Per Diem Nursing, or  ‘as needed’ nursing is a Perfect way for Facilities and Staff to come together in order to provide continuity of patient care and fill those gaps when census is high and extra staff is needed. Health Care facilities want to be known in their communities as having the best care in their area, a place they can rely on to receive optimal care for themselves and their families.

One way to fill those gaps is to provide per diem nursing staff. For the nurses, it allows them to visit other facilities and provide care working with a variety of different patients and staff, getting a change of pace from the “norm” and allowing for better over all work morale.

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I’ve done per diem nursing in Central Florida for 4 years, and I loved being able to work at different facilities within a 60 mile radius. Working under an agency who can contract with rural hospitals is a way for the nurse to sign on with ‘one’ agency but have the ability to work in different facilities. You can ‘keep’ your full time job and still pick up extra shifts to boost your income, but not be tied down to what we as nurses call “hospital politics”.

This is the direction in healthcare that I believe has kept the ‘burn out’ syndrome at bay that all nurses inevitably go through during their careers. Many leave the field of nursing due to these circumstances, but given choices, per diem work can give us more autonomy. Certainly allow us to ‘decide’ and make those decisions on where, when and how much we want to work.

Happy Nurses=Happy Facilities. This is true, if you feel stuck in a particular job because it’s your only choice in that particular area or community, you tend to hear more idle chatter on how nothing is going right at that facility. It’s all because of administration, the directors, the charge nurses, maybe the food is horrible, or you’re tired of Dr. A,B, and C.  We’ve all heard the chatter, and most definitely been a part of it at some point and time in our careers. We don’t necessarily mean it but when we find excessive fault under our own roof, we are merely displaying classic signs of burn out.

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We have chosen a career path in Healthcare and obtaining those degrees did not come easy. It’s alarming at the number of nurses and doctors  that leave the field due to exhaustion. I haven’t conducted my own research statistics on the matter but being in this field over 30 years (since candy striping days) no such thing ‘anymore’,  I’ve seen many leave and never return. I don’t know about YOU, but I worked very hard in college to obtain my BSN, RN degree and I’m not willing to give it up.

I would prefer to have choices in where I want to work to keep me motivated and energized. I applaud ALL nurses for sticking it out through the rough times. Everyone has a ‘story’, it’s how we handle it that will determine our career paths. Of course there’s always the ‘standby’ job that nurses have threatened for years to make a career change to:

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At least there are Options! Facilities and Nurses: Choose Per Diem!