L & D prn requirements

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Hey all!! I am an L&D nurse with 12 years experience. I work at 2 different hospitals prn. One of the hospitals has now revised their requirements for prn employees and I thought they were pretty hefty. The new requirements are:

24 hours per week,

4 weekend shifts per 6 week schedule (all shifts are 12h)

2 major (Christmas, New Years, or Thanksgiving)/year

2 minor holidays/year

I'm sure this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't really find what I was looking for. Please let me know what prn requirements are in your units so I can compare. The previous policy was 2 weekend shifts per schedule and 1 major, 1 minor holiday/year. Are more hospitals "revising" their prn requirements?

Thanks for the help.

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Specializes in Family Practice.
Hey all!! I am an L&D nurse with 12 years experience. I work at 2 different hospitals prn. One of the hospitals has now revised their requirements for prn employees and I thought they were pretty hefty. The new requirements are:

24 hours per week,

4 weekend shifts per 6 week schedule (all shifts are 12h)

2 major (Christmas, New Years, or Thanksgiving)/year

2 minor holidays/year

I'm sure this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't really find what I was looking for. Please let me know what prn requirements are in your units so I can compare. The previous policy was 2 weekend shifts per schedule and 1 major, 1 minor holiday/year. Are more hospitals "revising" their prn requirements?

Thanks for the help.

That is really hefty. Our hospital prn's must do at least 1 shift every 6 months to stay on the schedule. No holidays are required, no weekend requirements either. Which means the nurse gets to work when they want to and not when "we" need them to. Kinda irks me from time to time.

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Specializes in Rural Health.

At 1 PRN job the claim is 2 shifts per schedule (4 weeks), one has to be a weekend, the other whenever. 1 major, 1 minor holiday per year. This is not enforced (in the ER anyway) because beggars cannot be choosers there.

2nd PRN job, one shift every 3 months, doesn't matter if it's a weekend and/or weekday. No requirements on holidays there.

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Specializes in L&D/Antepartum, Neuro.
That is really hefty. Our hospital prn's must do at least 1 shift every 6 months to stay on the schedule. No holidays are required, no weekend requirements either. Which means the nurse gets to work when they want to and not when "we" need them to. Kinda irks me from time to time.

That's how my hospital works too and it does get annoying when the regular staff gets asked to switch to another day because the per diem nurse works on a day where there are too many nurses on already. Personally I don't care if prn nurses never work weekends or holidays but I do think the schedule should be made with the regular staff first then let the prn's see if they can fill in the missing shifts.

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Totally agree with having full-timers and part-timers have either set or first choice for days/nights to work - then prn's to fill in. Also agree with prns getting first "cut" (after agency). That was not my gripe at all - just thought the requirements were too much as many prn's work more than one facility.

Thanks for the replies.

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Specializes in OB L&D Mother/Baby.

Our facility "requires" two shifts in 4 wks, one weekend shift per schedule... BUT... in OB it is not enforced at all. Isn't the perk of working prn that you do not have to work holidays??

I am budgeted for a 12 hr shift per week, I often work more but that is my only requirement, I do work weekends because it works for me but I don't HAVE to, I rarely work holidays because the full timers more than cover them, not that I'm opposed to working them, it just works out that way. We have a seasonal nurse in our unit that only works summer months, so for sure none of the rules are applied all of the time, if that makes sense.

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Specializes in L&D/Antepartum, Neuro.
Totally agree with having full-timers and part-timers have either set or first choice for days/nights to work - then prn's to fill in. Also agree with prns getting first "cut" (after agency). That was not my gripe at all - just thought the requirements were too much as many prn's work more than one facility.

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry I never addressed your original post. I agree that the requirements are a bit harsh. I think your hospital missed the whole point of prns. Weekends and holidays aren't necessarily the times when hospitals are short staffed. Since you don't accumulate any sick or vacation time or have most of the perks of a ft/pt employee then I don't see how they can demand when you work.

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Hey all!! I am an L&D nurse with 12 years experience. I work at 2 different hospitals prn. One of the hospitals has now revised their requirements for prn employees and I thought they were pretty hefty. The new requirements are:

24 hours per week,

4 weekend shifts per 6 week schedule (all shifts are 12h)

2 major (Christmas, New Years, or Thanksgiving)/year

2 minor holidays/year

I'm sure this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't really find what I was looking for. Please let me know what prn requirements are in your units so I can compare. The previous policy was 2 weekend shifts per schedule and 1 major, 1 minor holiday/year. Are more hospitals "revising" their prn requirements?

Thanks for the help.

Elaine, that sounds like a part time job NOT a PRN job...... you're all right, those requirements sound very hefty for a per diem nurse.

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Specializes in ICU, OR.

I do not work L&D (yet), but I know the hospital that I used to work pool at, they had different levels. It was the same throughout the hospital, all units including L&D nurses. Level 1 you didn't have to commit to much, but paid the least. Level 2 had a minimum number of holidays and weekends, and paid a little more. Level 3 was a hefty commitment and paid the highest.

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Hey all!! I am an L&D nurse with 12 years experience. I work at 2 different hospitals prn. One of the hospitals has now revised their requirements for prn employees and I thought they were pretty hefty. The new requirements are:

24 hours per week,

4 weekend shifts per 6 week schedule (all shifts are 12h)

2 major (Christmas, New Years, or Thanksgiving)/year

2 minor holidays/year

I'm sure this has been addressed before, but I did a search and couldn't really find what I was looking for. Please let me know what prn requirements are in your units so I can compare. The previous policy was 2 weekend shifts per schedule and 1 major, 1 minor holiday/year. Are more hospitals "revising" their prn requirements?

Thanks for the help.

Good grief! 24 hours per week is a 0.6 FTE! PRN minimums are usually a lot less than that.

Where I work (and have worked in the past) there are three levels of PRN committment, ranging from very occasional to four days per four week schedule (minimum). Holiday and weekend requirements vary as well. But what you're talking about is far more than any PRN requirement I've ever seen.

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