What is a REGISTRY nurse??

[esruNurse]

I'm a new grad and looking for jobs right now online. There are many postings for registry RN jobs. I've asked, and someone told me a registry nurse is when they work per diem/prn and they float around the hospital... and is usually someone who has experience as a nurse. Is that true? I'm so confused.

Will someone enlighten me?

[Michaelxy]

Do you mean registered nurse?

Have a look here. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm

[ItsTheDude]

a nurse registry can also be what's better know as a nursing agency, it basically provides nurse staffing to hospitals, doc offices, ltc, hh, clinics, etc.

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

A registry nurse is a RN who has usually at least 2 years of experience and is employed by an agency or a hospital to work on a as needed basis. No benefits!!! The ONLY benefit is the higher pay.

For example:

I work in a unit full time at one hospital. I work at a smaller community hospital on a PRN basis (I'm required to give 12-36hrs of available hours/month). My pay as a registry position at the smaller hospital is 1 1/2 times that of my regular full time job but I am:

a) NOT guaranteed any hours, b) not given any benefits such as health insurance, retirement, flexible spending, and C) registry nurses are often given the "easy patients"-so you can have up to 5 patients while the full time RNs on the unit have 2 or 3!

As a new grad, you would never be hired as a registry nurse.

Oh, you are also expected to work with minimal training and minimal help from others. You get 2-3 days of orientation tops!

[esruNurse]

Great, thank you so much for your answers! It helped with picking where to apply