Can a new grad work part time or per diem?

Nurses New Nurse

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I will be graduating nursing school soon, and was wondering if it is crazy to want to work part time or per diem after graduating. I have 2 young children at home, have been a stay at home mom for their entire life, and scheduling around my husband's hours would be easier part time.

I currently am working at a hospital as a Nurse Apprentice on a Med/Surg unit, but my real love in nursing is L & D.

Do new grads get hired part time, or should I plan on juggling things so I can work full time for at least a year as a new grad?

Thanks for any opinions!!

I'd have to echo what the others said about not working part time, or per-diem for quite a while. The local hospitals near me don't even hire new grads per diem, as they wouldn't get orientation time in any organized manner. Same for part-time: not enough orientation done in a timely fashion. And your orientation experience seems to be key to success. What you learn and who you learn it from, how you learn it, is crucial.

Have you considered nightshift? Depending on the needs of your children, and potential babysitting arrangements, your husband can work days and you'd only have to do a few nights a week (if you do 12 hour shifts). Our nightshifts are FULL of moms who do it for that very reason.

Part time can be done IF your orientation is based on the number of hours or shifts you will be working. In other words, thirty shifts instead of six weeks. That's how it was done when I started my current job two years ago. That way you don't lose out on valuable learning time.

Per diem, on the other hand, tends to be irregular and can even dry up entirely at times. Not only does this work against you in a direct way, but it also makes connecting with your preceptor more difficult.

One of the advantages of orienting on a part time schedule is that you have some down time to "digest" what you've learned and also to recover from doing everything on the fly. I really needed that breathing space to assimilate all that I was taking in.

I started my first job as part time, then my second job as part time. They hire part time or full time new grads. It's whatever you can do. Orientation may get extended a couple of weeks as part time.

Never say never.

My first job was part time. It was hard to find full time in Peds and I wanted to work Peds.

I worked extra shifts sometimes, and I was ok.

I'm planning on going back to part time in June. Full time is too stressful for me now.

Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

Full time is a requirement for new grads? That's news to me. I just had my first interview today and the interviewer said it was cool if I wanted to work part time. Different strokes for different facilities I guess...

Full time is a requirement for new grads? That's news to me. I just had my first interview today and the interviewer said it was cool if I wanted to work part time. Different strokes for different facilities I guess...

Indeed. If I were to base my knowledge of this just on what's in my region, I'd say there's just about nothing for new grads for part time. I say "just about" because I can't swear to it, LOL, but have yet to see it over the last couple of years: full time, varying shifts, but full time. This is because of orientation schedules and the hospitals' policies on what it takes to get new grads up and running best.

Obviously, based on what's been posted here, it varies considerably from area to area. I do remember one student last year who was told she could work per diem, no problem....and then was put in full-time at orientation. On purpose? Mistake? Don't know, she stayed :)

The answer to the OP's question is to check in her/his own area to find out!

Specializes in Global Health Informatics, MNCH.

I think it depends where you live and where you are going to work. I worked per diem as a new grad at a low acuity pediatric SNF. Mostly I pour meds and the hardest thing I have to do (besides dealing with my patients psycho-social issues) is flush a central line. I always work with a more experienced nurse so if I have a question, I ask. I took some extra time to make sure I knew the in's and out's of the meds my patients are on (most of them are all on the same meds) and after a few months the job was pretty routine (again, other than psycho-social, that always keeps me on my toes). I live in New York city so I know a lot of new grads who took part-time and/or per diem jobs after graduation. I personally wouldn't take one in a hospital (except maybe post-partum because I did a two month pp integration) because of the acuity but the decisions I've made for me have worked well.

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