Float Pool

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm sure many of you experienced nurses have started or at some point worked float pool - what's it like? Is it really difficult?

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The float pool is where you can learn a lot.

My hospital has several pools, each service has one and the OR and Emerg manage their own inhouse pool.

Are you hired on as a "regular" float or a casual float? Regulars are position holders that are guaranteed shifts per pay period. Casuals are offered what ever shifts are left over.

We were oriented to the units on the service we worked on. Then you wait for the calls. The more you are available, the more you work. I was available for days and evenings. Nights? If you work them you will be loved by the scheduler. There were 4, 8, and 12 hour shifts and the staffers would offer you any combinations you wanted.

I have a friend who has been a permanent float for the last 8 years. She loves it because she has variety and doesn't get involved in unit politics. I floated for 10 months until I decided which unit I liked enough to take a position on.

Some units are terrible to go to. Cliques all over and always gave the float the isolation patients. Others used the floats as relief from the demanding patients. Some were happy to get a float and gave you a light assignment so you could help out. Just depends on the Unit Managers style.

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I love the float pool. Many nurses don't like it and would warn a new grad to never take a float pool position.

Being a successful float means acknowledging to yourself that "no I do not know a lot, abut this unit, this area of nursing, but bottom line human beings are the same physiologically." Yeah, yeah, peds have different parameters. If you float to peds keep a smart phone app, or old fashioned piece of paper, with normal peds vital signs.

An IV in a vein is a basic IV in a vein wherever you float. Yeah yeah, drugs and drips can be different. That is where you say to your charge nurse, co-worker, nurse manager, "I am not familiar with this drug, can you help me." Or again have an app or old fashioned book to look things up. Yes there could be PICC lines, VAP's, central lines., again just ask.

I swear it will happen, you can float to a unit, have to give a drug you are not familiar with, ask the nicest, smartest, nurse who has worked that unit 30 years, what the drug is for, how to give it, and she will say, "I don't know that one either, let's find out."

In all your nursing career, but especially as a float, there are NO DUMB QUESTIONS.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I worked as a "regular" float in a Rehab hospital when I was a new grad LPN...that was the BEST job I had-variety, variety, variety! Most people were helpful, and I was in demand on a lot of floors, so I was treated as a "regular".

Now as a new grad RN, my plan is to eventually return to a float pool, eventually.

If this is your niche, you will learn to do well in it, have your favorite floors and still have your sanity, lol...jk! ;)

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I have worked float pool now for 2 years full time. Started in float pool as essentially a new grad... only had 10 months of SNF experience. Do I recommend starting as a new grad? NO.... there were a lot of tears for several months :) BUT BUT BUT do I love float pool now? YES YES YES

You HAVE to and I repeat HAVE to be flexible... period... if you cannot change gears quickly than float pool is not for you. I work nights and there are times where I get my assignment at 7 and meet my patientes and by 10 PM I'm floated to a different unit. There have been times where I have float three times in one shift, which can be trying.

Yes sometimes you feel like an idiot because lets face it you can't know everything about every unit or every disease and you do have to ask questions, now and then.

Yes you occasionally you get the poopy assignment because that pt has been on the floor for months and the regular staff is sick of them. Yes you will be the only nurse with the isolation patients sometimes. For me this beats out the floor drama anyday. If I have a hard shift with needy patients??? Guess what I know that most likely I won't be back to that floor tomorrow and have low chance of having to work with them again.

You get a vast knowledge base and I feel like I can take care of any patient that walks through the door. The only places that I do not work is ICU/ Mom baby and L&D, which is just my choice.

Hope that helps!!!!

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I worked float pool for several years and loved it. At the time I took the position I didn't expect it to be such a perfect fit. You learn so much. Every unit is happy to see you because without you they would be working short. I finally picked a home unit, but still utilize the skills I learned in the float pool

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

I've never done it but my hospital has one so we don't require agency nurses. All of the nurses who do it LOVE it. They know that even if their assignment is crappy one shift, they'll be somewhere else the next shift.

I agree that new grads shouldn't be doing this type of position.

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I am getting the distinct impression that being in the float pool as a new grad is not ideal, but those are the cards I've been dealt. I am in a formal new grad program, so hopefully there will be a recognition that starting out in the float pool is difficult, and may require additional support. Does anyone have any pointers as to how work as a floater as a new graduate? I've been in a SNF on both sub-acute (15-20 patients) and long-term (20-30 patients) floors for the last year, but I keep hearing that that will be of no benefit.

I agree that new grads shouldn't be doing this type of position.
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Usually the nurses who tell you LTC/SNF experience will be of no help have never worked LTC and don't know what they're talking about. At a minimum, you'll have valuable knowledge of medications that other new grads lack. Additionally, when I worked SNF I used a lot of skills (particularly in wound care) that I've never used the hospital and that many of my co-workers with more acute care experience don't know how to do.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Usually the nurses who tell you LTC/SNF experience will be of no help have never worked LTC and don't know what they're talking about. At a minimum you'll have valuable knowledge of medications that other new grads lack. Additionally, when I worked SNF I used a lot of skills (particularly in wound care) that I've never used the hospital and that many of my co-workers with more acute care experience don't know how to do.[/quote']

THIS...yes....

They will be surprised what will "help"...you will probably change minds. :yes:

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I hope so! At a minimum, I am "comfortable with being uncomfortable." Handling 20-30 patients is not a walk in a park, and normally a few of them have something actively going on. I certainly manage time much better than when I first started the job. And, you're right, at least I know the few dozen most common medications.

Usually the nurses who tell you LTC/SNF experience will be of no help have never worked LTC and don't know what they're talking about. At a minimum, you'll have valuable knowledge of medications that other new grads lack.
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I was basically a new grad when I started in a float pool, and I agree that it's not the place for new nurses.

If you are doing it anyway, then be prepared to be very flexible. Hopefully you will get more orientation than most float pool nurses. I got four hours on each unit/floor. Each unit/floor has different procedures/processes so it can be confusing at first to keep them straight. It also takes longer to learn each unit/floor because you don't spend regular time on most floors. It is difficult to work a shift on ortho, for instance, and then not go back to that floor for a month or more because you have forgotten much of what you learned about their procedures. It took a long time to remember where everything was kept on each floor for that reason.

Another challenge might be that you will get the "not so desirable" assignments since you are not regular staff on the floor. This doesn't happen everywhere but it does happen a lot. I worked float pool at one hospital for 15 months before learning that the med/surg charge RN didn't take an assignment and was supposed to help the other RNs with theirs. I contsantly got the "crap" assignments that not only included the most difficult patients, but the rooms that the patients were in were as far from each other as you could get, necessitating that I do a LOT more walking/running up and down the halls than the other nurses. Despite this, I got help from the charge RN only one time the entire 15 months.

Some hospitals also pay their float pool nurses more than others, so resentment brews for that reason. It's been my experience that floor nurses tend to be less likely to work as a team than those in the ER where I currently work, so you may find yourself on your own a lot, especially if you get paid more as a float nurse.

I realize that I haven't exactly provided you with "tips" because I have none. But I have always appreciated knowing the true story so I could prepare myself to face reality. I also realize that my experience does not constitute reality for everyone, but I have found my experience to be true more often than not.

Good luck!

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