Hi txgirl,
Welcome to the nursing forums! Ok, I'll try to give you some answers from my perspective at any rate.
1. I like ER nursing better than any other specialty I've worked in, including teaching and being the director of nurses at one point. I suppose I like it the best because I have more of a "cure" attitude than a "care" attitude. Everyone in my family are MD's and they wanted me to go to medical school, and two doctors I've worked with offered to pay my way through med school, so I guess that says I don't have the personality type that is happy waiting on patients hand & foot, changing beds, or calling for orders for tylenol... ha... I'd have made a terrible floor nurse, but I am a great ER nurse. I love seeing the patients, being able to triage, stabilize, basically start to treat , be involved intimately with urgent care cases such as major traumas, and either admit them or send them home. I LIKE trauma, I really like gunshot wounds, stabbings, and MVA's the best. In the army I could see patients, send them for tests, order consults, suture, cast & get prescriptions for them handle them in conjunction with the ER doc. There's more autonomy in the ER and a whole lot of adreniline rush and satisfaction at the end of the day knowing you've actually accomplished something meaningful.
2) I believe most travel nursing companies require a minimum of one year current clinical experience before they will consider a nurse for a travel nurse position. What you make (at that time) is going to depend on the type of assignment you are qualified for and accept. You will make more money if you work in a highly skilled specialty area such as critical care, surgery, nurse anesthesia, or neonatal intensive care for example than you would if you work a med surg floor, and you will make more money if your assignment is with some hospital in some place where they are willing to pay high rates to get nurses to come to work etc... it all varies. I've had phone calls offering $5,000 per week to $10,000 per week.
3) Again, whether you can move into a management or administrative role wherever you go to work will depend a great deal upon the needs of your employer at the time, so it's hard to say. Bear in mind that the BsN degree is rapidly becomming the entry level degree for professional nursing (though there will continue to be a severe shortage of RN's and especially BsN RN's for a long time to come).
So, is it easy? I would never say it's "easy". Like any other management or administrative position in any other career field you will be judged by your leadership abilities as well as by your educational preparation. In other words, much depends upon the needs of your employer as well as upon your own abilities in addition to your degree, so the best I can say is prepare yourself the best you can and go into the job as a nurse prepared to keep learning all that you can and do the best job that you can do. You never lose by being the best you can be.
Hope that helps some... when do you start college?
Sara
