Per diem nursing jobs is just one of the many nursing jobs you can get when you work under a nurse staffing agency. As a nurse you have a lot of opportunities during this pandemic and grabbing them can be good for advancing your career. Per diem nurse assignments are given by your nurse staffing agency if you work under them. The good thing about working as a per diem nurse under an agency is getting more job opportunities.
What does it mean to be a per-diem nurse?
The word per diem originated from a Greek word meaning “per day”, therefore the per diem nurse term is used to refer to nurses who are given assignments for a day or more. Plus per diem nurses are paid per day. Per diem nurses can be assigned to cover an 8-hour shift, a whole day shift, or even more than one day depending on the need of the healthcare facilities they will be assigned to.
The difference between per-diem and part-time work
To enlighten you about the difference between part-time and per diem work, part-time workers have the required hours to complete each week and they usually work on a fixed schedule.
For instance, most part-time workers are required to work for 30 hours a week or less and have to work from 8 am to 12 noon per day. On the other hand per diem nurses don’t need to work every day and on a fixed schedule plus they are not required to complete a number of hours in a week. Instead, they are given assignments by their nurse staffing agency and they have to report on the schedule they are given to a certain healthcare facility.
Benefits Of Per-Diem Nursing Work
Here are the benefits nurses get from per diem work:
Higher Pay
Per diem nurses get paid at a higher hourly rate compared with regular nurses. That’s why despite not getting a regular schedule some nurses still prefer working as per diem nurses than regular nurses. Plus the rate of nurses can get higher if they have specialization and years of experience.
Flexible Schedule
Per diem nurses can have more free time since they didn’t get assignments all the time plus they can decline an assignment if their schedule doesn’t match the assignment being given to them. For instance, if a nurse is asked to work for tomorrow and she had already scheduled to go to a family event then she can decline the assignment. This means they can manage their own schedule and get a break whenever they want to.
Opportunity to Grow Professionally
Getting exposed to a different working environment can make nurses learn more and expand their skills as well. Since they have to adjust to different healthcare facility systems now and then they can gain knowledge on how to use different medical equipment at different places and adjust to different working environments.
This setup can aid them in advancing their career such as getting specialization. Getting connected to different healthcare facilities can also be a good way to meet your future employers as well as get the connection you need which can come in handy as your references in the future.
Opportunity to Grow as an Individual
As a per diem nurse, you will get exposed to different people and even different cultures. This exposure can help you become more flexible in handling different patients as well as talking with different people who have different beliefs, attitudes, and even language. You can improve the skills needed to make progress as an individual.
Now that you have an idea of the question regarding how does per diem work in nursing? You can now start shifting to becoming a per diem nurse so you can reap the benefits stated above. The first thing you can do is search for the right nurse staffing agency that can match your goals.
If you want to maximize your time then go for an agency that can give you more job assignments but if you want to have more free time then choose an agency that can give you enough assignments to support your finances. The choice will depend on you.
