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Today’s clinician in the spotlight is Tracey, a licensed practical nurse (LPN) from Louisiana. Tracey has been a nurse for 11 years and values travel, nature, direct patient care, and the flexibility of contract PRN shifts that allow her to balance her interests and take care of herself.
With her years of experience—first as a facility administrator and then as a nurse who’s traveled across the country—Tracey presented a thoughtful perspective on nurse wellbeing.
She approaches nursing with a big heart balanced by a strong sense of self. Growing up in the swamps of Louisiana, Tracey fondly remembers a childhood characterized by “living off the land” and rescuing orphaned animals.
Those experiences emphasized the relationship between healing and science, interests that she maintained as an adult.
She also comes from a family with several nurses spread across multiple generations. Although she first entered the healthcare industry on the administrative side, she says that nursing is a “natural fit” for her.
Thoughts on nurse burnout
Tracey has a degree in business and initially worked in quality and infection control in a large hospital. She recalled feeling that nurses were underappreciated even then.
“I just, I saw things, and I was like they really don't advocate for the nurses…everything was just so much, you know, profit over patients.”
She feels deeply the injustice of nurse burnout. Tracey pointed out that often women have a beautiful ability to be nurturing, which is taken advantage of since nursing is a women-dominated profession.
“It's a female-driven field; we are naturally programmed people pleasers and do everything like that, which is wonderful, and it's beautiful. However, we also have to prioritize our wellbeing.”
Nurse pay isn’t enough
She acknowledges that a critical concern in nursing is the pay.
“You definitely need to pay your nurses what they're worth.”
She feels nurses aren’t paid enough and are often under serious financial pressure as a result.
“If you have a nurse, and she's a single mom, and she's got all these bills to pay and everything, but she's educated, she's trained. She's highly skilled, but she's still struggling to pay for basic necessities.”
Financial pressures in personal lives can directly impact the quality of care nurses are able to provide at work.
“We need to be able to function at our highest level in order to give the best care possible to a patient…We're human, and we have stuff running through our heads like, ‘Oh, how am I gonna pay this?’ or ‘How am I gonna be able to do that? It can affect the quality of care that's received. So, that's just one of the reasons why I started traveling and doing this [working PRN shifts] too, because the money's better. So I'm not stressing out about what bills I have to pay.”
Ultimately, Tracey switched to contract nursing, working both travel contracts and PRN shifts to leverage better pay for her big heart and hard work.
Balancing self-care with a passion for nursing
“I’m an LPN. I’m a working-class nurse. And this is what I was born to do.”
Despite her passion for nursing, Tracey shared that she had to learn to balance nursing with her own wellbeing.
“I've really had to learn to balance work, life, everything. It was just like, ‘I'm just gonna work, work, work all the time!’ And it's not good because you're pouring out so much to everyone else, but you have to be able to pour back into yourself too.”
Taking control by leveraging flexibility with PRN shifts
Tracey loves the autonomy that she has working per diem shifts. She organizes her own schedule and manages her finances accordingly.
“I'm able to go to the gym. I can go and do that…I try to make my schedule a month in advance or whatever, so then I know what's going on and set my budget and everything.”
Although she has lots of experience with travel nursing contracts, the flexibility of a PRN app is a serious advantage.
“One of the reasons why I like doing the apps now is because I have more control over my schedule as compared to before, so then I can be a better nurse. I feel really fortunate…I mean, that's just been a really positive thing for me, and I'm able to prioritize my mental health.”
Creating camaraderie and support
Tracey believes that it’s essential for nurses to support each other.
“We have to be responsible as nurses, to look out for ourselves and for each other…It really helps me prioritize my care, too.
“Hopefully, we can do whatever it is just to help improve people's lives—you know, patients’ lives, even coworkers’ lives, too.”
She actively encourages other nurses to reap the advantages of PRN work.
“I'm a big advocate for nurses taking control, and I'm always trying to recruit people like, ‘Hey! You need to start doing this!’”
Reputation and relationships matter
As a PRN nurse, reputation is essential to continue seeking and finding new and interesting opportunities. Tracey’s work ethic, wellbeing, and personal confidence have helped her establish a positive reputation as a PRN nurse.
“There's been places that I'd pick up at, and they'd be like, ‘Okay, we will give you a bonus if you can stay longer.’
“You build up a relationship with the places that you normally pick up [shifts], and they'll call you and be like, ‘Hey, can you come and work?’ They know that they can depend on you, so I think that's pretty awesome too.”
Positive relationships with facilities can also result in an openness to take suggestions.
“I feel like nurses who work per diem or travel, we kind of bring a different skill set, and we see things that work at other facilities, and things that don't work. So, if management is open to hearing our feedback, they can implement some things that we might suggest…I've had it happen, like, a couple of places.”
Professional growth through per diem nursing
Tracey acknowledged that PRN shift nursing may seem scary to nurses who haven’t tried it. However, it’s helped her develop time management skills, gain work experience in multiple settings, and appreciate the value of teamwork and collaboration.
“You know, first of all, it's gonna make you a better nurse. Whenever you do that [pick up a PRN shift], you learn how to be flexible and just roll with everything.
“I started out doing skilled and long-term care, and then I moved into psych. I've done detox. I've worked LTACH in specialty hospitals and everything like that too. So, I've had a bunch of different experiences.”
She shared that it’s important for her to find out what computer system the facility is using and make sure her assessment skills are up-to-date. Tracey feels strongly that PRN nurses should try to integrate with the team, and her passion for her fellow nurses shone through.
“I like going into these places and knowing that they need someone to come in there. So, it's a teamwork collaboration that we're doing. For me, I really wanna promote that. I don't wanna go in there to stir up anything or do anything like that. I want to go in there, and I want to help out and be a part of the team. Show me what I can do to help out.”
She suggests that PRN nurses don’t wait for someone else to introduce them. They should make the effort themselves and then hit the ground running.
“It's just, you know, introducing yourself…know who your team members are. I want to do a round as soon as I get in there and kind of familiarize myself with everything and look through my nurse cart. You just get used to it.”
Traveling with PRN shifts
Tracey actually found Nursa when she was working as a travel nurse.
“I started traveling in 2020…I went to Philadelphia. I worked out there during COVID, and then I started doing the apps.”
She figured out a way to maximize her gains without sacrificing her work-life balance.
“I was doing a contract that was 36 hours a week, and I had all these travel plans. It was like, okay, so I could pick up extra using Nursa…I'd make really good extra money on top of my travel contract, and I would do that…I’d just have a week where I would just hit it and work really hard, then I’d just work my normal hours. And then I would have that time off. I did all the national parks.”
Meshing together travel nursing contracts with PRN shifts was a big financial success for her.
“The extra money, I mean, was just phenomenal.”
Now, however, she’s traveling around working only per diem shifts. Tracey has a multistate license, which clearly enhances her ability to travel around and pick up shifts wherever she has a desire to go.
“And then I'll travel and do all of that, you know, on my off days, and the awesome thing about having a multistate license is that I can just really go anywhere, you know.”
How can PRN nursing align with your life goals?
Tracey is yet another example of a nurse who has taken control of her career in order to prioritize the things that are most important to her: travel, flexibility, income, and a healthy balance between work and her personal life.
What has your experience been like with per diem shifts?
If you haven’t picked up a PRN shift yet and are on the fence, learn more about what it means to work as a per diem nurse.
