Who floats first?

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  1. This is a discussion on Who floats first? in General Nursing Discussion, part of General Nursing ... What are your rules for floating? My unit has a large amount of per diem nurses and in addition,...

    by Jan 16, '12
    What are your rules for floating?

    My unit has a large amount of per diem nurses and in addition, hired a group of travelers for the busy season. The travelers are not allowed to float per their contract. The rest of us are floated on rotation.

    With all the staff, and many of the per diem working part time hours, I find myself floating more often than not, despite the fact that I am one of few full time staff nurses on the unit. I don't mind the occasional float and understand the need. I do feel however, these rules are unfair to the dedicated unit staff.

    Is your policy similar?
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    by vic_rn Jan 16, '12 7:58 pm
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  2. 10 Comments so far...

  3. Jan 16, '12 by
    where I used to work, it was on a rotational basis, didn't matter their status. We didn't have travellers though
  4. Jan 16, '12 by
    1. Travelers (We currently have none.)
    2. Per Diem Staff (We currently don't have any who my manager allows to get hours.)
    3. Regular Staff. Float dates are recorded and people are floated based on their "float date".
  5. Jan 16, '12 by
    LOL extra staff to float. I like your style.
    anotherone, fiveofpeep, and wooh like this.
  6. Asst. Admin
    Jan 16, '12 by
    In my last facility, per-diems were floated first. Then permanent staff were floated, and who went was usually based on seniority (though occasionally you'd get perm staff volunteer to go float). When I had left, they were trying to get away from that and spread the floating around among permanent staff more evenly.
  7. Jan 17, '12 by
    Travelers, per diem, and full timers all float within the rotation and it's all done fairly.
  8. Jan 17, '12 by
    As we have no travelers,

    1.) Per Diem

    2.) Scheduled Full-time rotation

    If there is a per diem nurse available there should not be a need for you to float.

    I'm per diem, thats why, gimme something different!
  9. Jan 17, '12 by
    per diem, ot, then we have a list of who was floated last.
  10. Jan 17, '12 by
    I worked full time per diem for many years. I thought it was my duty to float first. No problem. Learned a lot. Had a lot of fun, met a lot of people. Who cares?
    Rabid Response likes this.
  11. Jan 17, '12 by
    On my current unit, everyone takes turns (regardless of PD/PT/FT status.) When you float, the date and floor gets put in the float book and we go by who has gone the longest without floating. The only nurses who do not float are new grads with less than one year experience.

    I am per diem and would probably leave if I had to float all the time, honestly. This hospital has a float pool for a reason and the rest of us (per diems) are permanently assigned to specific floors. If I wanted to float constantly, I'd join the pool and make more money! JMO.