Float pay for OB nurses

[samsmom95]

We are having a big discussion at my hospital re float pay. In our ob dept, they keep us staffed minimally so floating doesn't happen often. We have a clerk and sometimes a pct and if our census is low, they will send one of the RN's to float around the hospital. And I mean literally around the hospital... sometimes to all the main units including med/surg, ED, ICU, PACU, same-day surg, and psych. Sometimes, we are just an extra pair of hands, but other times we are expected to take patients and/or pass meds. We are obviously expected to be fairly proficient in all of these areas and you can't refuse to float. This, at times, also pertains to some of the other departments' nurses too (except no one really floats to ob, of course). So, my question is...are hospitals paying float pay? If so, how much?

[suzanne4, RN]

I never seen any nurses getting float pay any longer. But if you are mimially staffed to begin with in your unit and then get floated, you should be just an extra pair of hands and that only. You should not be getting an assignment, should just be helping out such as with starting IVs, etc.

What happens if an emergency comes in for your real dept and then you have to give report before you can leave to attend to that patient or then you could be up on patient abandonment charges, etc. Bad thing to be doing, something is going to suffer.

Highly recommend that you speak with the Risk Management staff at your facility. What you are doing could get you into trouble with your license as well, especially if you have never had a complete orientation to those units that they are floating you to. You should be floating just to other areas under your same manager such as post-partum or nursery, or something similar. Not any different in the fact that you would not see a nurse from another unit be required to float to your unit without proper training and experience.

[dansmom6]

Our hospital doesn't offer float pay to anyone.

We do get pulled from time to time, and it's been a never-ending battle as to exactly what is appropriate for an OB nurse to tackle. We are now at the point where we will "never be assigned", and carry a beeper. Many of us have worked other areas, but let's face it...if you don't use it, you get rusty pretty darn quick

A big thing we do when we float is admissions (I can't understand why no-one wants to admit their own patients...after all, they will be caring for them...may be good to actually KNOW your patient...UGH, that's another show). What I have done is politely tell the pt's primary nurse that I will ask the questions, and would prefer that she do the physical assessment portion. This way I wouldn't be responsible if an abrupt change in condition would occur, or if the primary nurse would disagree with my assessment. Honestly, if it were my granny or grandpa, I would prefer a nurse more familiar with the area and patient population do the assessments!

Another issue...what about infection control? We change our scrubs if we get called back to the unit, but you know lovely little germs are stowing away anyhow.