Full time to PRN?

[SimpliFutureCNM, ADN, BSN, RN]

Hi Everyone,

So, I am new to this site. I am looking to see if there are those who have went from Full time to PRN in an ICU before. I have been having a lot of family issues at home and it has taken a toll on work and life balance. Talked with my manager and she is allowing me to do PRN despite being there for less than a year. 

I have been PRN before at a nursing home and it was great, but needed to venture out to try something new. It was easy for me to obtain a full time job considering I was only PRN there.

However, do you think it will be harder to find something full time down the line if I remain PRN in the ICU as my only job? I do plan to pick up a lot of shifts, I just needed the flexibility in the scheduling. My goal is to eventually move on to PICU/NICU/OB (haven't decided) nursing - right now I am in an adult medical/surgical ICU. I want to get more experience obviously before doing that but wanted to be sure that I wouldn't be limiting myself by changing to PRN. BTW I am not looking for other jobs, I am happy where I am at. I just wanted to be sure I would still be a desirable candidate for other specialties with being PRN and not full time.. Sorry for the rant. Opinions/Answers are appreciated! Thanks!

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

When I've had interviews they didn't usually ask if I worked full time, part time, or per diem, and if they did it didn't seem to matter. What matters more is showing consistency and not too much job hopping, as in if you leave every job you have after a few months a lot of places don't like that. So if you have at least a year or two in each job that looks good. But, right now a lot of places are so desperate for nurses they might not even care.

Maybe if changing specialties you still have to make yourself marketable since they will have to train you, but right now I'm getting so many calls from staffing agencies and travel nursing recruiters for specialties I have experience in, and they don't seem to care how long I worked anywhere or what schedule I had! I wouldn't worry too much about going per diem, especially if you will still work enough hours to keep up your skills and if it's best for you and your family. 

[SimpliFutureCNM, ADN, BSN, RN]

21 minutes ago, LibraNurse27 said:

When I've had interviews they didn't usually ask if I worked full time, part time, or per diem, and if they did it didn't seem to matter. What matters more is showing consistency and not too much job hopping, as in if you leave every job you have after a few months a lot of places don't like that. So if you have at least a year or two in each job that looks good. But, right now a lot of places are so desperate for nurses they might not even care.

Maybe if changing specialties you still have to make yourself marketable since they will have to train you, but right now I'm getting so many calls from staffing agencies and travel nursing recruiters for specialties I have experience in, and they don't seem to care how long I worked anywhere or what schedule I had! I wouldn't worry too much about going per diem, especially if you will still work enough hours to keep up your skills and if it's best for you and your family. 

Thank you for sharing! I definitely plan to stay there for atleast 1.5/2 years even if I am just PRN. I'd rather get the experience in ICU so I can transition into those other specialties a bit easier. If anything, they'll also float me to other units since I will be PRN. My current full time job actually did ask me whether I worked full time or not at the nursing home and I was honest about it and just told them that I wanted to get into the hospital for acute care experience. I am still full time right now. I will probably transition to PRN middle of October or so. But it's always been a dream of mine to work in one of those 3 units I mentioned above! Just one step at a time!

[guest464345]

I am not an ICU nurse and never have been - so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about - but I'm pretty sure that you're fine.

At least where I live, there is a desperate shortage of hospital nurses and especially ICU nurses, even ICU nurses with relatively short experience like yours. That's probably why they're "allowing" you to go PRN with less than a year of experience. THEY need YOU, not the other way around! 

My experience is in public health and schools. My last hospital experience was 3+ years ago. When I briefly got the idea to apply for hospital jobs recently (I quickly changed my mind!), the only questions they asked were, do you have a license and are you breathing?  Recruiters are desperate.

I don't think you need to apologize for how many (or few) shifts you plan to pick up. I don't think you need to apologize if you're looking for another job. Take care of your family situation, and work the amount that fits your life even if it's only the minimum required for PRN status. It's very unlikely that other employers in the future are going to demand to know how many hours you worked. They're going to see "ICU," and you will likely have many options available to you.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I agree, potential interviewers aren't necessarily going to ask how many hours you've worked, but if they do and you have a good idea of the average hours per week you should be fine. Technically I'm a part-time employee at 32 hours a week. I think I've only every worked four weeks at 32 hours a week, so I would consider myself a full time employee for the sake of a resume/interview. Good luck and I hope it helps your work life balance!

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

just be sure that going PRN will allow you to maintain whatever income you require. we had a lot of nurses go from full-time to PRN for the increased pay and flexible scheduling but it turned out that available hours were few and far between which didn't allow for a livable income