Full-time nursing positions typically require strict schedules and longer shifts. PRN or per diem nursing positions, on the other hand, are typically more part-time and “as needed.”

Wondering if per diem nursing could be a good fit for you or your healthcare facility? We are here to help!

Why do nurses choose per diem work?

Nurses face incredible responsibility that comes with high pressure and stress, often resulting in burnout or dissatisfaction in their careers. Healthcare employees now want flexibility, a proper work-life balance, and the freedom to choose when and where they want to work. 

Nurses are inspiring people, taking on the high-pressure and heartfelt moments in life with a level of skill and kindness that can be hard to match. Per diem nursing is exciting and challenging and can be the solution for healthcare professionals ready to prioritize their health and life.

Why do facilities choose per diem staffing?

Having a local pool of quality per diem nurses available allows a facility to only use the nurses they need, thus maintaining safe staffing levels and keeping costs down. This can help stop burning out existing float pools by ending the pressure to pick up shifts they don’t want.

Employees are now wanting flexibility. This gives facilities the opportunity to select high-quality candidates to come in only when needed. Per diem nursing may be a big shift, but as technology continues to revolutionize the healthcare industry, it is a change that is as powerful as it is necessary. 

The post What is Per Diem Nursing? appeared first on FleetNurse.

Here are a few tips I have used to assist me over the past year to integrate my work and life:

In conclusion, there is a reason nursing has been recognized as the most trusted profession for 19 years in a row.  We are strong and we always do what is best for those we are providing care for.  Feel free to comment and share your suggestions on what you do to stay mentally and physically healthy as we face the pandemic together as nurses.

 Kevin Harris, Msn-HCSM, RN, NE-BC

The post Staying Mentally and Physically Healthy during the Ongoing COVID 19 Pandemic appeared first on FleetNurse.

Occupational wellness is about focusing on your ability to balance life and work. Stress is a part of life, and it is important to address the stress you experience at your workplace. This is especially true for healthcare workers. Juggling personal life and work can be difficult, while at the same time, it is vital that when you are working you are in the best mental space possible. Healthcare workers have to deal with high levels of burnout and COVID-19 has not helped. FleetNurse has some key tips to help you work on your occupational wellness:

• Seek a job that fits the criteria you are looking for.
• If you look forward to working and find joy in your career, you will find joy in your everyday life as well.
• Look for a job that fits your lifestyle, goals, and interests and the results will be worth it.
• Create healthy relationships with coworkers and management.
• Find ways to reduce stress at work. This could look different for every person so find what works for you!
  • Take a moment for yourself. 
  • Stay hydrated and fueled.
  • Create an open line of communication with management.
• Make time for things outside of work! Maintaining mental well-being means finding a balance between work and play.
• Enjoy your job! Enjoying your job will boost every area of your life. 

How can FleetNurse help you improve your occupational wellness?

By achieving occupational wellness, you will enrich your life, relationships, and self-satisfaction. This all is easier said than done, but FleetNurse is here to help. We understand the need for work-life balance, flexibility, and the need to work around other commitments in your life.

As a FleetNurse healthcare professional, you have the opportunity to work when you want to work with no minimum work hours. You have the power to work shifts that fit with your schedule. With this flexibility that FleetNurse provides, you can experience decreased burnout and higher occupational wellness overall.

FleetNurse is changing the healthcare staffing service status quo by providing exceptional experiences for both healthcare clinicians and facilities. When you join FleetNurse, you have the option to pick up PRN per diem shifts. As healthcare facilities request coverage, you will get a notification via the FleetNurse app with the location, time of the shift, and the rate. If you decide that you want that shift, all you have to do is confirm the shift and it is yours.

Especially in these unprecedented times, we value your safety, health, and overall well-being in all aspects of your life. We currently have positions open in Texas, Oregon, Arizona, and North Carolina. For more information on the current job opportunities with FleetNurse, visit https://www.fleetnurse.com/for-providers/job-opportunities/.

The post How FleetNurse Helps Healthcare Professionals Find Occupational Wellness appeared first on FleetNurse.

Before caring for others, it is important to take the time to care for yourself.

Quick, Efficient Stress-Reducing Strategies 

Music

Depending on the situation, having different playlists on hand with either uplifting music or calming music can be a helpful tool. Relaxing sounds can reduce stress and uplifting music has been proven to improve mood.

Cool Off

A quick strategy to slow your heart rate and allow your blood to flow more easily to your brain, simply cooling off with some cold water can do the trick. Even better, dipping your face in a bowl of ice water can activate this dive response and make you feel calm fast.

Pace Your Breathing

This activity has many physiological benefits that help promote tranquility. By directing your awareness to your breathing and consciously inhaling and exhaling, you can effectively slow down your breathing and promote feelings of calm and other health benefits.

Anchor yourself

Check in with yourself. Ask yourself the questions: What am I thinking? Feeling? Doing? Then ask yourself if your response is helpful, aligned with your values now, or related to future worries or a past problem.

Beyond these quick fixes for in-the-moment high stress, here are some additional things to keep in mind especially during these difficult times.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice that helps you build your inner strength. This is done through being more aware of your thoughts and can help with stress by allowing you to step back and be more aware of your needs and emotions. Your level of care and compassion for yourself and others rises, you are better able to focus, and have a greater sense of well-being overall. To get here, it starts with bringing awareness to what you’re experiencing or to your state of mind, either through your senses or through your thoughts and emotions. It is something you can train yourself to do whether it be through meditation or simple mindful practices everyday.

Self-care

Many of us have so many responsibilities in life that we forget to take care of our personal needs. This can be particularly true especially in healthcare due to the significant caregiving responsibilities one holds. Self care can mean anything from doing an activity you enjoy to adding in a skin care routine to your everyday schedule. Little things like that can be a reminder to yourself that you are worth it. Because you are.

Sleep

Sleep is a powerful stress reducer. Following a regular sleep routine calms and restores the body, improves concentration, regulates mood, and sharpens judgment and decision-making.

Eat Healthily

Food has a direct line to causing or helping disease and dysfunction in the body. By avoiding inflammatory, processed, or toxic ingredients and substances you can begin to experience numerous benefits. Similar to mindfulness and meditation, your diet can play a dynamic role in mood, emotions, and brain-signaling pathways, as well as provide support for anxiety. Anxiety-reducing foods include sweet potatoes, kimchi, artichokes, eggs, fatty fish, blueberries, and more. Adding stress-reducing recipes to your diet can help you feel relaxed, healthy, and balanced. Of course, treating yourself to some chocolate and wine after a long shift can be relaxing all the same.

Everyone is different in how they manage stress and work through difficulties in their lives. This being said, find what works for you to feel better and be your best self! We appreciate all of your hard work. Just know, you are loved, appreciated, and deserve every second that you dedicate to yourself.

The post Simple Ways To Reset Your Stress appeared first on FleetNurse.

A Little About Me

I manage the Central Staffing office, Nursing Administration Operations, and System Flex for a large HealthCare system in the Texas Medical Center.  I have been a nurse for seventeen (17) years and have been in some form of leadership for the past eight (8) years.

Staffing is a passion.  I see it as one of the most important factors in providing safe and quality patient care.

COVID-19 Pressures 

In early March we began to experience daily increases in our COVID-19 positive cases system-wide.  Reaching almost six hundred at one point.  The Texas Governor called for a complete shutdown. We canceled all elective procedures, limited visitors, and began to implement screening stations at all our entrances.  Not only were our cases of COVID-19 increasing but these patients were sick (ECMO, CRRT, etc.). These patients began to fill the majority of our critical care beds.  We began to open up old units to make room for the increasing COVID-19 population.

This put an extreme amount of pressure to provide adequate and competent staff due to the complexity of these patients.

Solutions

Since all elective and outpatient procedures were canceled, we developed classes for our surgery, cath lab, and ancillary departments to take to get them back to the bedside. We also trained ancillary staff on how to prone patients and staffed runners to assist the bedside RN.  Even with the additional staff, our frontline staff began to test positive. We had already started hiring travel RNs, but the pressure was on us to onboard qualified contract nurses on the floors as quickly as possible.

We contracted with several agencies and formed a hybrid onboarding process. This allowed us to get nurses at the bedside in five (5) days.

Currently, our numbers are consistent, but no one can predict the future.  As an organization, we are committed to learning to adjust to the new normal of COVID-19 and keep all services open to our community. That is our obligation to all patients and our employee’s livelihood. As we continue to learn daily, keeping our patients at the center of all we do should be at the forefront of our thoughts and actions!

If you have any questions please email me at Kevinrn24@yahoo.com

Categories

• covid-19
• healthcare
• News
• nurses

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