Fastaff nurses are rewarded and recognized for the experience, skills, and dedication they bring to each travel nursing assignment. This nurse is someone who exemplifies the Fastaff values.

Read below to learn more about December’s Nurse of the Month, Katherine Downing: 

Specialty: Labor and Delivery.

Number of years working with Fastaff:

Five years.

Number of assignments with Fastaff:

Four assignments.

Why do you love working with Fastaff? 

I enjoy the opportunity to travel throughout the country while meeting and working with amazing people. I love getting the chance to experience all the wonderful diversity our country has to offer. Fastaff makes it easy and fun to make all that happen.

What do you love about nursing?

As a traveling nurse, I feel it’s my duty to help those in need. When hospitals are seeking additional help, I know that the help I’m providing them will be greatly appreciated. Being a nurse is more than a job; it’s the opportunity of helping others when they are vulnerable and in need. It’s a very rewarding career, with something new on every shift.

What makes travel nursing rewarding for you?

Being a traveling nurse not only enables me to perfect my skills as a nurse, but it also teach me valuable life skills. It helped me learn how to communicate more effectively, become more adaptable, and critically problem solve. By working in a new environment every couple months, I have had constant exposure to new knowledge and medical techniques.

Describe a time where you felt more valuable/respected because of the experience and knowledge you gained from your Fastaff assignment.

There have been many times where my knowledge and experience has helped me gain respect from my peers and patients. It’s very rewarding to be able to put all my years of experience to good use.

What has been your most challenging Fastaff assignment and how did you feel that impacted your worth as a nurse afterwards?

I have found some of my most challenging assignments is where I’ve had to adapt to very different hospital systems or differing personalities or opinions.

Describe the most miraculous or impressive thing you’ve witnessed or been a part of during your time as a nurse with Fastaff.

As a Labor and Delivery nurse, it is an amazing perk that I get to witness the miracle of new life coming into the world every day. Working for Fastaff has only increased this as I have had the chance to work all over the country at different hospitals.

 How have you accomplished some of your personal and professional goals by traveling with Fastaff?

When I first began travel nursing, my biggest goal was to travel and gain experience and knowledge working at different and diverse hospitals. Now that my goals have shifted to earning financial freedom, travel nursing still allows me to work towards achieving this goal.