Starting out as a brand new travel nurse is hard, overwhelming, and sometimes downright difficult. There’s so much information out there… yet it can be hard to find the answers to the exact questions you’re looking for. These are the Facebook groups that I’ve joined that I have found to be incredibly helpful as a travel nurse! From making friends to finding premium assignments, and even finding housing! These are the travel nurse groups you definitely want to be a part of.
10 Travel Nurse Facebook Groups to Join
1. Passports and Preemies Travel Community
Passports and Preemies Travel Community is a place for both travel nurses and staff nurses who have a shared love of traveling. This is where you can get all travel-related questions answered. Whether you have questions about travel nursing, international travel, or travel in your own backyard – join this group and start cultivating community!
2. Your City/State You’re Traveling in
Almost every city and/or state has a Facebook group for travel nurses. I’ve joined groups in both Seattle and San Francisco by simply typing in “city name + travel nurse”. I like these groups because they are specific to where you’ll be. You can meet other travelers, ask questions about housing, find out what’s going on in your area. It’s a one-stop-shop for learning and meeting new friends!
Just getting into travel nursing and worried about making friends? See my tips for making friends as a travel nurse!
3. Travel Nurse Housing – The Gypsy Nurse
The Travel Nurse Housing group by the Gypsy Nurse is an incredibly useful group to be a part of in terms of housing! I’ve found multiple places to live in this group (both good and bad), and find that it’s a good resource to check out how much others pay in your area, and find roommates! Before I ask a question in the group, I always use the search bar and type “Boston” (for example) to read what others are saying about housing in Boston. I then tend to reach out from there!
For more tips on finding housing as a travel nurse make sure to check out Resources for Finding Housing As a Travel Nurse
4. Gypsy Soul Travel Nurse Housing Options
By the name of the group, I’m sure you can guess – another useful place where you can find housing. For me, finding housing is the most difficult part of travel nursing so I try to utilize as many Facebook groups as possible.
5. Housing the Country, One Hospital At a Time!
Another great Facebook page to join if you’re looking for more resources on housing.
6. Your Specific Specialty
I am a part of the NICU Nurses & Travel Nurses (Not Recruiters!) Facebook group, which I find to be incredibly valuable. Here you can talk about pay, ask others what hospitals are good to travel to, and more without being bombarded by recruiters. I have found that it’s a great tool when wanting honest answers from other travel nurses. We all know that recruiters tend to beat around the bush at times!
Read more on learning how to deal with recruiters:
How to Negotiate Your Travel Nurse Contract
Not All Travel Nurse Companies are Created Equal
7. Your Company’s Facebook Group
All travel nurse companies should have their own Facebook group where you can go to get the latest on what’s happening within the company! You don’t tend to find useful information directly relating to you (housing, etc), but it’s a good way to stay in the know! Plus you can find out if there are any other travelers from your company that will be in the same city/state you’re in! (If you can’t find your company’s Facebook group, just reach out and ask! If they don’t have one, maybe you can start one for them)!
Looking for a company to work with? Start here: Travel Nurse Agencies Ranked by Travel Nurses
8. Premimum NICU Travel Assignments
Specific to the NICU, if you’re reading this as a NICU nurse this is a good group to join. This is a group with many recruiters and to be able to post about assignments they are required to follow specific guidelines. While I’ve never, ever taken an assignment from this group, I’ve used it as a resource to negotiate with my recruiter. Plus it allows me to see when assignments become available so if it’s somewhere I really want to go I have a leg up!
9. Travel Nurse Network – The Gypsy Nurse
This is more of a generic travel nurse group without a central theme, but it’s a great place to go for questions and community. The downside is that because there isn’t one topic, it seems that people get lost in the conversation and it can be hard to find valuable content.
10. Facilities Cancellation Database
This is a helpful group to be in, however, I wouldn’t read too much into it. If you’re traveling to big-name hospitals that accept many travelers a year, you have nothing to worry about! If you are traveling to a small hospital in the middle of nowhere, that is when I find this group to be useful. I tend to type in the name of the hospital I want to work at and then read what people are saying about it. Do a lot of travelers get their contracts canceled? Do they treat travelers with respect? If you join this group take it with a grain of salt and don’t let the fear of a canceled contract keep you from travel nursing!
For more tips on what to do in the case that your contract was canceled, read What to Do if Your Contract Gets Canceled
When joining these travel nurse groups remember to be respectful of the rules put forth by the group. Be friendly, put yourself out there, and comment on other people’s posts! You’ll be on your way to a travel nurse expert in no time! Still, need more guidance when it comes to travel nursing? I now offer 1:1 mentoring for those wishing to take the leap into travel nursing! Read this post for more details.
Do you know if any good Facebook groups not mentioned in this post? Leave a comment so that I and others can check them out!
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Kylee is a Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) nurse passionate about making travel affordable and accessible to nurses. Inspiring nurses to travel both near and far, Kylee began Passports and Preemies in 2017 while volunteering in Skopje, North Macedonia as a way to reach nurses and advocate for the prevention of nurse burnout by traveling. Kylee is the original creator of the “8 Day Vacay” – a vacation geared towards nurses who aim to take advantage of the potentially 8 days off between work weeks with no need to use PTO.
Thanks for explaining that groups can help you make friends and even find housing as a travel nurse. According to my knowledge, it’s a good idea to work with a specialized travel housing service to make sure you’re aware of all of your options. This will also help you narrow down your search to include only fully-furnished housing more easily!
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Yes, great tip!