Perdiem as fulltime?

[evil03midget]

Hello everyone. Not sure if this is where to ask this question but here it goes. I work full time at a hospital. I work 12 hours overtime to get by with bills. I put in and got a perdiem job at another hospital system. Minimim requiements of 24 hours a month. It pays $12 more an hour. My husband and I were thinking, why not work the perdiem job as full time. I could make the same amount of money working 3 days a week there as I do working 4 days here with no weekend or holiday requirements? Downfall...no benefits. A good friend of ours gets health insurance on their own (family of 5) for $250, which is less than is taken out of my paycheck now. Anyone else do something like this? Oh and no my husband isn't able to get insurance though his job. Then I think about what if I'm sick, it goes unpaid. Anyone else know of any other things to think about as well?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I have been working a PRN/per diem position for three years. I refuse to go full-time because my pay rate would decrease by $11 per hour if I were to go full-time or part-time. However, I do this at my own risk and I tread carefully.

If you need the money, go for it.

However, PRN/per diem staff members are the first ones to have their shifts cancelled at most hospital systems when census gets low.

In addition, you will not have important benefits such as a 401k account, health insurance, or short and long term disability coverage.

What if you need emergency gallbladder surgery one year from now? What if your husband needed an emergency appendectomy six months from now? What if you developed a catastrophic disease process such as cancer? A short hospital stay can cost more than $100,000 for an uninsured person. This is just some food for thought.

[evil03midget]

Oh we would for sure get health insurance from somewhere. Too risky. But yeah, the time off would be unpaid. I'm not worried about 401K, we have Roth IRAs that my husband sets up because he does that for his job. I do worry about cancelled shifts.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Oh we would for sure get health insurance from somewhere. Too risky. But yeah, the time off would be unpaid. I'm not worried about 401K, we have Roth IRAs that my husband sets up because he does that for his job. I do worry about cancelled shifts.

To combat the issue of cancelled shifts, always keep two PRN/per diem jobs. When one workplace suffers from low census, there will likely be work at the other place.

[Psychcns]

I have been told that one way to deal with health insurance is to get catastrophic insurance only and pay the rest out of pocket. If you don't have insurance you can negotiate payments. And if you need a procedure you can call around for the best price etc

[Vespertinas]

I'd suggest you get an insurance quote first. I don't know how your friend is pulling off insurance with such a small bill.

I used to work at one hospital per diem and was able to get my full time hours. The only thing was I had to stay flexible. If they cancelled me on Monday and Tuesday, I was able to pick up shifts on Thursday and Friday. Recently they restructured their PTO so that sick time and vacation time is all in one bank. Suddenly, nurses were feeling a LOT healthier and I was getting cancelled more and more.

I got a second per diem job and it's working out fine now.

Good luck.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

\ said:

Oh we would for sure get health insurance from somewhere. Too risky. But yeah the time off would be unpaid. I'm not worried about 401K, we have Roth IRAs that my husband sets up because he does that for his job. I do worry about cancelled shifts.

Can your husband get health insurance through his work? Do you have some money in savings in case you don't get work for a period of time. I worked PRN exclusively for almost 3 years, but I held two PRN jobs in case one place was canceling me a lot. I would work your full-time job plus the PRN job for a bit so you can get a feel for the needs of the PRN job. That way you can see if they are constantly begging you to pick up, or if they are calling you every week to cancel you

[Marshall1]

For years all I worked was PRN on a FT basis - my health benefits came through my spouses employer. I never had any trouble getting the hours I wanted but it was also a larger hospital and I was willing to work a few units not just one. If you can work it out I say do it - more money, more control over your schedule..can't beat that.

[NedRN]

To some extent, you get what you pay for with health insurance. Your employer's group health probably costs 5 to 7 hundred a month (you can COBRA it if you want) compared to $200 private insurance (what I pay with a 5K deductible). It does depend on your personal health status and private insurance can be a better deal than group because they don't have the expense of insuring major preexisting conditions. Depending on your state, this may change dramatically for better or worse in Jan 2014 when the ACA kicks in fully.

What I wonder about your pay situation is your overtime. If you split your time between two employers, you may not get OT pay at either. So financially, if you need a certain level of hours and OT at your primary job is available, that might end up paying more than straight time at a per diem side job.

No doubt you were thinking of just working 40 hours of per diem and that is enough extra money to not work OT. Perhaps, but you mentioned benefits. Typically, you can think of benefits (401, group health, sick/PTO/vacation/holiday pay) as being 25 to 40 percent of your base pay. If that $12 an hour increase is less than that, technically you are doing worse. But depending on real cash flow (for example if you are young and healthy, you might not need time off for illness - still a gamble), you might be better off.

Everything in life is a bit of a gamble. Per diem and travel assignments may pay more, but can end at any time. Of course, the same can be said of staff jobs. Every individual (and family) has to assess the risk/reward ratio of their decisions as it applies to them and their own comfort zones. Other than helping with math, there is not much we can do to advise you on what is best for you personally.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'd suggest you get an insurance quote first. I don't know how your friend is pulling off insurance with such a small bill.

Agreed. I suspect that $250 may be per month/quarter, and not per year. Or if it's per year, they're getting a bare-bones policy.

OP: in addition to agreeing to most everything else said in this thread, I wanted to add that per-diem jobs usually do have weekend/holiday requirements: you may be required to put in for X number of weekend shifts per pay period as well as be available on X number of holidays.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[NCmcMan]

If they cancel your shifts, since your on contract, wouldn't they be obligated legally to still pay you? I'm not sure how it goes, but I would feel like since we have a contract, I'd want to be paid.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

If they cancel your shifts, since your on contract, wouldn't they be obligated legally to still pay you? I'm not sure how it goes, but I would feel like since we have a contract, I'd want to be paid.

In the world of per-diem, minimum requirement means what the OP has to sign up for. Almost no per-diem job will guarantee an employee hours.

The OP has to make herself available for at least 24 hours every month. She may end up getting anywhere between 0-24 hours of work that month.

That's the risks of relying on per-diem for full-time work: it's only when they need you. When it's good, it's really good. When census is down, you're the first ones cancelled or asked to flex off. Plus the no-benefits, no PTO, etc. You have to calculate if the risks are worth it for you.