why does the float always get jerked around

[traumamomtx30]

I floated tonight which I don't mind but I sure do hate it when a floor and it's nurses take advantage of the float. This was my load: 1st TB pt who is alzheimer and dementia,2nd homeless with a trach not capped and q 2hr morphine ivp, 3rd pt is ok, 4th pt with HIV and q 4 hr bolus gtube feeds and nurse lab draw, 5th pt is trach not capped-tpn-iv- tube feed- stroke and good side is restrained-confused-saccral wound that needs dsg change-2 q hr turn- q 6 blood sugar- nurse lab draw-and lets not forget contact isolation- and q 4 hr H20 flushes oh yes and the continous pulse ox because the sats go from 87-97% with his apnea episodes and yep you guessed it a full code, then 6th pt ok.......I am not trying to whine I am glad I have 10 yrs experience so once I got them settled I was o.k. but if they would of done this to a newer nurse they would of just had a horrible time.

I know not all floors do this but I did notice this morning that my 4 hardest pts were split up between the day shift nurses. :angryfire

[sasha1224]

I have seen both sides of this fence so to speak. I was a float nurse for 4 years in an in house agency pool. And a charge nurse for three years. AS a float, there where times i was "dumped" on, especially before the staff knew me. What helped was making sure I communicated with the charge nurse and asking for help. These are hard at times, but just as you think it is only 12 hours with the assignment it is also only 12 hours with the current charge/staff. As they got to know my strengths and skills, assignments were more appropriate to me. When I was a charge nurse, the unit I was working on was recently opened so we had a lot of holes. So many floats came through. I assigned patients based on acuity and needs, or my float staff, if I knew them, I could plug them into this equation. If not, I would ask around if anyone knew them/worked with them and what was their background/skill level like. if i couldn't get feedback on the nurses ability, I would assign the more stable pts. Were some of these the PITAs? Probably. In my thinking, dealing with demanding, frustrated, weeping pts/family is a more universal nursing skill than say titrating multiple gtts(dopa, dobut, epi, norepi). The latter mis likely to be encountere by a majority of nurses. And maybe less sue-happy, don't know. i guess i would hope that nurses assigning the pt load are thinking more of what is best overall and not "screw the float".

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I have seen this happen often with floats as well as agency nurses...they seem to expect them to come to the floor running. I think it should be done fairer, so that the person wishes to return. I have concerns with this myself, because soon, I will be working the med surg unit in my hospital as an agency per diem nurse. I am getting geared up to advocating for myself in case they try to dump on me.

[EmmaG, RN]

wow! that is a great idea. i've had my fair share of horrible floats, and i don't think that those charge nurses would have dumped on me quite so obviously and so badly if there was some chance it would come back and bite them in the butt! besides, it's always nice when managment appreciates you!

one of my former managers would always come and find you if you worked overtime or floated and ask how things were going, and to thank you for helping out. it felt good to be appreciated! but having it in writing would be even better. if it were in writing, trends would become clear and if there were a certain floor or charge nurse that habitually dumps on floats, that would become clear and could be fixed.

they also followed up on the good surveys too. a little positive reinforcement can go a long way