If you work in healthcare, you have probably heard the term per diem nursing. Or, perhaps you are working as a PRN nurse right now and can advocate for how awesome it is. That’s because many nurses are choosing to leave their full-time professions in search of a better work-life balance. To their delight, per diem nurses are finding just that in PRN work: balance — and oh how sweet work-life harmony can really be!
But wait, what is per diem nursing exactly? Loosely defined, PRN nursing is a type of short-term employment that offers nurses a chance to pick up shifts in various healthcare facilities around the country. Moreover, per diem nursing offers nurses the ability to choose their schedules, giving them greater control over how much and how often they want to work. The clear benefits of working as a nurse in the per diem setting are motivating nurses throughout the US to experiment with this type of work. In fact, nursing shortages, decreased pay, and mental burnout due to the COVID-19 pandemic are some of the main factors why nurses are choosing to work as PRN nurses. Furthermore, a report by Oliver Wyman suggests that the temporary staffing market has witnessed continuous growth over the past few years and shows no signs of stopping.
In general, per diem work is proving to be a great alternative to traditional full-time employment. Are you interested in a career in per diem nursing? Then read on to discover how you can turn your PRN nursing into a straight-up brilliant and thriving career!
What Is Per Diem Nursing?
Per diem nursing is a profession that offers nurses the opportunity to work per day, or on an as-needed basis. In other words, per diem nurses often work on-call and can pick up shifts according to the demand of healthcare facilities. At first glance, it may seem like a career in per diem nursing would be embarking on unstable territory, but that’s not the case. Believe it or not, if you choose to be a per diem nurse, this career choice can actually help you secure more work and even increase your earning potential. That’s because per diem nurses are almost always in demand. As a matter of fact, one report shows that by 2028, the per diem nurse market size is projected to rise to 11.1 billion USD. In short, when healthcare facilities have staffing shortages (which is almost always the case), per diem nurses will be in high demand to cover shifts where needed. If you are on the fence about whether or not choosing a career in per diem nursing is a good idea, stay focused on the evidence. Research is promising that per diem shifts will continue to be in great demand for the foreseeable future.
Now that you know per diem nursing is a rising profession, what’s next? If you are a professional nurse, here are a few tips that will help you find per diem shifts, track your finances, and ensure you will be working enough hours to pay all your bills.
Intelligently Budget and Track Expenses with Financial Apps
Shifting away from full-time employment and towards working as a per diem nurse can be intimidating. Benefits and a clockwork salary are a few advantages of a full-time nursing position. However, most per diem nurses will vouch for per diem work as it allows them to have an optimal work-life balance. In addition to enjoying greater balance in their lives, often per diem nurses can make a higher hourly rate than staff nurses can. Either way, it’s important that per diem nurses — before breaking off from their traditional line of employment — make a budget.
Needless to say, diving blindly into a per diem career without first accounting for monthly and yearly expenses can quickly nosedive you into debt. Luckily, tracking your expenses and managing accounts has never been easier thanks to technology. While classic Excel is always a great tool for ease of use in charting large amounts of data, a few cutting-edge apps, such as Intuit’s Mint or a self-proclaimed super financial app called Emma, are also proving to be great apps for financial organization. Ultimately, finding an app that can keep you on track until the next payday will be your key to staying financially stable while working as a nurse in the per diem world.
Find Per Diem Work and Pick Up Shifts Fast with Staffing Apps
One of the great advantages of becoming a per diem nurse is building a schedule around your life and no one else’s. Yes, you heard us right, a per diem nurse can choose where and how much they want to work, always. Additionally, perhaps the best part about per diem nursing is that smart staffing apps now help connect professional nurses with healthcare facilities throughout the US. What’s more is that these innovative apps speed up the hiring process by allowing per diem nurses to upload their profile, licenses, and resume, all in real-time from their mobile devices. As a result, a per diem nurse can pick up shifts and start working within 24 hours. If you're ready, you can even start looking for a shift today! Our Nursa app helps nurses connect with healthcare facilities that need to fill short-term staffing shifts. If you’re still investigating, you can also check out what our Nursa community is saying about per diem nursing.
Safeguard Your Mental Health with Wellness Apps
Perhaps the most important aspect of maintaining vitality and wellness within any profession is staying on top of your mental health. This means doing a daily or weekly check-in on how you are handling the stressors of your job and everyday life. Requiring us to move around and adapt to new environments, per diem nursing can be slightly alienating. Therefore, downloading a mental health app may be a smart resource for per diem nurses on-the-go.
Some of the apps we like best are TalkSpace, which connects you directly to a licensed therapist from anywhere at any time; additionally, HeadSpace is a good app for per diem nurses looking to practice daily meditation techniques. At the end of the day, it is important that per diem nurses feel supported both emotionally and physically. You can read more about caring for your mental health here.
Testing Out the Waters of Per Diem Nursing
Is it audacious to say that there is no better time to be a PRN worker? We don’t think so! Given that per diem nurses are in such high demand at medical facilities, we believe that investing in a career as a PRN worker is a great idea. However, we also recognize that joining the independent workforce can be a bit daunting at first. That’s why full-time nurses can test the per diem nursing waters by picking up a few shifts at a local medical facility near them. Working as a per diem nurse for a few shifts is a good way to tell if per diem nursing is right for you. That being said, after tasting a bit of the freedom that a per diem job affords, we think you’ll love it!
Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. Start looking for and covering shifts today by downloading our Nursa app. Already working as a per diem nurse? How have you expanded your per diem work into a flourishing career?
