Location, Location, and Another Location: Working as a Travel Health Care Worker

DeeQuiency M. Donerson is studying in nursing school, but unlike some students, he already knows what he wants to be after he becomes an RN: a travel nurse. Since May 2010, Donerson has been working as a Certified Surgical Technician with Trustaff, and he likes what he does so much that he now wants to take on more and become a nurse.

“Every contract is 13-week assignments. I am almost always offered an extension because of my knowledge of surgical procedures. The longest contract I have done was nine months in Miami, Florida, which was a great experience,” says Donerson. “I wanted to become a traveler to gain as much experience as possible of surgical procedures, doctors’ preferences, instrumentation, and sterile supplies.”

Before 2007, Donerson wasn’t in the health care field at all. In fact, he worked as manual laborer making minimum wage. At the time, he even had to live out of his car. He decided that he wanted to attend surgical technology school, but when he had to fill out the application and include his address, Donerson wrote in his license plate number. Luckily for him, college staff realized that he was homeless and arranged for him to live in a dorm for the rest of that school year.

When a Trustaff representative spoke to college students about becoming a traveling health care worker, Donerson was interested. After graduating and getting a year of experience, Donerson became a travel CST. His first assignment was in the Virgin Islands. After that, he traveled the country, working in Louisiana, California, North Dakota, and in several cities in Florida.

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Donerson says that he loves working with his recruiter, Danny Laurence. “He basically knows exactly what I’m thinking before each contract and after,” says Donerson. He also recommends that nurses thinking of becoming travel nurses be on a first-name basis with their recruiters. “Not having a great recruiter will more than likely end in disaster for a contract,” he says.