Just an update on my traveling experiences. I have been "traveling" on the same assignment now for approximately a year and a half. Now there are some that could argue that being an Army Reserve nurse who has been deployed to Ft Bragg NC to be a nurse case manager is not exactly travel nursing. Ah...but I beg to differ. This is a temporary contract with option to renew :) I still maintain a permanent residence in Washington State.

My role is to assist Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers to receive the right care in a timely manner while safeguarding my employers resources. If a soldier needs a referral to a neurosurgeon I am instrumental in getting it. I help coordinate care and assist with medical management. I follow my soldiers who have high blood pressure and make sure they are getting periodic blood pressure follow up as well as lab work. I also coordinate care and appointments for physical therapy, physical medicine, pyschiatric care, orthopedics, and much much more.

As is the norm for most nursing jobs I consider the whole soldier including issues like diet and fitness... which I counsel and teach a lot.

I have been to a few fun places. In May I went to Myrtle Beach NC with my wife and had a great time walking on the beach and looking for seashells she could take back to Washington with her. The view of the ocean is one that is just always impressive to me.

In June I went on a trip into the mountains of East Tennessee with one of my co-workers who live there in Elizabethton TN. Roan Mountain State Park is home to the largest naturally occurring garden of Rhodendrum in the world and is just a few miles form Elizabethton so we just had to go see that and Old Grandfather mountain. If you come at it from the right direction it looks just like an old man with a beard laying down.

That's one of the perks of being a travel nurse. You get to see and do things you never would have done if you were still working at the hospital just a few miles from home.

Until next time.. alphatraveler@the-travel-nurse.com