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Can a person make enough money to pay their bills by working a PRN shift?
I'm interviewing for a night PRN position at a hospital as a patient screener. I'm not if I'll get a lot of work hours every month because it's "as needed."
I'm thinking about this job because I really want to work in a hospital and move up to other positions for what I went to school for. But it is PRN and I have bills to pay.
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I wish you had included what your schooling was and whether you graduated. A "PRN" position needs defining, at least for me: did you mean "Practical Registered Nurse", or.........?
You should be able to ask during your interviews what the starting salary would be. You can also get a ball park idea by asking on line.
Because you are only applying for a part time "as needed" position, there are probably few, if any, benefits included and you'll be receiving an hourly wage, which doesn't sound to me like something that could sufficiently sustain your economic needs, and certainly provides little job security as well.
If you are viewing this as a chance to improve your resume for future positions, that could still be an advantage worth seeking, IF you can afford to do so.
Does "PRN" have to do with hours as needed, rather than a job title?
Next time you write, please spell out whatever you've abbreviated, to help us better understand and advise you. Thank you.
Good luck, Dr. Stephanie
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It depends on whether or not they're labelling you a "Nursing Assistant" or if you are a registered nurse according to Indeed.com. The lower part of the pay scale is around $18 per hour up to $43.00 if an RN. There are two lousy parts to your situation. The first has to do with hours and the "as needed" part.
This implies that you won't be working consistently and don't have much of a heads up on when a shift will be coming. If you get paid by the hour having a consistent overall number to guage your earnings is tough. Perhaps you will have enough money for bills and then again maybe not because your cash depends on when and for how long they call you for and the amount will vary by shift. Until you start working for them it's hard to tell if it will pay all your bills.
The second lousy part is that they want you to screen people coming in to the hospital. While COVID-19 patients no doubt see emergency room people first you just have no idea if the people you are screening may in fact have the virus. You're going to want to know how much risk there is for a screener of coming in contact with people. Because of how busy the hospital is you may find yourself scheduled a lot and or not.
There's a lot to weigh here but having a job rather than no job with pay that isn't ideal is better than not having an opportunity to earn money. As long as it's safe and low risk for COVID it's worth doing as it may lead somewhere if they see your skills go beyond what you've been hired for.
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I looked up PRN RN which is exactly how you must word it to get hits when searching. One site says a PRN can work from 0 to 40 hrs a week.So really, it depends on the location and how often one is needed. One sites says that you are front desk, check in until short handed if one RN is sick or didn't come in for some reason and then they pull you off front desk to fill in behind the desk. I have no idea how often or how busy it gets at a front desk at a hospital but the only night ones I have seen are Emergency because Drs schedule appts only during the day or have clinic hours til a certain time or 6 or 7 for those who work to come after work. Find out in interview what the position pays, and ask if there are minimum guaranteed hours, like if they say they can promise at least 20 hours a week but it could be more. You base your choice making only on the lower hours, the extra is a bonus if it happens, and have a list of your minimum must have income to cover housing, electricity, phone, cable if you must have, and if you may get a night position, you have to think about how to get to it, transportation. Public transportation like buses at night is not a good idea, the waiting alone of a single woman at bus stops is not the safest things anymore these days, even in better neighborhoods. My husband wouldn't have me waiting for a bus and my eyes are too bad to drive for these reasons. So you need to include car upkeep and if no car, the approx amount you'd need to pay on payments to keep the car. You need to get as much as you can collected info on lists now. Go interview and with what you learn there, you decide if you can make it on the earnings from that position. If not, don't take it if you have choices or family to help bill wise until you do find the right job. I left a clinic where they had high turn over of front desk positions and spoke with clinic manager about having to give them my new phone number 3 times in person when there for appointments before they got it right. Most of the gals up front are new with not much experience yet I was told because of the high turn over. They take the position but soon find they can't afford the rent of apts, studios,homes or even a room in a home which is usually taken by college students, and its certainly not enough to cover other bills, so they end up leaving and the clinic is training again in a couple months and I believe they had three or four front desk people in that clinic. I can't imagine all four leaving at some point but that sure explained that problem. Most jobs today do not pay enough for even two wage earners to afford a place to rent. I know of two cases, people I know with kids, where two families live in same house, one upstairs and one in the completed downstairs just to survive and make all their bills and perhaps have a little left to buy anything they need to buy besides groceries, and clothing. You might also consider if not living with the parents, finding roommates, or people who also want to move out, need not have the apt yet but you all have checked out the prices for two or three bedrms and if evenly split, knowing a ball park figure of what your part of rent would approximately be, then all work at find jobs and once all of you have found jobs that could meet what the rent portion is and all your other needs, you will know soon enough which jobs won't work out pay wise.
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