. But on the first day when you get to the hospital, they set you up with an educator. An educator usually goes over, like, simple tasks. You learn the IV pumps because they can be different facilities. You learn maybe their Central line kits because they can be a little bit different. So just easy skills to glucometers to make sure you have, like, a login, all these things that you don't think of are for it. And make sure your badge scans in the door, you don't think about that. I might not be able to get through this door. Get around the hospital if you're by yourself. So they check you in, and they basically go over some basic skills. They do some PowerPoints with, you know, what the hospital stands for, what's important, maybe have a few speakers, their mission statement. Mission statement, exactly. Exactly. They tell you, thank you for coming. And, you know, you go through the day and they take you for orientation of, like, a tour of the hospital, usually, and the unit. You meet your manager and that first day. You don't really get any clinical training, but they show you where the crash car is really important. Things like your oxygen shut off, and gas shut off for the hospital stairwells because you want to think if there's a fire.
[12:32] Michelle: Sure.
[12:32] Brenna: And it's really funny to think. I've been a nurse for a little over eight years and I have always known where the stairwell is, but I kind of didn't really ever think about in my mind how important it was. And I took an LA fire card class just this last summer, because in La. If some of the hospitals want a fire card so I did this two or three-hour course online. But then you have a teacher and you listen to them and you interactively type things on the screen and they know that you're still there. And I realized how quickly places can burn down. And I realized fires are a real thing. But the reason that they want us to take this fire course is because it does talk about how to get people out, the quickest evacuation, and where we should go. Like, stairwells are really the place to be. And I was like, wow, I didn't realize how important it was until this. I've always known where the fire extinguisher is and those kinds of things. But then when they were telling me how quickly things can go up in flames and burn and like to really contain if it's in an area, I.
[13:39] Michelle: Was like, wow, I need to be able to get out of here if I need to and get the patients out. We did a test run a couple of years ago with our NICU babies. We didn't use the real babies, obviously, the same thing because we were on the 6th floor, which is the top floor of the institution. And you might have to put a baby that weighs 500 grams in your pocket and that's intubated and, you know, figure out how to bag the kid on the way down and all those things. It's super scary. We all hope as medical professionals that we never need to do that, but it's great to know how, if that ever happens, so you have a little bit of orientation. What is it like working with different physicians that you don't know? How do you know you can trust them? How do you know? Talk about that.
[14:50] Brenna: I always choose to have the most faith in mankind. Everybody's kind of here to do the best job or have the interests of the patient in mind first, but you just really get used to calling people and not feeling nervous about it. I remember when I was a new nurse, I used to kind of feel a little bit nervous about getting a hold of physicians on the phone. But I worked in the emergency department, so all the physicians were right there so I could go and talk to them face to face. And I felt really good about that, always. But if I had, like, a patient was admitted and I had to call an admitting doctor, I'd be like, what is this? Right? But my transition into the ICU really helped me with that, because sometimes your intensive is off the unit, so you really have to get used to calling doctors. And I usually ask them to when I first started talking to them. Do you prefer, like, a text message instead of a call? Because some doctors are really good at texting and some of them are like, no, I don't text at all. You need to call me. And they want the call.
[15:50] Michelle: Yeah.
[15:50] Brenna: So I kind of check with that when I fill them out, like the first day when I first meet them and I ask them those questions. And sometimes I'll make a list of the doctors and I'll make notes and I keep it in my bag.
[16:02] Michelle: Yeah, just so I remember, gosh, I love that.
[16:04] Brenna: Sometimes I don't even remember what they look like. And usually, the hospital will have on the website if you're looking for a specific physician, again, they'll have the doctor's pictures if you go to the website, or you can type them in on Google. So if you've never met the doctor but you know, at some point they're coming in the next few hours, you know who to, like, keep an eye out for. I've learned, like, little tricks are, oh.
[16:26] Michelle: My gosh, that's what I really wouldn't have thought of. I interviewed a pediatric hospitalist at CRMC, and she teaches residents now, Dr. Christine Nelson. We were talking about physician-nurse communication, and you said exactly what I said and how I prefer to communicate face-to-face. And actually, Joint Commission says that's the most preferred way of communication because you are looking at someone, you're seeing their nonverbal so much can get lost in texts and over the phone. And I just think that's the best way. You have been in the ICU, and a lot of times your doctors are right there. Or like you said in the ED they're right there for us. Our neonatologists are pediatric hospitalists who were usually, like, right on the unit, so it made it real easy just to go over to their call room, knock on the door, and like I was telling Dr. Nelson, I probably pissed. Off a few of them because you're kind of like invading their space or whatever. But I just think that's the best form of communication.
[17:41] Brenna: Yes. And you have to like it's for the patient. So we have to decide to be nervous or whoever it is that we're going to call or talk to and think about it's for the patient. It's really important. And then just call the doctor and tell them what we need to say. And if they get off track, we just say what we need to say again.
[18:01] Michelle: Yeah, I love it. You're such an advocate. Okay, so talk to me about floating, because I read that, and I didn't know this before I read it that travel nurses are the first to float. So how does that work? And kind of what's your experience with floating?
[18:24] Brenna: Every facility that I've worked for, travelers, are the first to float because we come in with the extra staff. And I think in a way it's good because if I would staff at a hospital, I would want to stay in my home unit that I wanted to work for as much as possible. So I think in a way, it's a good thing. It can be a bummer sometimes for me. Like if I flow out of ICU and I go to maybe a floor that I don't love. Sometimes I don't like going to bed surge because I feel like the patients aren't quite as critical. But I always try to make the best of it because I'm going there because they're short-staffed and they really need the help. Ironically, I don't feel like I'm as good on the med-surg and telling because my brain works a little bit differently.
[19:04] Michelle: Where you're used to that critical.
[19:07] Brenna: Yeah, I like that what's important, too, and what's important to some of these patients on surgery, of course, they need their scheduled medications, but a lot of it is like, companionship almost being there and chatting with them. And I don't mind that either, but then you have five people that need companionship, but I'm trying to teach them and make sure they're okay and they're not depressed, all cramped up in their corner. Because I can imagine I actually been in the hospital. I was little. I had to say a week. I was just little, but I was 18. I had to stay in the hospital for a week. And my mom came and saw me a lot. My friends came and saw me a lot. I was like, depressed in there.
[19:46] Michelle: You're alone, you're away from your family, you're not feeling well. Gosh, there's a lot to be depressed about. And as nurses, we enjoy talking with our patients and helping them feel better, whatever it is. So floating is the real thing. What about docking? Do you get docked?
[20:11] Brenna: So some contracts will say, like, for their floating policy, that you can only float to another ICU, which is good. I like those contracts. But sometimes you float to other places, too. And some contracts also have something called guaranteed hours. So you're guaranteed you're 36 hours. So say for some reason they had no patients in the hospital, but they have a bunch of extra people, even a bunch of extra Travelers. They have to dock people and not bring them in. The travelers, if it's a guaranteed contract, still get paid for those 12 hours or whatever. So a lot of times those hospitals will dock their staff first because they have to pay the travelers anyways. Right, but if it's not a guaranteed contract. And I usually like to take ones that aren't guaranteed hours because it's kind of a hit-or-miss thing. But if it's not guaranteed hours every once in a while, then it is easier. If you need to get like a few hours here for something that's important, maybe you need to go to a doctor's appointment. They can like, work that in.
[21:11] Michelle: Okay.
[21:12] Brenna: And sometimes you will get sent home early and sometimes, believe it or not, it's a blessing. Even though you're not getting the money for that portion, it can be a blessing. I worked at one hospital in Stockton and they did docking and sometimes they would not call me in until eleven. That was when I was doing open hearts because a heart wouldn't be coming for me until right around eleven. My shift would usually start at seven. Right. But if they didn't have, like, a patient for me to take care of and it was staffed, the unit, they would call me pretty early, usually around like, 5:30, and they would either leave a message or talk to me on the phone if I picked up and say, hey, don't come in until 10:30 or eleven. We don't have a heart coming until then.
[21:54] Michelle: So you're kind of like on call or whatever.
[21:56] Brenna: Yeah. So something happened at that time. I'm still if they know that I'm available yeah, but it's just kind of on-call pay. But I will say on-call pay for travelers is like, nothing. You know how in the hospital sometimes it's more I think on-call pay for us in most contracts is like $3 an hour.
[22:14] Michelle: Okay. I think it's actually that like where I work, it was very minimal. But do you think that was created because this is what happened in our institution? Well, first of all, I'm going to say that we absolutely love our travelers. In the NICU, we've had some really long-term travelers. One of them did three or four tours and ended up staying over two years. Another one was with us for over a year. So they were like family to us. We still have relationships with them today. So we love our travelers, but what would happen is inevitable, like, we would.
[22:58] Brenna: Be so busy, busy, busy.
[23:00] Michelle: And then they would be like, okay, we hired a traveler, and then the traveler comes and then our census goes down. And I think our institution was guaranteed so the traveler would be working and then we would be docking. And it created a lot of friction between the nurses, the staff nurses, and the travelers because they were like, oh my gosh, now I'm having to use my doc pay and all this. And then the travelers get to work and it's like, well, you have to understand the system. And nobody could predict that our census was going to go down. So it's a lot of you're really trying to explain a lot. And we got over it really quickly because our census never stayed down for very long. So we would have this really short break and then boom, like all these babies again. And then we're like, oh my God.
[23:57] Brenna: We're so glad you're here. Nobody's looking for days off again. Exactly.
[24:03] Michelle: No, it's just part of the cycle. So, scheduling, do you get to do your own scheduling, or do they do it for you?
[24:11] Brenna: How does that work? Some facilities allow self-scheduling. You usually get there though, on your first day and they have about your first three weeks to a month already scheduled out. Okay, that can be tough sometimes, but now that I've been doing it for a while, it's okay because when I bid for a new contract, I put in my requested time off before the contract and I get sent to the facility and it either gets approved or denied.
[24:39] Michelle: Okay.
[24:39] Brenna: And usually as long as I can still work the three shifts per week, but I have requested that off, they usually can accommodate it because I'm still doing full-time for the week.
[24:48] Michelle: Right.
[24:49] Brenna: And they're usually really good about it. Most facilities, some facilities are strict, kaiser strict. I think they only allow 13 weeks, five vacation days. So if you have two separate vacations, you kind of have to be smart about how you put them up. And I know there's a few other hospitals that are like that too. I think UCLA is like that, they only allow six. But I mean, that still allows you if you wanted to have a vacation at some point in the middle to get that vacation or a couple of days off, you maybe have two weddings to go to.
[25:22] Michelle: And we used to do it was so awesome when I worked twelve because you could work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and then have all this time off and then work the back end of Thursday.
[25:34] Brenna: Friday, Saturday, next week.
[25:36] Michelle: Yes. And it was awesome. We would get like this little mini vacations in between our work. And then I went to five days a week, that was just crap because you get two weeks off to do everything, and then you're just like, I'm still tired, I didn't get to rest and I got to go back to work.
[25:56] Brenna: As long as you request the days off at the beginning, it's usually pretty good. And then after your first month, they usually give you and it's kind of a spread out schedule of the first month. Unless they agree to block scheduling something. Then most places will have self-scheduling where you can schedule yourself in. But sometimes they do have to switch days around. Usually, they'll text you about it. Not always. I'm thinking that there have only been one or two facilities that I've worked at that were really strict about your days off before, and then they just schedule you the days that they needed you. I remember. I think Stockton was one of those facilities, but they were nice in the aspect where when I went in, it didn't always have to be requested vacation days before I could say, hey, I'm kind of looking for this Friday off, or whatever. I want to go to this. And they would do their best to accommodate it. But if it wasn't a request prior to the contract, it couldn't always be honored.
[26:51] Michelle: Could you switch with another nurse?
[26:53] Brenna: Yes. As long as they are the same unit that you're coming on for, you can switch with another nurse. And sometimes it depends on how trained the nurses from another unit for that unit. There was one hospital where I could trade every once in a while with the CV nurses as well as ICU nurses because I worked both units. As long as that other nurse was competent, like, it would be harder to bring an IC nurse to CVIC, where it would be easier to take a CVIC nurse over to Medical ICU. Yeah. Even though they think that Medical ICU is like Mars, CVIC is totally a different world.
[27:34] Michelle: See, we get so focused on our stuff that we like and everything. Has your contract ever gotten canceled?
[27:44] Brenna: I've never had one get, like, outright canceled. I had done a few contracts over at a hospital in Fresno. I think I was on the second portion of it. And I had maybe four weeks left. And they let me know I mean, I guess technically it's canceling. They let me know that they were only going to use me and the other travelers for two more weeks because they got staff backup.
[28:05] Michelle: Got it.
[28:06] Brenna: But they give you, like, a warning and then actually back in May, sometimes your money, what you make per week can change, but they're not allowed to change it without telling you. So they might tell me, Brenna, you have one more week at this rate, and then after the state, the rate is going to drop.
[28:30] Michelle:  Oh, wow. That's when you say, bye.
[28:32] Brenna: You love the hospital. You stay. And sometimes it's not a big drop, and you understand. It's summertime. The ship is going down. The hospital is not full. But I actually ended up leaving my contract in May because it was such a drastic drop. And I was floating to tell you a lot. If I had been a nice you, I think I would have stuck it out because I really enjoyed the staff and the nurses there. I stayed there for almost a year.
[28:54] Michelle: Wow.
[28:55] Brenna: Yeah. But I was floating a lot, and I wasn't even seeing my friends anymore.
[29:00] Michelle: I mean, a social life.
[29:02] Brenna: Yeah.
[29:02] Michelle: So what about housing? I know that they provide, like, a stipend or whatever, but what kind of housing is available? And have you ever got to a housing assignment and you were like, this is really sketchy. I don't want to stay.
[29:20] Brenna: Your company gives you money for meals and for housing, and it's supposed to subsidize the costs between where you live normally your home address, and then living a few hours away or maybe a few states away, or maybe you went off to the US. Virgin island. Yeah, but it's supposed to help with that. And you can take housing provided by your company, but then you get some of your housing stuff taken away, or almost all of it taken away. So it's kind of good before you go to shop the area and see what you can find to see if you should take their housing or if you should shop your own. I've always shopped for my own because I'm nervous about places I stay like you're saying.
[30:03] Michelle: Yeah.
[30:04] Brenna: Luckily, I've never walked into a place or an Airbnb. I stay in Airbnb a lot, and I can do month to month, and usually, I'll reach out to the owners and I tell them that I'm a nurse and I'm probably looking for three months. Ask about what they have available and then ask if they have a discounted monthly rate because a lot of times if they know, like, a nurse is coming in or somebody that's a medical professional, they will I think they would love that they will offer a discount.
[30:31] Michelle: Wow, okay, cool. But you never got to an area of town where you're like, this is like, skid row, I can't stay here?
[30:36] Brenna: No, but I've heard really bad stories on, like, okay, I'm in some Facebook groups for housing and for traveling nurses, and I've heard some really bad stories from nurses online of when they've rented a room from people or stayed at places and they've been locked out of the air conditioning. Everybody always wants to have part of their house private, but they're not allowed to go in the living room stuff. That's not normal. You have to be able to use the kitchen to get to the fridge. You're not going to get water or those kinds of things. And you're not even allowed to change the thermostat.
[31:17] Michelle: I'm not a slave. I'm a professional here.
[31:22] Brenna: Exactly. And you're paying rent to this place. You don't even have air conditioning or something like that?
[31:27] Michelle: Well, do some of these travel companies, do they provide insurance and also, like, investing, like, in a 401K?
[31:40] Brenna: They do provide insurance. Every company that I talked to has always had an insurance plan. It's not always the same. I'm lucky because I feel like I have a good one. I have Anthem Blue Cross.
[31:50] Michelle: Yeah.
[31:51] Brenna: I don't have to stay in one area, so group coverage. So I can go to the doctor wherever.
[31:55] Michelle: That's important when you're traveling, right?
[31:58] Brenna: Very important. Not all the insurance packages, I guess, are the same, both for each company. So you have to really do your research. If I found a company that I loved, but didn't like their insurance package. I would find a private broker, and I would definitely just get my own private insurance.
[32:14] Michelle: Yes.
[32:14] Brenna: And even though it's more expensive, it's worth it. And then when you're traveling too, how much more you're making for traveling makes up you would normally be paying a lot less at your staff job. It definitely makes a difference. And that was a big worry about a lot of people that a lot of people have had to ask me about traveling, about insurance.
[32:34] Michelle: Right.
[32:34] Brenna: And I tell them, I was nervous, too. Don't be scared. There's insurance. You can always find a private broker. Like, worst case scenario, that's not even bad. I know a lot of people that carry private insurance.
[32:45] Michelle: Yeah, no, that's a really good message for our listeners that are contemplating traveling, because you need insurance, and it needs to be portable. So wherever you're going, whether it's out of state, out of country, whatever, you have to be able to be covered. So that's a good message. You seem to me that you're kind of outgoing and fun. First of all, is that true? And how is it when you go into a new unit and you're in a new group of professionals, like, are you outgoing? Do you do things after work with people? Do you have friendships that have lasted that you still have today from certain hospitals that you've been at?
[33:32] Brenna: I like to think that I'm outgoing, but I'm shy.
[33:34] Michelle: I don't believe it at all.
[33:37] Brenna: But I've gotten really good at going and meeting new people because you have to you're constantly going into a new environment. I do every once in a while go out after shifts, like with some of my nurses. But I will tell you, nurses can get wild.
[33:51] Michelle: What?
[33:53] Brenna: No. How much I go out with my other nurse friends is limited.
[33:59] Michelle: I love that.
[34:01] Brenna: But yes, I make an effort. Like, if they have something going on to go, because that's the best way to build a relationship and get to know somebody or if they have a potluck.
[34:09] Michelle: Are potlucks still allowed? I know it was like, you can't have a potluck for a while.
[34:13] Brenna: We can have a potluck, but we have catered food. Okay. We're doing catered food and all going in and doing that. There are a few people, though, that I've met from contracts that I still stay in contact with. There's actually another traveler, and she lives all the way over. I'm drawing a blank right now. I met her at Eisenhower, though, in Palm Springs. Her name is Kristen, but she recently got married. I've been friends with her now for probably four years, and I don't talk to her all the time, but she recently got a nurse practitioner license. I'm very proud of her for that. You meet these people, and they end up being, like, lifelong friends.
[34:57] Michelle: Right.
[34:58] Brenna: I know that if I was over there and I called her up, she didn't make time and have one, something like that. I have a few friends like that up in Stockton, too, at that hospital. I didn't love working in the hospital, but I met some really great girls there, and, like, if I was in the area yeah. And I messaged them, they would be.
[35:17] Michelle: Like, hey, let's go to dinner.
[35:20] Brenna: Yeah.
[35:21] Michelle: That's really special. And like I had told you before, we still have friendships with our travelers that we had years ago, and that's just really important. I think it's awesome. So how do you go about choosing a travel company? Because there's a lot more of them out there. So kind of give our listeners a rundown of how you choose a travel company.
[35:50] Brenna: I won't say which companies not to go with.
[35:52] Michelle: Okay, thank you, I don't want to edit out the whole portion.
[35:56] Brenna: I will say that there are certain companies that will pay you less. So it's really important to sign up with a few companies and do your research. And not all companies will have the same contracts, but some of them will. And you can compare, and you can be honest with the recruiter in the beginning, do the work, get the onboarding going with them, which is kind of a lot of work, and tell them I'm actively looking for a contract, but let them know, like, hey, I am looking for another company. You don't have to tell them that you're looking at three other companies. Sure. But you can make them aware that I am looking for another company, too, just in case they have a contract that you don't. And I also want to compare rates. It's important that when you're going into a job you're getting what you're worth. You're making the most possible money for the contract. Because if I and you both go to the contract and I'm getting $2,000 a week and you're getting $2,500 a week, that's a $2,000 difference for the month, and we're doing the same job, right?
[37:00] Michelle: Right.
[37:02] Brenna: And so you have to be careful and shop around. I always recommend onboarding with three companies, and I always say, too, don't just go with the biggest company in the first ones that pop up. Some of them can be good, but you're going to lose a lot of money doing it. Look into some small companies. Get in some Facebook groups. See which companies people like and which companies they've posted about that they've had bad experiences with the company doesn't really, I guess you could say, fight for you, like, as the nurse, and take notes of, like, what you see, and then sign up with a few companies. Usually, you sign up online. The recruiter reach out to you within a day. They're really good about reaching out to you.
[37:42] Michelle: Okay, so if I'm on Facebook and I want to find one of these groups what am I going to search?
[37:48] Brenna: Search? One of them I'm in is called Gypsy Travel Nurse. Okay, I'll tell you guys, that's another little secret one, and not all the jobs that posted this much, but there's one called Travel Nurse job $5,000 and above. So it's supposed to be for hire contracts, and maybe it's not. A great hospital could be like a random area in a rural area. But if you're looking for high contracts, that's usually a better one. But in those groups, you can look around, and at the top, you can type in the search bar, usually a name of a hospital or a name of an agency. And the posts that have had that name in the hospital, the agency in, it will come up, and you can kind of shuffle through them and look around.
[38:33] Michelle: I do like that about Facebook, that you can go to these groups and just put in something that you're searching for because chances are it's come up in a chat before and you're privy to all of that. Touch on just a little bit of what Travel Nursing has enabled you to do financially.
[38:56] Brenna: Yes. That's huge. That's the biggest reason I got into it. So what got me to start Travel Nursing is we had a traveler in our unit. I think it was Carlos. He was great. We all loved him. He worked six days a week, and he took every Monday off, and that was his schedule. And the hospital contracted him for six days a week. And he liked that. But everyone thought he took a few vacation days, which really isn't a vacation, it's just normal days off. Right? He was on vacation, and he always had every Monday off. Don't ask him to switch. Monday was a day off. And I remember I was in debt, a lot of debt because of school. I'd gone to private school to get my associates in nursing. It's expensive. And then I started paying all my loans once I got my job, but I wasn't making enough to live and pay off these loans in a timely manner.
[39:46] Michelle: Life is expensive and even more so now.
[39:50] Brenna: I know with inflation and everything, our base is going up. And I told him, I was telling him what I was going through because I was honestly a little depressed, and I felt like I was never going to get out of this hole. He called me into the med room. And I said, okay, go in there. He's like, I'm going to show you my paycheck for just one week. He's like, and I want you to show me your paycheck for the month or for the two weeks. We got paid every two weeks. And his paycheck for one week was by far substantially more than I was making in two weeks. And I said okay. I'm scared. He's like, Everybody's scared when they start. And I said, okay, where do I sign up? And he gave me the number, and it still took me a little bit of time, like maybe a month or two to get into it, but I got a hold of the company. I talked to them at the time. Going in, I was probably like $60 to $65,000 in debt.
[40:42] Michelle: Oh, my gosh.
[40:43] Brenna: And after that, I paid about another I think it's like $22,000 or so from my bachelor's. But travel nursing allowed me to entirely pay off that whole $65,000.60 $65,000 loan. And I paid cash for my bachelor's while I was traveling nursing, and I did my travel nursing online, and I paid cash for all of it. So about a little under $100,000, I paid off in school because of traveling, and that was in probably four years because I haven't had a school loan. Now I want to say it's been almost a year. Last October was my last school loan. It feels good. It was like a dream. I felt like I had this dark cloud over me and I was never going to be able to get ahead and save money because I was so worried about putting money into the school loan and getting rid of it. I feel like it's holding me, like tying me back.
[41:37] Michelle: Yes, you are like me. You do not like debt. It took me a lot longer to pay off my school loan for my bachelor's, and it did for you, and it was about the same amount, too. But what freedom. What freedom to not be living under a mountain of debt and to know, like, I can go anywhere, I can do anything. That is a huge message for our listeners. So thank you so much for that. Before I ask you the last question, I want you to send me, like, the links for those Facebook groups and stuff like that, because I want to put those in the show notes for anybody that's interested. So you can send me those. Let's say I'm like you when Carlos kind of took you under his wing, and I didn't really know a lot about travel nursing. And so I want you to just convince me, why should I be or why do I want to be a travel nurse?
[42:43] Brenna: If somebody really wants to go out and travel and likes going to new places, I definitely recommend it because you can go anywhere in the United States. You can go to Guam, Saipan, the US. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, like a couple of islands over there. So if you want to go out of the country, you can do that. You can go to any city. The contracts aren't always going to be the same. You have to shop there and see what it's like. You can basically go there. And if you want, if your dream is to live in a lot of places, you can go check out places for three months at a time. Say you have a family and kids so I only travel to California. I stay close by. I don't have any kids or a family, so I go up and down California. But say you wanted to, you're in debt, you want to pay off that extra money. Maybe you want to be able to finally buy a home for your family and for your kids.
[43:36] Michelle: Right.
[43:37] Brenna: You can sacrifice for a year and it sounds like a long time, but honestly, a year goes so fast.
[43:43] Michelle: Yeah.
[43:43] Brenna: And you do travel nursing for a year and during that time try to obviously live on what you had before. But all the extra money you made from travel nursing, put it in the bank, you will have more than enough for a down payment on a home. Like, you can do anything you want. The nice thing is I've paid off all this debt, but I've also been able to travel to so many places in the world to go on vacation. My friends laugh because they tell me they're like, Brenna, you're always somewhere. You're always on vacation. And I do work and I'm doing more registry shifts now, so I'm picking up my shifts and punches when I want to. But, like, they're telling me you're always somewhere and doing something. And the other thing is you don't have to be a travel nurse forever if you don't want to. If you're just doing it to make quick money, you can totally do that and go back. I love it. I've been doing it for five years. I don't know if I could ever go back to means because I love the freedom they give me. Freedom for traveling financially. A lot of times if you need vacation time off or a family event, you can schedule off. I haven't worked Christmas in the last four years.
[44:49] Michelle: That's amazing because there are so many nurses that every other year you got to work Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years. I feel like it's such a wonderful life as a nurse. I mean, you have financial freedom, you have travel, you have connections with so many different people. Your patients are from all different cultures and backgrounds and you're learning different ways to do things because I'm sure at every institution they all do things a little bit differently and so you're just adding to your skills and your knowledge and everything. So I think your message to our listeners is just like, spot on. Just do it. Yeah, do it. Like Carlos said, just like scary, but do it.
[45:41] Brenna: Yeah. It's scarier for me being in debt my whole life or not getting on during this, it's the best choice I ever made.
[45:49] Michelle: Okay. I love that this is so much. Okay, are you ready for the five-minute snippet?
[45:55] Brenna: I am ready if you're ready.
[45:57] Michelle: Okay. I'm going to put my five-minute timer on. So we will just go for it. Okay. Most unique bar or restaurant that you have visited.
[46:12] Brenna: I love food.
[46:15] Michelle: I love going to restaurants.
[46:17] Brenna: I would say, though, one of the nicest places I've ever been was down in Mexico. It's in Cabo. There was a resort down here. It was a resort at Pedro all the time. I think it's the Waldorf Astoria now, but they kept the restaurant in there. And there was a really nice restaurant. I think it's called Elferion.
[46:36] Michelle: Okay, Elferion.
[46:37] Brenna: I don't know if I'm saying it right, but it's on the cliffs there and at night time they have little torches in there, but it's mostly made of stone. And it looks like the cliff. And the water comes in it. The waves crash on this cliff and all your tables are along and there's obviously a railing and the water doesn't splash you, but you see it and the sun is going down. When you come in, they have a champagne place that you stop at first, the Champagne bar. So you order your champagne right there.
[47:04] Michelle: Oh, my God.
[47:04] Brenna: And then you pick your meat or whatever you're ordering. But really the most amazing part of it, I can't tell you how great the food was. I actually don't even remember the food. It was the atmosphere. Yeah, such a great, the sunset was beautiful. Just the temperature. Everything was like, perfect. And the waves crashing in.
[47:25] Michelle: I was like, you had me at champagne. I love champagne. Okay, let's see the most overrated country or state that you visited.
[47:36] Brenna: I would never say anywhere, any country is overrated. I love going out of the country. I always expect it to be different, but maybe there's been a few vacations in the United States. I've been like, this is what I thought it would be. One of those specifically is definitely  Lake Havasu. Yeah, I thought it was going to be more glamorous, and I didn't expect it like, to be glamorous out on the lake because I love lake days and I didn't expect, like, the water to be clear or anything like that. But I remember getting into town and there's really not a lot of stuff in Lake Havasu in the town. And the hotels are very, very hard. Like, it's hard to find a good hotel. And I honestly think that the highest-ranked star hotel they have there is like a three-star. I recommend trying to book, a nice home way in advance if you stay there. But a lot of times you wait last minute, nothing is available. So they have these, like, little two. And it would be even hard sometimes to get a three-star and someone tell them struck me.
[48:36] Michelle: It's kind of bougie, like somebody who likes a four-star hotel.
[48:43] Brenna: I'm not saying that I won't stay in the other ones, but when I first go in to shop hotel, like on hotels.com or something like that yeah. My criteria is I click the four stars, and if I look and there's none in the area. I'm like, oh, no.
[49:01] Michelle: You're like, oh, that's bad. Okay, let's see what city has the best food, in your opinion?
[49:10] Brenna: And there are a lot of cities that have good food. I love the food. When I went to Austin because there were so many different neighborhoods there, and there was a lot of different foods to try, so I did love Austin. I like Seattle as well. I feel like Seattle has a lot of nice Michelin-type restaurants out there. You just have to drive, like, a little bit, like 20-25 minutes to get around because it's big.
[49:31] Michelle: Yeah.
[49:33] Brenna: And some of them are right in Seattle. And then luckily, right now, I mean, I live in Los Angeles, and I'm super lucky because there's so much good food there. But I will always say, don't always trust Yelp or the most expensive thing. Go around and look for the hole-in-the-wall places and places that have thousands and thousands of reviews. And maybe they're not four or five-star restaurants, but it's good food. And you go to these places and people say you have to try them. That's what to look for. Yelp has the most reviews kind of thing and they're good reviews and recommendations
[50:06] Michelle: I know that you must experience stress because you're a nurse, but what's your best advice for destressing?
[50:20] Brenna: Sleep. Sleep? Yes.
[50:23] Michelle: It's so important.
[50:24] Brenna: Sleep. Yeah. And maybe like, taking a day off or getting a massage. And sometimes we're so stressed out as nurses, like, when we don't feel well, to not call into work. But if you're really not feeling well and your body is telling you you're not feeling well, use one of your sick days or your calling days.
[50:41] Michelle: Yeah, definitely. Okay, what is in your perfect smoothie?
[50:47] Brenna: Definitely green apples. I love kale. I love ginger.
[50:52] Michelle: Okay.
[50:52] Brenna: I also love smoothies, though it's probably not the most healthy ones, but, like, with the peaches and the nectarines and the really tropical ones.
[50:59] Michelle: Yeah, that sounds good. And some rum or something like that.
[51:03] Brenna: And a little bit of added.
[51:05] Michelle: Then it's like, wait, that's not a smoothie anymore, that's a cocktail, right? Oh, my gosh, this has been so much fun, and I just want to thank you for being here and bringing all of this information and knowledge, and resources to our listeners that are contemplating going into travel nursing. Like, you have provided it all, and you've been such a trooper because it is now mid-morning in the Central Valley, and this closet is damn hot, and you don't have one bead of sweat on you. So you're amazing.
[51:42] Brenna: This recording is going to sound great, though.
[51:44] Michelle: Oh, yes, it is going to sound great. Well, thank you so much, Brenna,  I so appreciate you being here today.
[51:51] Brenna: Thank you.