Primarily, jobs are posted for 48 or 36 hours guaranteed a week.

And please get it in writing in your contact that you are GUARANTEED HOURS! If you don’t and get cancelled because the units overstaffed, you will NOT get paid! I won’t even look at a job posting if it says anything about no guaranteed hours.

Yes, you are on assignment to work. Depending on your location and what you have planned for your free time, you don’t want to spend all your time on the clock! This would impact on how many hours you want to work a week. Working 48hrs/wk always guarantees 8hrs of overtime but with 36hrs/wk you could still pick up extra when you liked.

If the hospital needs travelers there’s a good chance they need extra shifts picked up. Some facilities outright deny overtime by travelers as well.

I have personally signed a contract for 24hrs/wk too, I was extending so the ED knew me and knew I’d pick up when I wasn’t skiing so they felt comfortable doing this. You don’t know if you don’t ask!