I do not work in the medical profession.  However I have worked in the health insurance industry, and I have many relatives that have worked in various capacities and hospitals and doctors offices as nurses and technicians.

These days I travel across the country working on many different projects and assignments for companies all around the world.  When we think about the nursing profession we don't always realize that nurses and medical professionals do the same thing.  There's an entire segment of the nursing industry called travel nursing which calls a nurses to travel from one of the country to the other to work long-term projects for hospitals and doctors offices and other facilities that need highly qualified professionals for short to medium term basis.

I am a history buff and so when I think of travel nursing my mind turns to historical memories of pictures of nurses from ages past.  Picture Florence Nightengale helping soldiers heel in the Crimerian war (is that the right name, I think so).

Today, however, a travel nurse might not only work as a contractor in Iraq, but they might work in a hospital in San Francisco or a cosmetic surgeons office in Boca Raton.  Their contract work might last for 3 to 6 to 10 months and the pay rates are far better than they might have been 10 - 20 years ago, let alone 50 to 100.  Some travel nurses actually make better money working part time on contract that some full time nurses.