Bchapm01

Per diem as in....No benefits? No guaranteed hours? no, they really can't mandate you, unless you were already scheduled Excuse me, but you are sadly mistaken. In this day and age, there is no guarantee of job security. Basically, your employer DOES have the right to make you come in and/or work hours that you were not originally scheduled for if they are available. And no, I do not want to be perceived as argumentative.

I worked as an RN in the same hospital for my entire 20 year career. In that hospital, per diem were actually the same as ALL types of healthcare facilities. Most, if not all staff classified as per diem had no minimum work hours per week and they also had to extreme flexibility of their schedule. Our policy was actually written so it could be reviewed by the potential employee during the interviewing process and physically signed by both the manager and staff member. It explains the expectations of per diem employees since they are granted a higher wage. The policy takes effect during needs for a greater number of employees i.e. natural disasters which primarily include hurricanes and blizzards.

You should not be insisting to have every weekend off. That is inappropriate. I worked as a bedside nurse for 13.5 years and ALWAYS had to work weekends. I was coordinator of our hospital's stroke program for 6 years. During that time, I had every weekend off. And, yes, I felt extremely fortunate.

My favorite shoes were Dansko clogs. This opinion comes from an RN with 20 years of acute care experience.

I'll never forget one time that I couldn't make it to work due to a treacherous ice storm. The response I received from my supervisor was that it was only raining where she was. i.e. That I must have been lying to her. Those of you who live in south central PA realize that it is not at all unlikely that the precipitation may be sleet or freezing rain in one area of town and simply rain 15 minutes away.

After serving as the Stroke Program Coordinator for 6 years, I made the extremely difficult decision to go back to bedside nursing. My decision was based on the fact that I was consistently working 50 hours a week in a salaried position and being told by administration that there was no money in the budget for any additional staff support for me i.e. LPN, Secretary. With limited choices, I transferred to a bedside nursing unit which was very stressful. I was then "let go" after serving in that position for 1.5 years. I had worked at the hospital for a total of 19.5 years. I was given no reason for my termination, offered no severance package, and was even told that I would be considered for re-hire. Talk about a disservice! I have been out of the nursing field now for 3.5 years and have NO desire to return to it.

Post-surgical floor nursing (general surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery)

My heart goes out to you because I experienced the same difficult decision to leave nursing after 19 1/2 years.

I understand your frustration. Unlike you, I went to college right out of high school and earned my BSN. There are two things I find frustrating regarding the lack of difference in nursing pay and opportunities between an ASN prepared RN and a BSN prepared RN. #1 I am unaware of any other "profession" that does not require a minimum of a 4 year degree. #2 if you are satisfied being a bedside nurse for your entire career, there is NO advantage to obtaining a BSN. That being said, there is only one reason you would be encouraged to do so by administration. The reason is that it benefits them, not you! The number one reason is the desire of the hospital to obtain Magnet status. Approximately 10 years ago, our hospital made the decision to eliminate LPNs. In an attempt to retain them as RNs, they offered to pay the full tuition cost for them to obtain their RN degree. A few department were allowed to keep LPNs, i.e. IV team, radiology, etc. Who was left to fulfill the role vacated by the LPN? The RN, of course! One action they took at the same time as a cost-saving measure was to reduce the number of nursing assistants. Needless to say, the RNs were given a lower nurse-to-patient ratio but were left with a lesser number of ancillary staff to delegate tasks to. Needless to say, our hospital achieved Magnet status initially but failed to maintain it for a variety of reasons but primarily related to poor patient satisfaction scores.

The longest I went without a bathroom break was 13 1/2 hours. I felt the urge to go on my way home after a 12 hour shift (7A-7P). I then realized that I hadn't gone to the bathroom since leaving my house at 6:30 AM AND DIDN't leave work until 8:00 PM.

My first code blue did not occur until 19 years after I became an RN. The code lasted approximately 30 minutes. It was my patient and the resuscitation was successful. After presenting the patient's history, I stood there in disbelief. The patient had just been up walking in the hallway a few hours earlier. I believe it was caused by a PE because he had just been transferred to my transitional unit after spending several days in the ICU.