How does your facility do the following:

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Apr 5, 2014

Gah, because it's making me super twitchy: ur is NOT a word. Even if you're text-speaking, which is against TOS, you'd be using "you're=you are" which is still not the word you're looking for. Try "your". Fellow professionals tend to take you much more seriously. Seriously.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2014

To answer the question, I am no longer in LTC. But when I did work in LTC, oxygen tubing was changed out once per week on Sundays by the night shift floor nurses.

Most PRN nurses and CNAs work full-time elsewhere, so coming to work for two to three PRN shifts would be almost impossible for employees who fall into this category.

To attract PRN employees who would willingly work two or three shifts every week, you will need to find the SAHMs who want to earn some extra cash, students who need the flexibility that PRN scheduling offers, and semi-retired nurses who do not need benefits because they receive Medicare.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2014

To answer the question, I am no longer in LTC. But when I did work in LTC, oxygen tubing was changed out once per week on Sundays by the night shift floor nurses.
Most PRN nurses and CNAs work full-time elsewhere, so coming to work for two to three PRN shifts would be almost impossible for employees who fall into this category.
To attract PRN employees who would willingly work two or three shifts every week, you will need to find the SAHMs who want to earn some extra cash, students who need the flexibility that PRN scheduling offers, and semi-retired nurses who do not need benefits because they receive Medicare.

Agreed. I worked PRN only for several years and I did it for the increased pay and the convience. I got to choose how many shifts I wanted to work a week, or if I wanted to work at all that week. If I didn't want to work days or nights, I didn't do that shift. If you need additional help for 2-3 days a week routinely it sounds like you should hire a part-time or full-time nurse. I would be ticked as a PRN nurse if I took a job and found out I was going to be required to work 2-3 shifts every week. I actually left one PRN jobs because, among other things, they wanted me to have a set schedule.

Dewman · Apr 5, 2014

I would agree: "PRN" and "set schedule" are mutually incompatible terms.

IMHO.

TigerxLiLy · Apr 5, 2014

Guess I havnt seen the words "Part-Time" in ages and just thought PRN. I see now tho! :) Im trying to think of Ideas to present to my New DON on how to improve a system that has been broken for a very long time. I know my company hasnt done Part-time positions ... it has always been Full-time or PRN.

Are people hired as part-time to be always gaurenteed the 2-3 days a week? (I have heard in the past that the reason we do not have people like part-time is WHEN we are full staffed (... which seems like we are always scrambling to feel carts/pulling doubles ) that we wouldnt be able to give the part-time peeps their hours...)

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Apr 6, 2014

Our part time people are scheduled for between 16 and 24 hours a week. Our full time is considered to be 32 hours a week. Per Diems....I have some that work one day a week and some who work 5 days.

vampiregirl, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2014

Oxygen changeover is completed by noc shift nurses on Wednesday at our facility. We have EMAR, so no MAR changeover.

We don't hire people for PRN positions, but allow current employees to drop down to PRN status. They have to sign a PRN contract which includes committing to a minimum of 1 - 8 hour weekend shift q month and 3 holiday shifts per year. We also have part-time staff who have a regular schedule of every other weekend (at the minimum - some have 1-2 days scheduled per week also).

mander · Apr 6, 2014

Usually the third shift nurses do the change overs. We write new orders on both when new MARS are available. I am a PRN. I was working 5 days a week but they had a few PRNs leave their other jobs for my facility so now I'm on the schedule 6 days this month. But it's nice because I am in school so I don't have to stress so much. We have quite a few subs. Many in fact come in a few days a month if that. We still keep them. Letters get sent out every once in a while asking if they still want to be a sub. My facility is a county owned one atm, currently transitioning to private so I have no idea what changes that will bring regarding staffing and subs. I personally enjoy being a sub because I can tell them I can't work whenever I damn well please! I am on my father's insurance so I can enjoy this for a little while longer. I have no problem working 5 days a week either. But that is just my particular circumstance.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2014

Guess I havnt seen the words "Part-Time" in ages and just thought PRN. I see now tho! :) Im trying to think of Ideas to present to my New DON on how to improve a system that has been broken for a very long time. I know my company hasnt done Part-time positions ... it has always been Full-time or PRN.
Are people hired as part-time to be always gaurenteed the 2-3 days a week? (I have heard in the past that the reason we do not have people like part-time is WHEN we are full staffed (... which seems like we are always scrambling to feel carts/pulling doubles ) that we wouldnt be able to give the part-time peeps their hours...)

What about something that my first job offered that I don't see utilized at a lot of facilities. The position is call 'full-time flex' cause you can be schedule anywhere from 20-40hrs a week, but you are guaranteed full-time benefits regardless of hours worked. I was concerned this for a bit and it was nice, and was a popular position among mother's with young children

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 7, 2014

When I worked SNF, O2 tubing/masks and neb parts were changed q Wednesday. Tanks were filled by the CNAs prn.

Places I've worked prn at--said SNF, and an LTACH--had a minimum number of shifts you had to be available for, but it was never 2-3 per week. That's regular part time, and benefit eligible in some facilities. I took the SNF per diem job as a way to get my foot in the door for FT, so I took most of the shifts I could get...I don't remember what the minimum was, but it was pretty small. I do remember our NM asking some of the per diems if they had unofficially resigned b/c they hadn't picked up in a few months.

I took the LTACH job solely for flexibility; we needed a 2nd income at the time, but I also had 4 kids at home ages 9&u. They had two levels of per diem and 0.9 FTE--no PT positions. Level 1 per diem you had to work a minimum of 3 shifts per 6 week block and one holiday per year. Level 2, you had to work a minimum of 7 shifts per 6 week block and 2 holidays--1 major, 1 minor--per year. Level 2 paid $4/hr more than Level 1 for your extra commitment.

2-3 days a week seems like a pretty big commitment for a place that doesn't have the same commitment towards the employee. What I mean is the facility is not guaranteeing the employee hours and not giving them benefits. A previous poster made a good point that for a lot of nurses, a per diem position is their 2nd job. In fact, when I worked at the LTACH, many people asked me, "So where else do you work?"--they assumed that I had a 2nd job b/c I only worked 1-2 days a week. Or like me, whose primary job was home w/ the kids but needing a supplemental income for the family.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Apr 8, 2014

Our O2 tubing is changed every 5 days and it's staggered on our side so that we never do more than two residents per night. The LTC side schedules them all on the same 5th night and it can take over an hour to do them all by the time you change out neb masks, short tubing for when they are in w/c's and 25ft tubing for when they are in their rooms