What is a Per Diem Nurse?

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I know this question sounds very basic - I am just getting started taking my pre-recs and don't much about nursing titles and types of work yet.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

per diem means "as needed"

we per diem nurses work mainly on-call or as-needed, not full or part time. Often, we are NOT scheduled, but just work when things get busy and they need extra help on the unit, or we are asked to fill holes left in the schedule that FTE cannot do due to vacations or scheduling conflicts.

We choose our work schedules according to when we are ABLE or PREFER to work, and generally if on call, get time and a half to double-time to do it. However, we do NOT get most benefits full-timers do, such as medical/dental insurance or education/tuition assistance bennies. We usually also get a premium (I get 15% above base wages) as a sort of compensation for the lack of regular benefits.

hope this helps.

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Yes it does help, thanks so much!

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Is pd common in the "world" of nursing ? It sounds very appealing to me....

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

They are very common, yes, but the name may differ. You may see:

"casual" or

"on-call"

or

"as needed"

or

"prn"

all of these may be used to refer to the same type of position. check with the human resources depts or hospital joblines/websites to see if they list any of these sorts of positions for you.

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