Scrub techs, also known as surgical techs, play a crucial role in the operating room. Meticulous attention to detail is absolutely necessary to ensure a sterile surgical environment.
If you are detail-oriented, enjoy working in a surgical environment, and envision a life on the road, a travel scrub tech job may be just the career for you.
To help you decide if this might be a positive career move, keep reading to learn what a travel scrub tech does, how to become one, and the many benefits of traveling scrub tech jobs.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Travel Scrub Tech?
- The Benefits of Working as a Travel Scrub Tech
- How To Become a Travel Scrub Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
- Start Your Travel Scrub Tech Journey With Pronto
What Is a Travel Scrub Tech?
A travel scrub tech is a health professional who travels to work as a part of an operating room team. Scrub techs are responsible for many aspects of the operating room procedure, including:
- Transferring patients to and from the OR
- Helping move patients to the operating table
- Preparing for surgery
- Assisting the surgeon during surgery
- Helping the surgical team scrub in
- Cleaning and sterilizing surgical instruments
- Maintaining the cleanliness and sterility of the OR
- Managing surgical supplies and placing orders for needed instruments and materials
- Accounting for all instruments after surgery
- Discarding disposable items safely
Travel scrub techs can work in many locations across the U.S., but if you like to stay close to home, contracted scrub tech travel jobs may also be available in your local area. Even though you’ll be local, you’ll still receive all the benefits of a scrub tech who travels to a different city or state.
The Benefits of Working as a Travel Scrub Tech
Why look for travel scrub tech jobs? The benefits of working as a travel scrub tech can be enticing. Here are a few to attract you to this rewarding career:
- Earning a higher salary – Travel scrub techs often make higher salaries than those in staff positions. Facilities that are short-staffed or have needs for other reasons are often willing to pay more for travel scrub techs to fill those needs.
- Receiving agency benefits – When you work with an allied health travel agency like Trusted Nurse Staffing, you’ll receive other benefits like housing, stipends, and bonuses that can make the already higher salary go even further.
- Having more flexibility – With a staff position, you may be locked into particular hours, days off, vacation time, and personal days. But with traveling scrub tech jobs, you have the flexibility of accepting assignments where you want them and when you want them. If you want to take three weeks off to spend with the family during the holidays, you can do that. You are in the driver’s seat — choose an assignment that ends before the holidays, enjoy the time off, and then start a new assignment in the new year.
- Gaining helpful experience – As a travel scrub tech, you’ll likely get the opportunity to work in different environments and facilities. This means you’ll meet new people, learn new procedures, and practice new processes, all of which will prepare you for whatever your next professional step may be.
- Visiting different parts of the U.S. – Positions for travel scrub tech jobs are available all across the country. Are you anxious to experience the Wild West? Or would you prefer an assignment near the mountains? Whether you love beach life or prefer the big city, you can choose to work as a travel scrub tech in your desired location. Find available travel scrub tech jobs easily by using Pronto. Simply filter for your specialty and location, and the Pronto job search creates a list of available assignments according to your specifications.
How To Become a Travel Scrub Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
The benefits of working as a travel scrub tech are attractive, but you’re wondering what’s involved for you to be ready to work as a travel scrub tech. Maybe you are already working in a staff position and are wondering if there are any other requirements for you to be able to work and travel. Whether you’re preparing to become a scrub tech or are a veteran, we’ll cover several aspects below to help you prepare to work as a travel scrub tech.
Skills
If you think you may want to pursue a career as a travel scrub tech, take an inventory and see if you possess the skill set for this job:
- Attention to detail
- Work independently
- High integrity
- Self-accountability
- Good communication
- Time management
- Organization
- Active listening
- Problem-solving
- Sterilization and knowledge of surgical instruments
- Knowledge of surgical procedures
Qualifications
The following steps are necessary to be qualified to work as a travel scrub tech:
- A degree from an accredited program (usually takes two years)
- At least one year of recent experience as a scrub tech
- National Certification by the NBSTSA recommended
- Valid Surgical Technologist license or registration if required by the state where you’ll work
- Valid Basic Life Support (BLS) certification from the American Heart Association (AHA)
- Other credentials that may be required by the state where you’ll work
In addition to these qualifications, travel scrub techs can also receive specialized training that allows them to choose their preferred case types and clinical work settings.
Demand
The need for travel scrub techs continues to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, scrub tech and other surgical assistant jobs are projected to grow six percent from 2023 to 2033. Openings for travel scrub techs may be due to techs leaving the surg tech field or leaving the workforce to retire.
Earning Potential
The average nationwide salary for a travel scrub tech is $1,882 per week, according to ZipRecruiter. Of course, the average salary for a travel scrub tech can vary depending on things like:
- Experience
- Specializations
- Facility
- Location
In which states will travel scrub techs make the highest weekly salaries? Here are the top 10:
- New York: $2,116
- Vermont: $2,081
- Maine: $1,993
- Pennsylvania: $1,938
- Washington: $1,926
- Massachusetts: $1,897
- New Hampshire: $1,891
- New Jersey: $1,889
- Alaska: $1,886
- Oregon: $1,866
Start Your Travel Scrub Tech Journey With Pronto
Ready to begin your travel scrub tech career? Follow these simple steps:
- Create a profile on Pronto and, if you choose, upload your resume, licenses, certifications, and more so we can find a job that’s right for you.
- Connect with a recruiter, who is happy to guide you through the process of searching and applying for jobs. Your recruiter will be able to recommend placements based on your specifications.
Once you’ve accepted a position, Trusted Nurse Staffing continues to support you throughout your journey with:
- A compliance team will assist you with any licensing and testing that may be required by the facility. If there is any cost necessary, we’ll take care of it!
- A payroll team dedicated to helping answer any payroll-related questions. Contacting them is easy, and they are quick to reply to answer questions or help with other issues.
- Your recruiter, who will be an advocate throughout your contracted position. They support you during your assignment and will be available to help you find the next one when the current one expires. If you want to extend a current contract, they can help you with that, too.
Not only do you receive support from your Trusted Nurse Staffing team, you’ll also receive these amazing benefits:
- A welcome box
- 401(k) with a 4% match after 1,000 hours and one year of employment
- Employer-sponsored health insurance
- Direct deposit
- HRA to fully cover deductibles
- Wellness benefits
- Guardian dental and vision insurance
- Portable permanent whole life insurance
- Disability insurance
- License, certifications, and CEU reimbursements
- Full/part-time and per-diem work
- Flexible contract options
- Housing, meal, and travel stipends
- Student loan assistance
It doesn’t stop there! Trusted Nurse Staffing also offers these additional bonuses:
- Refer a Friend: When you refer another allied health professional who completes their contracted assignment, you can receive up to $1,500.
- Refer a Facility: The same is true when you refer a facility. When a reference results in a service agreement, you’ll qualify to receive up to $1,500.
- Ambassador Program: When you share about Trusted Nurse Staffing on your social media platforms, you can earn points to be redeemed on Amazon.
A travel scrub tech job can be a rewarding career that allows you to travel to areas of the country you’ve dreamed of visiting. Why wait? Let Trusted Nurse Staffing help you take the first steps to beginning your dream job. Get started on Pronto today!