hospital per diem vs. retail staff?

[fxok425]

I am currently a staff pharmacist in a chain pharmacy (5 days a week, alternating weekends). Have an opportunity to be a per diem in a hospital (outpatient). It's per diem, but the director said their per diem usually work 2 to 3 shifts a week, and they require I will be available to do 2 to 3 shifts a week. If I accept the per diem job, I have to become floater. Is it worthy it? The only reason I want the per diem is I hope this will lead to a part-time job with benefits (PTO, pension etc, I don't really care about health insurance since I always get it through my spouse).
what do you think?

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[Rouelle]

Floating isn’t necessarily bad. It can even be great. Some issues with your situation though: How far in advance will you have your hospital schedule? Will your retail scheduler be able to cope with the answer to the previous question while making your retail schedule? If you’re having to maintain flexibility for the hospital, are you going to be able to keep enough retail hours to make the combined salary you need? Is your retail boss okay with what you’re proposing?

Ultimately, what you’re proposing is doable. It’s more or less what I do (inpatient, not outpatient), and I love it. The biggest concern I have is the lack of a guarantee. I have busy and slow times of the year. I’m always a little nervous during the slow times.

 

[rxkrafted]

What will you do if you don't enjoy doing outpatient hospital pharmacy? Just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Just because its in a hospital setting doesn't make it more likely to transition into inpatient hospital jobs in the future. As long as you know what is on the line, go for it.

 

[M0df]

The answer is usually yes if you are cutting back on working at CVS or something similar. But not all outpatient hospital pharmacies are created equal. Some will keep you part time with no benefits because that is how their system is setup. I would mainly consider current staffing at that outpatient pharmacy. How many full time/part time pharmacists do they employ (if you are part time person number 3, then it will take long time to get where you want to end up). How old are the pharmacists there (if they are on the verge of retiring, you can be full time within 1-2 years?). Financial state of the outpatient pharmacy (some places are opening additional locations believe it or not).

 

[Rouelle]

On re-reading this: are you considering entirely leaving corporate retail to do per diem at the hospital, OR are you considering per diem at the hospital and staying on the retail gig as a floater? If the former, then disregard my previous post.

 

[mentos]

If they require you to work 2-3 days per week then it's part time, not per diem. A lot of hospitals pull that crap, you'll be coded as per diem and won't receive any benefits. Then they'll require you to work a certain number of weekends and holidays and it becomes a joke.

I gave up my weekends and holidays to work "per diem" at a hospital (inpatient) for 3 years and finally left when I realized that none of the full time people were going to leave.

 

[Momus]

Float retail + per diem/part time hospital. Then, if you want to quit retail, leverage the hospital experience and apply to every fulltime hospital position you see.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Float retail + per diem/part time hospital. Then, if you want to quit retail, leverage the hospital experience and apply to every fulltime hospital position you see.

Outpatient hospital experience is not going to help get an inpatient hospital job (other than possibly in the same hospital, if they like OP's work ethic.)

 

[Modest_anteater]

Floating isn’t necessarily bad. It can even be great. Some issues with your situation though: How far in advance will you have your hospital schedule? Will your retail scheduler be able to cope with the answer to the previous question while making your retail schedule? If you’re having to maintain flexibility for the hospital, are you going to be able to keep enough retail hours to make the combined salary you need? Is your retail boss okay with what you’re proposing?

Ultimately, what you’re proposing is doable. It’s more or less what I do (inpatient, not outpatient), and I love it. The biggest concern I have is the lack of a guarantee. I have busy and slow times of the year. I’m always a little nervous during the slow times.

Who is usually the retail scheduler? The PIC?

 

[Rouelle]

Who is usually the retail scheduler? The PIC?

The chain I prn with has a district scheduler that makes all the floater’s schedules and approves/denies full-time vacation time. She is a non-pharmacist. Although in re-reading the original post, I think this doesn’t apply to the OP