Be careful about being an independent contractor....
Beware of being an independent contractor. The healthcare professional incurs more liability as an indepentent contractor. A staffing agency not only pays taxes on you, but also provides insurance for you.

What happens if you get HIV because a patient bleeds on you? If you are an independent contractor, then you are going to be paying the medical bills yourself for the rest of your life. Are you going to provide your own workers compensation insurance?

What happens if a patient dies, and you get named in a malpractice lawsuit? Are you going to fund your own defense in the trial? Are you going to carry your own professional and general liability insurance?

The healthcare industry is filled with attourneys and insurance companies. Protect yourself.

Like all things, the greater the risk the greater the reward. There is certainly more money in being an independent contractor, but I personally wouldn't gamble with my career/future on a little bit more money. For me, the risk is not worth the upside.

Here is the honest truth about independent contracting. If you were to buy all the insurnace, benefits, and pay taxes for yourself you will probably earn as much at the end of the day as you would working for an agency. The only thing that independent contractors accomplish is having the need to do all these things themselves versus having your agency do it for you.

Finally, lets talk about the intangibles. Lets say you don't get along with your unit manager, or lets say you are accused of poor clinical performance. If a hosptial is directly contracted with you, then they will cancel you with little or no negotiation. If you work through an agency, you will have the agency fighting on your behalf to keep you on the assignment. Sometimes unit managers are not the best at communicating directly with the nurse in question. An agency serves as an objective third party who defends you every day when you don't know they are doing it.

There are certainly advantages to being an independent contractor, and I am not trying to dispute those advantages. There are some people who do very well as an independent contractor.

Please keep these things in mind before making the jump into being an indepenent contractor. My goal is not to discourage you, but rather to inform you so that you can make the best choice.