With the current nursing shortage, many agencies have opened up travel nursing positions. These travel nurses go to a community for an average of 13 weeks before packing up and moving. While this solution has helped aid hospitals and doctors' offices struggling to cope with high volumes of patients, it can be hard on the nurses. If you're a travel nurse, here are some tips to help you stay organized and minimize stress.

Keep Your Belongings Decluttered

The first step to staying organized as a travel nurse is to keep your belongings decluttered. While this may seem like a no-brainer, it's easy to buy food and household items you don't truly need as your assignment drags on. When it's time to pack up and move again, these extra items will slow you down and stress you out. Rather than dealing with frustration later, do your best to stay decluttered now. Throughout the course of your rotation, don't be afraid to toss out or donate things you no longer need.

Along those lines, keeping your belongings organized and tidy will help you avoid stress when it's time to move. While your days are long and you may not have much free time, you must keep your living situation clean. If your housing has a closet, you may want to separate it into scrubs and off-shift clothes. When you pack up, having your work clothes separate will help you streamline the process. As you can, take advantage of all the space you have. Keep a step ladder with you to easily access storage up high for more space. By staying decluttered, you can reduce stress and increase organization.

Organize Your Travel Documents

Another component to staying organized is to organize your travel documents. As a travel nurse, you have many papers you need for both your work and housing placement. These documents are vital to your job and welfare, so you never want to lose them. By keeping them organized, you can ensure that you never lose out on your nursing benefits because of a misplaced social security card or proof of insurance.

As you move around, it's easy to misplace one or more of the vast multitude of files you need for work. When you have a quiet moment at your temporary housing, go through your files and put everything in one folder. If you have digital copies, keep them together on an external hard drive or flash drive for easy access. With printed papers, grab a manila folder or binder and label everything clearly, so you don't risk losing anything. By keeping your nursing documents organized, you'll have everything you need as you move from community to community.

Separate High-Use Items

Finally, separate high-use items from the ones you'll only need a few times during your placement. Clothing items like scrubs, work shoes, and scrub caps will be used almost daily, so those should be placed in an easily-accessible place in your closet. On the flip side, things like winter coats, long socks, and dress clothes may only be used once or twice, so they can be either kept in their storage boxes or put toward the back of your closet. Keeping your work clothes separated into outfits will make getting ready a breeze, as you'll only need to grab one set and go.

The same goes for household items. While you use shower products daily, you won't need specialized skin care or cleaning supplies as often. These items can be either put in storage in your housing or kept in your moving boxes for streamlined packing. By separating your high-use items, you can stay organized and stress-free during your placement.

Overall, travel nursing can be exhausting. With these tips, you can reduce stress and make your temporary housing feel more like home.