The year 2020 was a tough one for everyone, of that there is no doubt. Nurses and nursing assistants were on the front lines throughout the year facing equipment shortages, job uncertainty, and crisis all while staring in the face of a scary new disease.
PRN nursing jobs have filled a valuable gap in the nursing shortage as our nation has gripped, grabbed, and fought the novel coronavirus. The ebb and flow of COVID-19 impacted the industry drastically on a financial level. The resulting furloughs and layoffs in April and May of 2020 were an almost incomprehensible response to a pandemic while the highest compensation rates the industry had ever seen were being offered in hot spots.
Here's a brief look at how working PRN shifts by downloading NursaTM, changed the lives of a certified nursing assistant (CNA), an experienced licensed practical nurse (LPN), and one of our registered nurses (RN).
Certified Nursing Assistant, CNA, Ann
Ann, CNA, had been a certified nursing assistant for three years. The nationwide median hourly wage for a CNA is $14.25 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ann was earning a respectable $14.00 per hour at a nearby long-term care facility. While she was not the sole source of income for her young family, it was a healthy and necessary complement to the family finances. However, when the pandemic hit her husband lost his job and all of a sudden, they needed more income fast, and they couldn't wait for the unemployment backlogs to catch up.
Ann found NursaTM searching for a way to make more money. She had heard that by working PRN (medical abbreviation for working on demand) she could earn more per hour. She was able to find available PRN shifts near her at hospitals and other facilities that would pay a higher hourly wage than her average job, but wouldn't require that she quit her current employment because her family needed the benefits her full-time job offered.
With careful planning every week, she selected available PRN shifts that were scheduled around her regular shifts. While her husband stayed home taking care of the kids and their virtual school needs, Ann went the extra mile and was able to earn enough to keep her family afloat while her husband sorted out unemployment and what to do about his career. Ann has come to rely on the security that some extra income can provide and still picks up a few PRN shifts every month in spite of her husband having gone back to work.
Licensed Practical Nurse, LPN, Rosie
Rosie, an LPN for 10 years, had been working at her community family practice when the statewide lockdown orders went out. Along with 1.4 million other health care workers Rosie got the terrible news that she was suddenly furloughed with no promise of future work or income. Counterintuitively, while the novel coronavirus was sending people to hospital emergency rooms in record numbers, the family practice she had worked for had shut down. In accordance with state lockdown mandates everywhere, only emergency medical services were operating. Rosie knew that her skills were needed, even if not by her job anymore. So, she went looking for PRN work and found us, NursaTM.
With our smartphone application downloaded to her smartphone, Rosie was able to get her professional portfolio and nursing license and credentials together to send directly to various facilities in the city that were desperate for nurses. Rosie worked as many PRN shifts as she wanted for those weeks while on furlough. She chose where and when due to the fact that the need was so great she had lots of options.
Registered Nurse, RN, Benjamin
Benjamin is an RN with a specialty as a perioperative nurse. This specialty requires lots of experience and training and is considered one of the highest paying nursing specialties in the industry. Benjamin worked in a surgery center and had just retired in November of 2019. Benjamin watched as the novel coronavirus spread and when it hit his city, he decided he wanted to help.
Benjamin joined the ranks of hundreds of clinicians nationwide who joined NursaTM to get connected with PRN shifts at hospitals and medical facilities that are desperate for staff. With his specialty skills in the operating room, Benjamin found those skills transferred well to working shifts in ICUs and Emergency Departments.
With the ups and downs of COVID-19 throughout the last year, as countries move forward with vaccination efforts, Benjamin has decided to continue working PRN shifts and keep his license active until things settle down with more finality.
What Ann, Rosie, and Benjamin Have in Common
The obvious answer here would be NursaTM, yes, but let's go deeper. In each of their circumstances, these three presented a drive to work, and the fortitude to step into new situations. While their motivations may differ, the results were the same. Facilities in each of their cities were able to more adequately staff a shift every time they signed on.
Each of our nurses and nursing assistants have their own personal reasons for working PRN, but they all share the flexibility, the drive, and the willingness to work where there is need. We serve as the connection to where there is need, and our clinicians do all the rest.
How PRN Nursing Jobs Work
Download our smartphone application today and get registered. You'll be asked to create a professional portfolio that will be securely stored within the app. Your portfolio should include a resume, references, compliance documentation, and your nursing license or nursing assistant certificate. Once you've verified your license you can begin browsing hundreds of listings of RN, LPN, and CNA per diem jobs near you. We're connected with facilities of every type, service, and size. You can expect that more often than not, the per diem shifts you see will offer a compensation rate higher than what you'd typically find for a regular full-time employee of that level.
