Per Diem Nursing

[lisa41rn]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I've just taken a per diem job. I was told in the past that per diem nurses make quite a bit more because they aren't receiving any benefits. Well, how much more do they make? Is it only $2 or is it closer to the value of the total benefit package they are forfeiting? I know I know, pay depends on the area you work, but I thought the position I took paid okay, but now I feel as if I'm only receiving what a benefitted nurse makes except she gets benefits and I don't. Sure, per diems have the benefit of being flexible, but sometimes they even require per diem nurses to work a certain amount of weekends and holidays. I don't think being per diem is as great as I was told.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Where I work, the per diems have set rates depending on the shift(nights pays a higher hourly rate than days; weekends pay more than weekdays). The rates of pay are even higher for per diem nurses who are qualified to work in more than one speciality.

I do not get benefits like health insurance, I get a better deal on my husband's benefit plan.

How you view the pay depends on how much you were making full time. A junior nurse with a couple of years of experience would see the jump from $24/hr to $28-$38 as a big jump. An experienced nurse used to earning more would have little or no increase in pay.

[ArwenEvenstar]

At the last hospital I worked at, I was in the perdiem float pool. How much you made an hour depended on the "level" of perdiem you chose....you had to chose a level of ____ hours a month. And the more hours you chose to work, the more an hour you made. If you chose the lowest level, your pay would have been probably only 2 or 3 dollars more than if you were a floor nurse. But if you committed to the highest level of hours, you'd be making about 10 dollars or more than a regular floor nurse. Sometimes you could sign a 3 month contract to work full-time on a unit with a staffing crisis, and you made $10 more an hour EXTRA on top of your regular pay. Then you could be making as much as low to mid 40's an hour.

For me, the biggest and most worthwhile perk of perdiem was the scheduling flexibility. At least at this hospital, you had total control and actually handed in your own schedule of when you wanted to work, and then they just plugged you in where you were needed. Anyways...

[BinkieRN, BSN, RN]

Where I work a new grad makes about $19.00 an hour. PRN nurses make $32.00 an hour. It depends really on how long you've been a nurse. I have a co-worker who has been a nurse for over 30 years and she had to take a cut in pay in order to go PRN, she was making $33.50 with benefits.