Will 2 days a week be enough?

PediLove2147, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2013

What is your current job? I think that would make a difference. 2 days a week could be enough. During orientation I only did 3 days a week since my preceptor was 36 hours. You will probably be overwhelmed at firs but you'll be okay. Good luck!

Little Panda RN, ASN, RN · Mar 25, 2013

What is your current job? I think that would make a difference. 2 days a week could be enough. During orientation I only did 3 days a week since my preceptor was 36 hours. You will probably be overwhelmed at firs but you'll be okay. Good luck!

I currently work for an insurance company sitting at a desk all day reviewing claims for med nec. I am sure hoping that two days a week will be enough:) After orientation I am only required to work one weekend a month and one holiday a year. I plan on working every other weekend to pay off bills.

naptimeRN · Apr 4, 2013

I was hired per diem originally at my hospital and was oriented 3 days a week (8 hour shifts). Are you doing 12's? If so, that's the same amount I did and I felt it was enough. I was put on my own some shifts 4 weeks into my orientation.....yeah...we have some issues lol. But, if you ask a lot of questions and come home and study up on things you will be fine. If I had a patient with a diagnosis I never heard of, I came home and read all about. Surgical procedure I was unfamiliar with, same thing. I already knew how to do assessments, meds, foleys, Ivs, etc from nursing school clinical, so job orientation was more important in terms of learning hospital polices and procedures. You say you are a bit rusty with skills, but don't worry...they should walk you through it the first time. Also, I used a skill DVD I had from school and YouTube to look up videos on certain skills I hadn't done in a while that I knew I would be doing on the floor. You say you have a good knowledge base, so that's going to be beneficial.:) Good luck! Enjoy being PRN. LOVED it.

Little Panda RN, ASN, RN · Apr 5, 2013

I was hired per diem originally at my hospital and was oriented 3 days a week (8 hour shifts). Are you doing 12's? If so that's the same amount I did and I felt it was enough. I was put on my own some shifts 4 weeks into my orientation.....yeah...we have some issues lol. But, if you ask a lot of questions and come home and study up on things you will be fine. If I had a patient with a diagnosis I never heard of, I came home and read all about. Surgical procedure I was unfamiliar with, same thing. I already knew how to do assessments, meds, foleys, Ivs, etc from nursing school clinical, so job orientation was more important in terms of learning hospital polices and procedures. You say you are a bit rusty with skills, but don't worry...they should walk you through it the first time. Also, I used a skill DVD I had from school and YouTube to look up videos on certain skills I hadn't done in a while that I knew I would be doing on the floor. You say you have a good knowledge base, so that's going to be beneficial.:) Good luck! Enjoy being PRN. LOVED it.[/quote']
Since I work full time days at my current job I am going to do 2 days a week. 8 hour pm's during the week and 12 hour shifts every other weekend. I am currently in orientation before starting on the floor and we have gone over aLot of the skills. I am looking forward to being PRN.
Naptime RN thank you for replying too my post! It is appreciated:)

FuturePsychNP · Apr 5, 2013

Lucky you on the desk job. Yes, you'll be fine with that amount of training time. In med-surg, we never expected people that came in for a short tour (PRN folks) to really know what they were doing. We were just happy having someone that could fill out the documentation, get the assessments done, and get the meds in. Anything beyond that was extra. We were chronically short handed to the point we were all ready to mostly kill ourselves each shift, lol. Just being there to call bell from hell will be a help!