[00:00:00] HeHe: Hello. And welcome back to another episode of the pulse check podcast. I’m HeHe

[00:00:07] Mandy: and I’m Mandy. 

[00:00:08] HeHe: And today we are joined by our friend, Sibyl, who is a travel nurse, actually serving currently in Baltimore. And this conversation I think, is really going to blow the lid off of a lot of people’s beliefs about travel nursing.

[00:00:21] So Sibyl welcome to the show. 

[00:00:24] Sibyl: Thank you for having me. 

[00:00:26] HeHe: Absolutely. 

[00:00:26] We’re so excited to dive into this topic. So I think a good place for us to start. For me and for listeners a little quick review, I’m a doula, so I’m not a medical professional. So I have an inside look into medicine, my partners in medicine, but I’m not actively in medicine every single day.

[00:00:45] Sibyl, can you start us off with why you wanted to be a travel nurse and what are a couple of things that you wish you had known before you went into travel nursing? That when you got in there, you were like, Ooh, wasn’t expecting this. 

[00:00:58] Sibyl: That’s a good question. So I became a travel nurse five years after I was a staff nurse.

[00:01:06] So I did like two years in med surge and then three years in labor delivery. And I became a travel nurse because. To be a hundred percent honest, I do not care for how we had been treated during the pandemic. And, you know, especially in the beginning with all of the shortages, all of the cutting of the benefits, all of the, you know, Lack of appreciation for management and hazard, like lack of hazard pay.

[00:01:35] All of that contributed to me to being like, why am I even here? Like, why am I in this hospital? They obviously don’t care about me in any way. So I had always kind of pick the brains of travel nurses when they came through the unit, because I was so interested in what they did, but I had never had.

[00:01:56] The gumption to be like, oh, I like really want to do this until then. And then I was like, you know what? Like, especially with travel rates, like going up so high, I was like, I think it’s time for an adventure. It’s time to like, see if I can leave this comfort zone off. Like staff nursing. I’ve been in one facility basically like the entire time.

[00:02:17] And I was like, you know what? Let’s do it. Like it’s time. That’s how I became a drama nurse and I never looked back. I loved it like immediately, you know, with the struggles and everything. 

[00:02:28] Mandy: Oh, that’s awesome. How long have you been doing it? So two years. 

[00:02:33] Sibyl: No, I’ve only been doing it for one so I started, yeah, I started in January of 20.

[00:02:39] Oh, awesome. January 3rd, actually. 

[00:02:43] HeHe: Oh, it must be a little crazy to go from unit to unit and work under different managers and have to kind of insert yourself into different cultures. Cause I imagine each unit has their own culture. Right. We talk about that kind of on the show. What you expect for one culture or one unit is going to be different than what you can expect from the next, even on different floors and units within the same hospital or facility or system.

[00:03:07] So what what’s that like as a travel nurse, how do you do that? How do you manage new relationships? Pretty frequently 

[00:03:17] Sibyl: so I think the, I mean, this could be a pro or con depending on who you are, but the interesting thing about being a travel nurse is that you can observe the unit culture kind of as a third party observer, because you have no.

[00:03:33] Of course in the race, right? Like you’re not going, you’re not like fighting to be management there you are not trying to be like the charge nurse at that facility, anything like that. You are there to do your job and leave in 13 weeks or less. Right. So it’s very interesting to insert, like you can insert yourself in the culture, in like, In any capacity that you wish, so you can, you know, be very superficial about it in that, like you just create relationships that are like very short passing.

[00:04:06] And this is what I did when I had like you know, like an eight week contracts. It’s like, I’m not going to be there very long. So I’m just kind of like friendly with people and I’m not going to like really get to know anyone. But when I was in like my longer contracts, I like, you know, I picked like two or three people who are like really liked and I.

[00:04:21] They would pick my brain. I would pick their brain and they would like, it was really nice to be able to like develop friendships without the work drama associated with it at all. Because like, you would hear about work drama, but you’re not involved in any way. So it’s kind of like, oh, like I remember one time we were at lunch I was telling to like two other people and they were talking about like this work drama thing.

[00:04:43] And I was just like living for it. Right. I was like, yes, like, I want to know about this and this and this, but then. Oh, like, let’s say, like, I just get to enjoy it and I don’t get to like, be a part of it or be mad about it or anything like that. Cause I’m just a traveler and I’m just like, I’m just a travel nurse there.

[00:04:59] That’s going to leave. And that’s kind of nice for me. 

[00:05:04] HeHe: Not my permanent position, not my problem. That that is the case. So do you find that people on the floor are typically welcoming and warm to travel nursing? Or are they typically like, oh, what are they doing here? And I ask this because on social media, I always see people complaining staff, nurses complaining that they’re hostile.

[00:05:27] It’s spinning Caboodles of money, getting travel nurses when really that money could be going into their pockets. So how does that dynamic play out? Like actually on the floor?

[00:05:37] Sibyl: I think that there are a few types of, you will encounter a few types of staff nurses. When you get to a place, you will definitely see like, you know, the, the staff nurse that does not like you because you’re a traveling nurse and never give you a chance to never.

[00:05:53] That’s one and you have to be the kind of person that can deal with that and be like, okay. That’s fine. You know, she doesn’t, or he doesn’t like me. Perfect. Great. Then you will encounter people that are super grateful that you’re there to help them out. Like there are people who like wish they could travel or have no interest in travel who just want the help who are fine, you know, staying where they’re at.

[00:06:19] They don’t love the fact that they’re super understaffed all the time. So if they have like a couple of travel nurses come in and the ratios, all the fun, are they in med search? Let’s say we go from like six to four because of the travel nurses. They’re extremely grateful and they’re very kind and they’re willing to teach.

[00:06:36] Very sleep. There’s also staff nurses that don’t care to know you simply because they don’t want to get attached and they know you’re going to leave. And I think a lot of these people are very nice, but you can tell that they are not like, you know, they’re not trying to take you out. They’re not trying to do anything like that.

[00:06:52] Now I will say. Both the friends that I’ve made, I’ve only really made like one or two friends that are staff nurses that like, I, that have told me, Hey, let’s go for drinks. Let’s do this. Let’s do that. It’s like explore the town. But otherwise I feel like most of the friends that you make as a travel nurse that are like, Long-term friends are all their travelers.

[00:07:12] And those are the people that are like, Hey, like we should maybe look into another assignment or Hey, like maybe we should do this or that. Or like, what do you think about how seeing this area? Like, I think other travelers, like they really stick to you because you’re in the same boat as they are. Yeah.

[00:07:28] Mandy: That’s so interesting. Sibyl I was the resentful Like protecting of my feelings staff nurse, because, you know, it’s like investing in a relationship that I knew would be severed. 

[00:07:44] Sibyl: Yes. 

[00:07:45] Mandy: But that was like three years ago. I not worked too closely with travelers. At that time when I left on L and D because it’s, it just felt like a little bit of a.

[00:07:57] Unit other parts of the hospital at travelers and we had less or none, but I did feel resentful. And I felt like, 

[00:08:05] well, I hated that, 

[00:08:07] you know, the money was going to nurses and not to me as a nurse. And I hated that. Of course that’s not the Traveler’s fault. And I hated that they were, if they were cool, they would leave when you were like, it’s so.

[00:08:24] Kind of 

[00:08:24] like unpredictable a lot is changing when there’s travelers, because people have already left that there’s like no stability, a feeling of lack of stability on the unit. Yeah. And, and like you as a traveler kind of represent that that’s my like childlike emotional response. So I can, and not treating travelers super well or like being friends.

[00:08:47] But I think what you just said is a really good perspective on. Wait a minute. It’s not that travelers 

[00:08:53] don’t, 

[00:08:55] you know, know drama on the unit it’s that they knew possibly so much that they left. Right. Where you were like, I don’t know what caused you to leave for, you know, every travel nurse is different, but often you were impacted negatively already.

[00:09:14] Sibyl: Absolutely. Yeah. I feel like the, you know, the unit culture is so important because it. Like what one of the things that I always hear from travel nurses is that, you know, they think that they’re leaving their staff job for a harder job, right? Because sometimes learning new things and, you know, learning new environments is harder.

[00:09:36] But what you find once you start actually travel nursing is that your job is infinitely easier because. The unit culture isn’t knowing you, like you don’t have a manager that doesn’t like you, or you don’t have, you know, oh, this charge nurse. Doesn’t like, you, she’s going to give me a bad assignment or stuff like that.

[00:09:53] It’s more predictable because they just treat you as a traveler and nothing is personal the way that it is when you have. The staff nurse and you like in the unit and you know, they’re like, oh, you know, this person is like this and like that. And then we’re going to give her this and that. And it’s like, it becomes like very childish and very like unprofessional where as a traveler, like, yeah, you’re doing cash and so forth.

[00:10:15] Like, okay, like, they’re going to give you sometimes like the harder assignments, like relieve their staff, but like, it’s not personal, you know, you’re kinda like, oh, you know, I’m a traveler. Like I hate it and they do this, but it’s never because of this. Whereas the unit drama is always because of you because of like how people perceive you or like how, you know, things that have happened in the past, you know, like it’s almost like a clean slate when you’re a travel nurse.

[00:10:44] You’re just like, you can walk in there and you can be like the quiet girl that likes to sit in the corner and like just does her work and leave if you feel like it, because. No one expects you to be anything, because you don’t know you, 

[00:11:00] Mandy: you are changing people’s lives today. I mean, it’s not like we have the biggest following on our podcast, 

[00:11:08] Sibyl: but I have specific

[00:11:13] Mandy: like, oh, that feels so good. I have specific questions from friends who 

[00:11:17] were like, I don’t know if I could travel and I’m 

[00:11:20] sending them constant, like tick talks and app, like job openings and agencies. And I’m like, it’s out there. It’s out there. It’s out there. What push do you need? And they’re like, well, I want to know about this.

[00:11:32] And I want to know about that. And you’re just like, it’s not harder when you started. The manipulation and the abuse, because that’s how they, you know, that’s how toxic units get you is the cycle of abuse where they’re like playing on your emotions. They know your family dynamics, they know your history with the unit.

[00:11:51] Like 

[00:11:52] you’re, 

[00:11:53] you’re saying sometimes you get worse assignments. I’ve also heard that from traveler. So thank you for bringing that up where they kind of get dumped on, but you’re you represent something that they need. A person that they need a relief. And when you have that mindset, you’re able to kind of separate yourself from that role.

[00:12:10] And that’s fucking amazing. That’s so amazing. So like professional and mature about your role and 

[00:12:22] Sibyl: you take away the politics. Yeah.

[00:12:29] Mandy: I’ve been there at like eight years. And you’re just like, who are you? You’re not gonna stick around. I had 

[00:12:38] been there five years, 

[00:12:39] eight years I was getting dumped on because then I was the most. 

[00:12:44] And so I had to go to my manager 

[00:12:46] and be like, look, I know like these are the types of patients that are great sometimes, but I just need you to know that I have to seek therapy to work through this.

[00:12:56] These are hard all the time. They’re like, oh, you’re the best at it. Like that’s BS you get it anyways. Whether you’re, –

[00:13:04] Sibyl: that’s how you burn a, you step out, you give, you know, cause. Yeah. You’re technically giving preferential treatment to people who are not as good,

[00:13:22] not as good. So I’m going to give it to like the good nurse. Well, the good nurse is going to leave. 

[00:13:32] HeHe: So how do you fix it? So how do you fix that? What should managers be doing to even out that workload? How do you do that to keep your good nurses there? 

[00:13:45] Sibyl: Well, honestly, like I felt like, okay, I’m going to tell you, I want to tell you a story.

[00:13:50] So when the pandemic started, we had a huge perinatal. I worked in a big L and D I had postpartum, it had like 50 something beds, LDRP, postpartum, everything in one floor. Okay. We were our own mini, like hospital within a hospital, within a gigantic hospital. We had our own or PACU, all that stuff. So when the pandemic started.

[00:14:16] Put aside like five rooms, they made them negative pressure, five or six or something like that. They made them negative pressure and they made it the COVID area. So basically it was, you know, they have. Their own, there was a group of staff that was supposed to go into COVID area and just stay there. And that way we would keep like a clean side and a dirty kind of a thing.

[00:14:40] Okay. So if you tested positive, you would go to the COVID side. I spoke Spanish and I was a triage nurse at the time, so I wasn’t all the way to charge, but I was like one off. I was triaged and I was in the COVID area. Okay. Literally like almost every single shift that I worked, I was co what they called COVID triage because I spoke Spanish and we had a lot of Spanish speaking, like, you know, patients that would go into COVID side.

[00:15:09] So that was helpful, but it burned me out. Like it burned me out so quick. And like, I don’t think, you know, at the time, like, I don’t think that anybody saw it as like, you know, Oh, we’re giving preferential treatment to like a group of nurses, but it ended up being that because it ended up being that I was, you know, it was much more likely that I was going to get COVID and this was like pre vaccines, pre everything, right?

[00:15:37] Like we didn’t have enough PPE, like all this stuff. And I was much more exposed than other nurses who worked in the same role with me. It was preferential treatment to this group of nurses. And it’s like, not that they were, I was a better nurse, but I just knew the role better. And I felt like I was punished for it instead of rewarded.

[00:16:01] And I feel like that is the huge thing that a lot of these like very highly skilled, like, you know, nurses feel when their staff. They are good nurses. They get the harder patients. They usually are relied on more so than other nurses who maybe had like a harder time or like who were slow learners or whatever, but they don’t get rewarded for it.

[00:16:26] They get punished because they get, you know, the bigger, the higher acuity patient load. They have to do this. They have to do that. And I never, like, I have never really seen. Nurses get rewarded monetarily for it, which is what they should do. Like is there AC charge? Bonus it’s usually like very, very little it’s like 30 cents or two to like, be, to be charged on a unit, you know?

[00:16:54] And it’s like a slap in the face to nurses a lot because you’re like, okay, then what’s the point of being like hyperlink? ’cause in every other, like if you talk tech communications, like any other field, if you are a high performing employee, you get rewarded for it, but in nursing, not necessarily. And which is why.

[00:17:20] Also makes you almost not want to be high-performing once you have like, burned yourself out, because you’re like, okay, like you’re, you know, everybody relaxed when you you’re good, you’re this you’re that. And then like you get to the point where you either leave and you were like, pick up a traveler or go somewhere else, but like get a lower acuity specialty where you’re like Western out or you’re like, why am I going to do X, Y, and Z when.

[00:17:45] This is just doing a, B and C and it’s fine. Like we’re, we’re getting paid the same. We’re doing the same thing. Like, why am I going to put all this effort? I don’t get anything out of it. 

[00:17:58] Mandy: They use your desire to be helpful and your morals and values of like, I’m doing the right thing. So they put you in an impossible position where you’re like, oh, Okay, well, if you’re not going to take them, who’s going to take up like a fucking fight, figure it out, 

[00:18:15] Sibyl: like take them.

[00:18:20] Nobody should, you know, this is nursing. Like they, they will replace you. If you die on the job, they’ll replace you before you’re buried. You know, like I, no one is indispensable in their role, but they pretend that you are. So that you take a specific assignment or like you, so that you take oh, like you need to come in because like, we need you because like, we don’t have a charge nurse or whatever.

[00:18:48] And like, you’re the only person that can run this. Maybe you can feel special, but only benefits them. 

[00:18:53] Mandy: You’re the only person that can do this. So we’re going to prove it by guilting and shaming you into it. You’re not going to see any benefit. And it’s actually going to take extra days of recovery for you that we’re also not going to give you.

[00:19:08] Sibyl: Yeah. You might actually need therapy or acknowledge. Yeah. 

[00:19:13] Mandy: And you get more assignments. Just to add to what you said, you’d get more assignments. If you don’t talk back, if you don’t fight back, if you don’t stand up for yourself, if you don’t advocate for yourself. So you’re punished. If you do it, the folks that do that often.

[00:19:29] It’s it’s underpaid, overworked, charged nurses that aren’t having the leadership skills that they need. And they’re spread too thin on like high-risk, high-acuity volatile units as a labor and delivery. And so they tend to go often to the easiest route. So we’re going to put Sibyl there because. Sibyl has been there all week.

[00:19:54] So like they 

[00:19:56] Sibyl: can just tell themselves she’s going to do it. It’s fine

[00:20:02] because I, cause I 

[00:20:04] Mandy: can, or, or have we not identified that this is a necessary role that not everyone can do? So my ass should be in my director’s office immediately saying this is worth twice. What I make. And that’s where it comes in. We’re like you’re dispensable. So we’re going to get somebody else who doesn’t have to, who we don’t have to pay that 

[00:20:24] Sibyl: much.

[00:20:25] But 

[00:20:26] HeHe: I thought I was the only one that could run this part of the unit. You literally just told me I was the only one that could do it. 

[00:20:33] Sibyl: Yeah. Show me the money. Right. I will never forget. This is one of the, this is one of the Last straw for me leaving staff nursing. I, you know, after doing that whole like triaged thing and like doing everything you know, adjusting to COVID like teaching other people how to run COVID triage and all that stuff.

[00:20:53] My evaluation. Oh, I was so, so like, you know, the leader of the cuff team, I was like doing all this stuff. Right. My evaluation showed just meets experts. And my evaluation for that year, I was like, I’m never, and here’s the thing. I didn’t take it personally, cause I’m not someone who takes those kinds of things personally.

[00:21:16] But I did the deuce from it. I’m never going to get anywhere here. Like, how am I meet expectations when the, you know, the nurse have refused to go on the COVID side? Cause she said that she hasn’t worked COVID yet. And we’ve been in a pandemic for like almost a year and she’s like not going, she’s also meets expectations.

[00:21:39] Mandy: Yup. Yup. Yup. That’s what you said. Well, your examples earlier was how they connect you personally. All those examples was how they’re like, oh, you’re the only one to do it. You’re so good. We need this, our patients, they do bump up. And you’re the reason I say this is so like mature. Is that your. This is the first decade of you doing this.

[00:22:09] And you can see so clearly so quickly to me, it took like forever and I’m like, it’s going to be hard to move. And I believed all the things that they told me, which was the grass isn’t always greener. And it’s the only place in my area that I can do this truly. So I would have to move my family and well don’t, you have kids to pay and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:22:29] And you’re like, Oh, no, this ain’t personal. This is a system that’s fucked. And I need to look out for myself. 

[00:22:37] Sibyl: Well, I think that I also like like many other, I don’t think I’m like special. I think that like many other people, the pandemic. How management dealt with it in different hospitals. And like everything you’ve heard online made us grow up really fast in terms of like, you know, how trauma makes you grow up quickly.

[00:22:58] Same thing in nursing. It’s like we had trauma early in our career, even a nurse, like five years at that point for when the pandemic started. So it’s like, I didn’t know very much in that. Just, I think that’s the four years you’re finally getting like accustomed to your role in a way that you are like no longer new after like two or three years.

[00:23:20] Right. But your forum like comfy and then boom. COVID right. So it’s, I think it’s a combination of things. I think that, you know, a lot of people have come to the same conclusion that I have, and that’s why everybody’s leaving. There’s so many more travelers is now. 

[00:23:39] HeHe: So one of the things I have not heard either one of you say, and it came to my mind when you were talking about not being connected to the unit culture and the drama and not having a, you know, a manager that doesn’t like you is freedom is that, you know, kind of description of one of the biggest benefits of travel nursing is you get your freedom.

[00:24:05] Sibyl: Oh, yeah, I think so. I think you, you get the freedom to finally, you know how people say just the nurses and insult I’m. Like, I finally got to be just a nurse. Like I was just another nurse on the unit. No, nothing extra, nothing fluffy. Like I was a pair of hands. I knew my role. I had to sign like, you know, you know, how they make you sign like a job description.

[00:24:31] Like I’m like, I know when my job description. And I don’t have to worry about anything else. I’m not charged. I’m not a manager. I’m not trying to get a good, like, I mean, you’re always trying to make a good impression, but not, it’s not like an evaluation. That’s going to determine my race. You know what I mean?

[00:24:50] Like it’s like, you’re trying to make a good impression because you know, you want to make connections. You want to your coworkers to like you, but I think it’s a lot of freedom. It’s a lot of freedom in terms of Being, and you can, like I said, you can decide who you want to be. So let’s say. Burnt out from your last unit and you were like, you know, I just want like some peace and quiet, right.

[00:25:17] And I just want to like, not really talk to many people and just kind of have this time to myself. You can do that. Or you can go to a place and be like, I want an adventure and I want to make friends and I want to do this and I want to do that thing. You can do that too, if you want. You can be the weird one.

[00:25:34] You can be yourself. 

[00:25:36] Mandy: You can be that nurse. You can like try out your new, like trauma informed care training, or always talking about that year and just be like, ewwwww, everything. 

[00:25:48] Sibyl: I think I love, I love like being able to walk into every place with a clean. 

[00:25:58] HeHe: Well, it’s no strings attached 

[00:26:01] Sibyl: and they don’t know who you are.

[00:26:02] Mandy: That’s a good perspective. So, well, Hey, we have a few minutes left. Can I do some rapid fire questions for you? 

[00:26:07] Sibyl: Yeah. Okay.

[00:26:14] Mandy: What surprised you the most about traveling? Hmm. 

[00:26:19] Sibyl: How expensive it was to actually get to these places and like live there wildly underestimated how much it costs. Yeah. 

[00:26:31] Mandy: So that goes into my, another one is how do you, how do you do housing stipend?

[00:26:38] Cause I’ve heard you can take it. You can stay where there. Set you up and like, what 

[00:26:43] have you tried? 

[00:26:45] Sibyl: So I try to stay, I’m trying to be more and more knowledgeable about tax law because it all is connected and I want to do right by the IRS. So I, you know, make sure that if I am taking a stipend is because I’m doubling, like.

[00:27:02] And I think that everybody thinks that there’s a rule for miles. Like, oh, if you’re 15 miles or whatever, but it really has, you know, tax wise, it’s more to do with doubling your expenses meeting to spend the night there. Like, you know, having receipts of like your hotels, your Airbnb or all that stuff.

[00:27:19] I prefer, honestly, my favorite way to find out thing is to get a hotel for the first like week or so that I’m there and ask around. At the hospital say, Hey, is anybody renting to travelers? Because there usually is people that are renting to travelers. And that’s how I found my little tiny house in Oregon that I literally was like getting enough families, lots in this tiny house, the family that lived there.

[00:27:44] It was like nurses, family, best case scenario. It was like in the ER and I was like in Medford. So she was like, she brought me soup when I was sick. This is like best case scenario.

[00:27:59] It’s going to snow. We’re going to shovel. Oh, yeah. 

[00:28:04] It was like so great. And like when other people, I feel like it feels almost more trustworthy when it’s like another healthcare worker. I don’t know why maybe because like, you know, they have their information. We know like they’re not gonna like chop you to bits, you know, 

[00:28:17] Mandy: and they, and they know like you have odd hours and you do weird stuff and you’re not like a weirdo that you’re just like buying beer at 5:00 AM.

[00:28:25] Is just how we do exactly when we’re doing that. Oh my gosh. That was like amazing tax. All right. Everyone’s going to have to look you up. We’re going to give you the info there. We’re going to give them your information at the end and they might be like, tell me more about those. All right. Housing, stipend taxes.

[00:28:42] Where do you stay? What did your colleagues say about travel when you left? 

[00:28:46] Sibyl: Oh, I got half of them hated me. Half of them still do. It’s fine. I mean, I think it has a lot to do a lot of people have less work travel and not gotten a map as much like tomato, tomato, tomato with me, because I am very vocal about how I want to think.

[00:29:04] And I have a social media following. So like, I think that it’s easy to be like, oh, she left for greener pastures and lots of hanging. I think they, they all know the problems that, you know, my former place has. And I think that they are just a lot of them just can’t travel or choose not to. And that’s on me, but I’m like take nothing personally kind of person.

[00:29:27] So I’m like, you know, they don’t like it. They have, they have their own feelings about it. That’s fine. I’m not sure. 

[00:29:36] Mandy: Well, I also like internalized oppression and like projecting.,

[00:29:43] Sibyl: you know, they’re still in that game of like trying to impress the manager, trying to get in that office, you know, where I’m just like 

[00:29:51] Mandy: and trauma responses and projecting and like the infant tile, emotional responses.

[00:29:58] I can, yeah, I can relate to that because I’ve heard that. And I’m glad you say that. I think that’s very relatable to the folks that are listening. You’ve said a lot of things that I used to believe, and I want the nurses who are on the edge to get information from someone who’s recently done it because they’re going to hear the same shit and it’s not 

[00:30:17] personal.

[00:30:18] Like you said, 

[00:30:18] Sibyl: It’s not personal, like I, I made a choice for my career, my life, and you don’t have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:30:26] Mandy: But we also can practice building each other up about our own individual choices and being curious about it and not being like,

[00:30:33] Sibyl: so, people are, and some pumps, so many of you are very, very positive and they’re like, you know, they come to me texting me, like, Hey, like I think what you’re doing at school.

[00:30:43] Awesome. Like travel, but like. I hope you’re a millionaire. Treat me to prep lunch. My actually my best friend still works there. I saw her yesterday. Like, it’s like, you know, she tells me all the time. She’s like, I could never travel because I don’t like new things. And I love the fact that I’m settled in my job and I’m like, cool, cool.

[00:31:11] Like my number one supporter, she like never be resonating. That’s so good. 

[00:31:17] Mandy: How did you find your, a good agent agency? 

[00:31:21] Sibyl: I the first agency I used was through Anna Reese on she’s on Instagram and to talk to, we kind of bonded early in the, in our, in our tick-tock careers, I guess, per se. And she recommended.

[00:31:35] I need to see to me, I think that’s the best way when somebody like verbally recommend something to you. I think it has a lot more weight than like see reviews online or anything like that. Cause you can really, you know, pick the brains of the travelers in your unit. I would say if you’re looking for a good agency right now I’m kind of experimented experimenting with a couple.

[00:31:53] So I’m like seeing what works. I so far. I’ve had good experiences, thankfully. So I can’t, I can’t say anything bad. You know, the only thing I’ve had really bad experience with right now is licensing and that’s not on them. 

[00:32:08] Mandy: Right, right. Separate. Oh, awesome. How do you get shorter contracts if you want them, like 4-6 weeks.

[00:32:14] Sibyl: I would say you have to wait for the right moment in the year. So I, you can’t always have a four week contract anytime that you want, you have to wait until there is a search or you have to wait until there is a need and there are more the pop-up and for that, you have to be available. So that’s kind of hard.

[00:32:32] So I think that four week, six week, eight week contracts, a lot of the time they are. A product of you just being available. So it’s like luck and kind of planning a little bit. So I know in the beginning of the year, there’s usually a lot of needs or like, right, right. During the holidays, like, you know, the two last weeks of December, people are like, nobody wants to work.

[00:32:53] So, you know, if anybody needs a travel nurse, they are. You know that we’ll do shorter contracts, but otherwise yeah, there’s not, unfortunately there’s not as many as I would like there to be. Okay. 

[00:33:09] Mandy: Okay. Cool. That’s helpful. All right. Last one. Are you responsible for your own education? Like continuing ed BLS ACLS.

[00:33:17] And do you have to pay for that?

[00:33:22] Sibyl: Yes. And no, it depends. So if you, you have to play your cards, right? So let’s say your BLS is about to expire. You don’t do it while you’re on assignment so that the agency pay for it. If you do it while you’re. So if you do it while you’re on like a three month, Yeah, you’re going to pay for that, right?

[00:33:47] Mandy: You’re at and they bill your agency. 

[00:33:49] Sibyl: Yeah. Well, no, you usually pay for it in you bill your agency. Got it. Reimbursement. Okay. So like a form. Okay. I think that that’s the best way to do it and because we are literally profiting off your work, so they’re willing to, a lot of agencies are willing to do.

[00:34:09] All kinds of things. I’ve had agencies even reimburse me for vaccinations. Like I have to get, so I’m Peruvian. So I’ve had to get like vaccinations and titers, like more often than most people who have lived here their whole life, because, you know, you know, they have to prove that you’re immune and things like that.

[00:34:28] So when I had to do like two or three vaccine titers and stuff like that, the agency paid for it because it was to go into a job that I was planning. Gotcha. Yeah, you had to see just, you know, a quick FYI for people, agencies sometimes even reimburse you for scrubs that you buy. They can reimburse you for parking.

[00:34:49] So let’s say you get to a facility. And like my old facility was like $13 a day for parking. My agency reimbursed me for all that. 

[00:34:57] Mandy: Nice. And so are you, this is just like my personal interests. Are you teaching about this? Like you sound like. You are talking about a needed niche that I have not heard nurses talk about before.

[00:35:14] And if you want me to edit this out, I will, you’re like, shut up. This is what I’m 

[00:35:17] doing. 

[00:35:18] The tech, you are like a con– independent contractor almost at, at this point, you’re like a nurse contractor. So you have to be responsible for the taxes, knowing what, you know, either a sole proprietorship or whatever that looks like for you.

[00:35:33] Contractor business. You’re responsible for getting that money back from. Like under the tax hood of paying taxes on and that’s going to be really new to nurses. So that is a huge hurdle. I think that’s keeping nurses from going in. And of course, like I’ve told my friends, like, bitch, I’ve done it. Like, come on.

[00:35:51] That is not, that is like the least of your hurdles right now. But for them it’s like, I’ve always loved clocking in, clocking out, and someone else takes care of that. And I get a W2 from one place. 

[00:36:02] Sibyl: Yes. I, I do some education, especially on like insurances and some things like that. Because I know that in order for, okay, so some nurses come from that background where they are used to, you know, their hospital taking care of everything, right.

[00:36:16] Then they go to an agency and now the agency, here’s the thing. The agency will attempt to take care of everything for you. The problem with that is that once you do that, you kind of have loyalty to the agency because it’s not going to be a CC to leave. So let’s say like, you know agency a is paying you $3,000 for a contract a week.

[00:36:36] Right. And they have like your, your health insurance, they have your 401k, all that stuff. And you know, you find agency B is paying like five K. You’re not going to go to agency B because you literally have like your whole life with it. And it’s changing it. It’s like a, such a big hassle. So I, what I always, I mean, I’m not doing like a ton of teaching, but like, what I always recommend is like doing everything on your own so that you, when you go to the agency, they’re like, Hey, do you want these like, products?

[00:37:06] So it’s like, you’re like, Nope, because I already have it. And you can like, kind of navigate your own way. You can take as much time off as you want, because when you have it under an agency, the problem is that like, you can only take like 20 something days off before, like your insurance lapses and things like that.

[00:37:24] And like when you’re a travel nurse, like you could potentially, like, I haven’t worked since October 13th, mostly because of the licensing issue that I’ve had. But I did plan on taking like a month and a half off. Know, that was the plan. Now it’s become like almost three months, right? I’m not, I didn’t want that to be three months, but you know, I digress.

[00:37:45] So the agency would have cut off my insurance. Right. But I have my own insurance and I never had to work. Like I, I have my own private, like, you know, so I always encourage people to do that. I, I do want to educate a little more about it. I just have a fear. I have a little bit of a fear of talking about taxes because I am not as well well-versed as I want to be before talking about.

[00:38:08] So important. And I do think that there are travel nurses out there who talk a lot about taxes, who are like much more knowledgeable than me. So I kind of like stay away from that a little bit. Because I’m like currently working with a CPA and things like that. And I learning more, but you know, it’s a, it’s a curve.

[00:38:25] I definitely had to learn. Like you said, like so many things that I didn’t know before about my building, my own benefit package.

[00:38:35] Mandy: That’s so fascinating. All right, podcast, number two, it is a good thing. And you’re independent. 

[00:38:43] You don’t rely on anything, any, any entity, and so you can be more flexible and also negotiate.

[00:38:49] Sibyl: Yeah, you can. So usually when you, like, if you go to a website and they give you like a breakdown of the price of the contract, it’ll say like a range, let’s say it’s 2,500 to, you know 3000, 200. We’ll usually, it’s not that big of a range, but you know, an example. So if you have your own benefits package, you already know that you’re going to get that top end.

[00:39:15] When they add things to your package, that’s when it starts lower and they start to profit more from you. Cause they’re like giving you all these, they’re giving you all these perks that they pay, like for a whole group for not paying what your 

[00:39:29] Mandy: perceived value, but it’s not 

[00:39:30] necessarily that 

[00:39:32] Sibyl: they are not paying what you’re giving up.

[00:39:34] But if you have your benefits package on your own. You can, you already know? You’re like, okay, I’m going to make that top dollar for that contract. And I can go to another agency if I want, because no lapses in my insurance. No, nothing. I have everything separate. 

[00:39:49] Mandy: Amazing. Well, for someone to say, I don’t know if I’m special.

[00:39:53] Yes, you are. Thank 

[00:39:55] you for sharing everything you’ve learned. This is 

[00:39:58] gold. This is gold. Nurses are going to be like rewind. I would like look out the window for a second. I missed something here. This is incredible. The fact that you share it and you get slack and you’re so like non shell, like, don’t take it personally.

[00:40:12] Like we can all use this energy. Thank you so much simple. 

[00:40:15] Sibyl: Oh, you’re welcome.

[00:40:16] I really, really believe that, you know, your life is so much better when you don’t take anything personally. You’re like, you know, oh, this happened for this reason. Another reason. It’s not all me personally.

[00:40:30] HeHe: That is energy that we can all benefit from. I feel so much lighter. Just even hearing you talk about your philosophy of going from unit to unit and the freedom that comes along with that. So if people are interested in following, along with you or learning more about travel nursing, or just hanging in your presence, because it’s such a powerful energy, where can they do that?

[00:40:52] How can they find you on social media? 

[00:40:54] Sibyl: So I am SibsRN on tick tok, SI B S R N. And SibyleStefania on Instagram, 

[00:41:02] Mandy: we’re going to link it below for them. 

[00:41:03] HeHe: Yeah, we will link everything. Thank you so much for being here just as expected. You totally blew the lid off in this conversation. I think that you opened so many people’s eyes. I think probably a lot of people are leaving this conversation thinking.

[00:41:21] I’ve got a lot of research to do, because I might have some life-changing decisions coming up really, really soon. This conversation was great. It was more than anything I could ever have imagined. Thank you so much for talking. Nice. Absolutely. All right guys, we will see you next week for another episode of the Pulse Check podcast.

[00:41:45] Sibyl: Thank you for having me.