has anyone worked for Centura Regional Float Pool?

lynnielynn · Mar 16, 2008

Hi Micco,

I am going to start working for the Centura Regional Float Pool soon. Did you ever join or get any information about the pool or consistency?

Thanks.

micco · Mar 16, 2008

I never joined the float pool. it appeared very promising, but there was much ground work laid for my specialty in hospitals I had chose to work in. The recruiter told me there was plenty of work for me and there would be no problem getting 40 hours in a week, but 2 days before I was suppose to start, the scheduler had not even heard from 2 of the 3 hospitals where I was suppose to work. It made me very uneasy that I did not have any work scheduled other than orientation and the only hospital that had responded about their need only wanted someone on graveyards. and I asked my manager if I could change my mind and stay where I was. From what I hear, this may only be a problem with my specialty and in my area. hopefully your experience is better. I would like to know if thing are better because I am still interested in the pool. I just didn't want to be the guinea pig.

juliejuliejulie · Jan 26, 2011

Hello!

I am currently a FT centural employee in the ICU & I am considering joining the RFP this summer to give me a very flexible schedule. Did either of you ever end up joining the pool? & if so, would you mind telling me about your experiences? I am wondering was it difficult to get enough shifts? Were day shifts hard to obtain? Were you oriented enough to each location?

Thank you!:)

klone, MSN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

I worked for Centura RFP last summer. I had a good experience with them, but had to let the job go because I was working a fulltime gig (that started out temporary and morphed into permanent) and I started graduate school, and something had to give. The pay was great, and the coordinators at the RFP office were wonderful, at least mine was. I had no difficulty getting shifts (I worked nights, though). I know there were some RFP nurses who were hoping to use it as fulltime work, but it seems most people did it as a supplement to something else.

Orientation to each unit was 4 hours (very first shift was 8 hours because you had to do a bunch of Healthstream stuff that first shift). The ONLY criticism I have was that there is a form you have to fill out and have filled out by your charge nurse after EVERY shift, and it has to be faxed to the RFP office at the end of your shift. That was kind of a PITA.

juliejuliejulie · Jan 31, 2011

Thanks for the info! That's very helpful. The form does sound like a pain!

Was it self-scheduling? As far as being able to chose to work shifts that needed RN's? & just out of curiosity, how many hospitals did you float to?

THanks!

klone, MSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

Not self-scheduling per se, but you give them a list of dates that you're available, and how many shifts per week you want out of those dates, and they fill them with one of the dates you wanted to work.

As part of the RFP, you must choose a minimum of three hospitals to float to. You can choose more, however, and once in a while I'd get a call from my coordinator, asking if I'd be willing to take a shift at a different hospital. The more hospitals you choose, the more likelihood that you will get the shifts you want (although I had NO problems getting shifts with just the three I chose).

If you're scheduled to work at one hospital, and they call you off due to low census, and one of the other hospitals on your list has a need, you DO have to float to the other hospital. They can require you to float to any of the hospitals on your list, but they cannot require you to float to a hospital that's not on your list.