In the ED where I work, I am one of only 18 nurses who work there. Two of those 18 nurses are PRN (I am one of them). Of those 18, two of them just got transferred to a different location, one just took a job in another department, and two quit. Doing the math, we just lost a quarter of our nursing staff. That tends to happen with nursing- it’s difficult to find good nurses, and competitors try to hire them away.
They are trying to hire more and have had a few interviews, but no one who has been offered the job has accepted. I’m guessing it’s because nursing pay in the area has climbed again and my employer is offering less than the candidates are being offered elsewhere. They will be forced to raise starting pay again, which is the only way to get a raise- about every two years, change jobs for more money.
At any rate, we still need to staff the place, and to do that, management has declared a critical need. When they do that, the bonuses come out. For the months of July and August, any shift you pick up in addition to your contract gets you a bonus: $33.33 per hour ($400 for a shift) on weekdays, $41.67 per hour ($500 for a shift) on weekends. Since I am PRN, I am only contracted to work one day per week, meaning that I get that bonus for every day that I work in a week beyond that first one. Even if I only work full time hours, I get $800-$1000 per week in bonuses.
The best part is that it is the slow season for emergency departments around the state, so our workload is low. High pay and low work? Of course I jumped on it. I am working a bunch this July, but I am going to make about $20,000 this month alone. When the August schedule gets done, I will try to do the same.
That just adds to the retirement fund. I will be busy, but still working less and making more than I would if I were full time.
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