Happy Nurses Week 2014! Let’s celebrate!

We hope all of you nurses out there are enjoying a Happy Nurses Week 2014!

The theme for Nurses Week 2014 is “Nurses Leading the Way.” All nurses, including traveling nurses, do SO much to lead and support within the healthcare industry. It’s really great that once a year we take a whole week to celebrate the hard work and compassion of awesome nurses.

Here are a few cool things going on this year for Nurses Week 2014:

The American Nursing Association offered up this cool Nurses Week History.

Like in many years before, Cinnabon is doing its giveaway for nurse professionals during Nurses Week. Just bring in your badge, May 6-12, to get a free Classic Cinnamon Roll or Minibon Roll.

Medical Solutions is doing some fun stuff over at WeLoveOurNurses.com:

• Real Nurses of Nurses Week gallery where you can add your nurse bio and picture
• A Share Your Best Nursing Story contest w/ prizes like free massages and scrubs
• Third annual Nurses of Tomorrow Scholarship contest — click here to enter.
• Shareable eCards and the #yournursesweek for social media

NursingCenter.com is doing:

• Free access to some of its most popular journal articles
• An image contest exemplifying this year’s theme, Nurses Leading the Way, and a word search puzzle
• Daily features on inspirational nurses
• A free National Nurses Week webinar

Gypsy Nurse, sponsored by Atlas Medstaff, is taking nominations for your “Gypsy Florence Nightingale” — click here to nominate.

Mighty Nurse is doing a Nurse Mad Libs drawing with a Southwest gift card for the prize and is also announcing its scholarship winner this week.

Scrubbed In is sharing a “Wish a Day” for nurses on its blog.

Many hospitals and others are also doing special things this week to honor nurses — so keep your eyes peeled from promotions and discounts May 6-12. We hope you all get a chance to unwind a bit through some of this Nurses Week fun and that you know how very grateful we all are for nurses! Happy Nurses Week 2014!

Keeping up with education is important for any healthcare professional. In the past continuing education for travel nurses has seemed more daunting than for perm workers, simply due to them being on the go, geography, and logistics. With the growing popularity and greater availability of online courses, continuing education for travel nurses is made easier. But it turns out the number one concern or reason why nurses don’t enroll in classes isn’t so much geography, it is time.

A recent report from the National Student Nurses Association surveyed a group of registered nurses to determine the top four reasons why they might be apprehensive to continue their education. The reasons were isolated and then addressed as myths or facts, where the authors unpacked the assumptions and realities of these reasons why people choose not to head back to school:

• Obtaining a BSN will not enhance the ability to function as a registered nurse.
• Obtaining the BSN will not increase registered nurses’ salaries.
• The schedule of RNs precludes returning to school.
• Returning to school is too expensive.

One big takeaway from the NSNA survey was that for many respondents the fear or worry of not having enough time to continue their education was worse than reality of taking classes. Some of the chief benefits from continuing and obtaining a BSN reported in the survey included, “increased knowledge base,” “professional growth,” and self satisfaction. Research discussed in the report also concluded that “the higher a nurse’s education, the better the patient outcomes.” Click here to read the full report.

It so very important for travelers to continue learning in the healthcare field. Continuing education for travel nurses is a great resume booster and helpful in terms of patient care, it better equips travelers to truly hit the ground running and be successful at any facility.