Nursing what does prn stand for

A PRN employee may want to continue to work in a chosen field without committing to a regular, full-time schedule. He or she has the ability to manage work and personal time and to work at multiple medical facilities and develop relationships with the clinical teams. The work gives me the opportunity to network with medical facility employers in the event that I need a transition to other employment.

I can use my skills and experience. Working for DOC affords me the ability to see patients and lead as a senior in-house provider. I have found the environment at DOC to be a family atmosphere. Leadership is open to suggestions and is always available for any concerns. For many practices, this is the exception, not the norm.

Some PRN employees work strictly on-call or as needed when there is a staff shortage or an emergency. Others contract with a facility to work a certain number of hours every week or month. A PRN employee is paid by the hour, often at a higher rate than a full-time employee on a regular work schedule. Doing this may increase their chances of gaining a full-time role when one opens up because the employer has already seen their work ethic and abilities as a PRN nurse. As mentioned, being a PRN nurse enables individuals to have added flexibility in their work schedule, and they can sometimes gain more income than permanent employees.

Some of the other advantages of pursuing PRN opportunities include:. For those interested in working in a nursing position, there are a variety of options. Here are 10 jobs related to a PRN position:.

Travel nurse. Registered nurse. Licensed practical nurse. Clinical nurse. School nurse. Medical assistant. Nurse case manager. Physician's office nurse. Hospice nurse. Outpatient care nurse. Find jobs. Company reviews. Find salaries. Upload your resume. Sign in. Career Development. What is PRN in nursing? How to become a PRN nurse. Obtain a degree. Gain licensure. Find PRN nursing opportunities. How does a PRN nursing schedule work?

How many days do PRN nurses work? Do PRN nurses earn higher salaries? What are the responsibilities of a PRN nurse? Performing and interpreting diagnostic tests. Preparing patients for treatments. Administering medications. Developing patient care plans. Maintaining and documenting medical records.

Counseling patients and their families on how to manage medical issues. Consequently, the perceived differences between the doctors and nurses should be considered by the hospital organization, to provide a protocol and education modules for narrowing the discrepancy in perception. The administration of PRN prescriptions by nurses is based on their knowledge of the drug, as well as their interpretation of the prescription intention.

Such discrepancies in perceptions must be rectified in pursuant to the proper treatment of the patient. In the present study, it was also found that the residents and nurses in the medical field experienced greater frequencies of medication errors, compared to those in the surgical field.

This result was contrary to expectations, as it was expected that medical professionals in the surgical field would have experienced a greater number of medication errors due to the greater frequency of PRN prescriptions. As previously mentioned, the experience of fewer medication errors can be attributed to the more meticulous provision of records regarding exact single dosage, maximum number of daily intake, and maximum dosage per day by the medical professionals of the surgical field, compared to those in the medical field.

However, the above cause may also be overdetermined by the fact that the prescription of medications in the medical field requires greater expertise and specialization than that of the surgical field. This can be inferred by the medication regimen commonly used by the two fields in PRN prescriptions, wherein medical residents exhibited a relatively even distribution in their prescriptions of analgesics, antipyretics, insulin, hypnotics, and other medications, whereas surgical residents prescribed a limited range of PRN prescription medications, primarily consisting of analgesics and antipyretics.

Because the proportion of actual administration of medication to the patient given the PRN prescription was not investigated, we cannot conclude that a greater frequency of PRN prescription necessarily leads to a greater frequency in the administration of the prescribed PRN medication. The absence of such investigation reflects a limitation in the present study, in that we could not compare the rate of the actual administration of the PRN prescribed medications among the subgroups of the study participants.

Even though a greater proportion of doctors and nurses in the medical field reported having an experience of medication error than those in the surgical field, the frequency of medication errors experienced by individual residents and nurses is higher in the surgical field than the medical field, such that a medical resident experienced one instance of medication error per 35 patients, whereas a surgical resident experienced one instance of medication error per 11 patients.

Consequently, further studies must be conducted to examine how individuals are associated with medication errors, irrespective of their departmental affiliations.

The majority of medical professionals have collectively suggested that PRN prescription is necessary for seamless patient care. However, the lack of protocol in doctor and nursing training and hospital policy, with respect to a detailed education in PRN prescription, has resulted in the execution of PRN prescription primarily based on past experience. The effective administration of PRN prescriptions should be built on sufficiently shared general knowledge regarding the prescribed medication, exact understanding the patient condition, 13 and an appropriate level of communication between doctors and nurses, as well as patient involvement.

The present study has various limitations. First, as the study was based on a survey, the study results were dependent on the memories of the study participants. As such, participants may have failed to recall memories of medication error or falsely recalled fabricated memories of a medication error. Second, it was difficult to objectively compare and determine whether the participants were in fact behaving in alignment with their responses to the survey.

Third, the present study could not confirm the degree to which PRN prescriptions were actually being administered in practice. Such limitations require revisions and supplementations through future studies.

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Korean J Fam Med. Published online Jul Find articles by Se Hwa Oh. Find articles by Ji Eun Woo. Find articles by Dong Woo Lee.

Find articles by Won Cheol Choi. Find articles by Jong Lull Yoon. Find articles by Mee Young Kim. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Corresponding author. Corresponding Author: Mee Young Kim. Received Aug 24; Accepted Apr This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Background Pro re nata PRN prescription is a frequently used prescription method in hospitals.

Methods From May to July , a survey was conducted among doctors and nurses 88 doctors and nurses working at 5 hospitals located in Seoul, Gyeong-gi, and Gangwon Province. Results Average number of PRN prescription of surgical residents was 4.

Conclusion Standard prescription methods need to be established since there is a perception difference in PRN prescription between doctors and nurses and this could be related to administration errors. Survey The survey sought to investigate the perception and the actual practice of administering PRN prescriptions within the hospital.

Characteristics of the Study Participants Among the ultimately selected study participants, 88 were residents and were nurses. Open in a separate window. Table 2 Actual condition of PRN prescription by doctors.

PRN: pro re nata. Table 3 Type of medicines prescribed as pro re nata. Table 4 Expected versus actual nurses' behavior to pro re nata administration.

Medication Error When the study participants were asked whether they had experienced instances where a patient did not receive the necessary medication or received unnecessary medication because of a misalignment between the residents' expectation and the actual nursing behavior, 8 medical residents Table 5 Experiences of administration error.

Footnotes No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. References 1. Caisley H, Muller U. Adherence to medication in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and pro re nata dosing of psychostimulants: a systematic review.

Eur Psychiatry. Use of pro re nata medications in acute inpatient care. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. Pro re nata medication for psychoses: the knowledge and beliefs of doctors and nurses. A best-evidence synthesis review of the administration of psychotropic pro re nata PRN medication in in-patient mental health settings.