Float policy?

What is your unit's policy about floating new grads? I work surgical floor, and floated today (not the first time) to the medical floor.... I felt like I was drowning the whole time I was there. Not only the patient acuity, but just the fact that I can add on at least 10-15 minutes/procedure because of the extra time spent trying to find things in an unfamiliar environment. I've been off orientation for almont 5 months and normally feel fairly competent on my "home" unit, but was totally miserable today....

Don't you just hate it when they do that to ya? I know I do. I sometimes get floated to the SNU/SNIF when they need someone and I never have a good day when they do that!! They wanted me to go and do it one night (I work days) with no training and to be the only RN over there. Of course I said no. Everything except assessments takes twice as long. Now I get sent only 1-2 times every 2-3 months and it still irritates me to no end!! the main thing that I freak out about is that what if someone codes over there (it is at a different location than the main hospital) there is no way 2 nurses can run a code and after 5 especially when the others go home!!

Our hospital has a policy that you can't be floated for 6 months after your orientation. After that, you're fair game for everybody - except OB (they're a closed unit). It is difficult to work in a different area, and we all have to do it. We keep it fair by keeping a "floated to" list, and everybody takes their turn. There is one up side to this - sometimes your unit is on the receiving end, and we all appreciate the extra hands when we need it. And when someone from another unit comes to help us, we thank them, and help them, and then we expect the same courtesies when we get floated.

What a coincidence. Last night, someone needed to float. They finally decided that they would wait three months for new grads to float (3 months after orientation ends). So that eliminated two of us immediately. I think it is only fair. Prior to this, everyone was fair game at any time, and this is a children's hosp. You can go anywhere (PICU, NICU, other peds floors). We are heme/onc, so it is worse when the nurses come to us; they are clueless, even after years on their unit, just as we are clueless in the NICU.

When I worked med/surg, I believe it was six months (different hospital).

Fair or not our new grads get three months on the unit before they are added to the float list.

It gets better with each float. Most of the time I float it's a busy stressful day for exactly the same reasons as yourself.

Good luck and hang in there.

I think for us on my floor (Neuro/Trauma - when I was in the hospital) it was after 4 months. But truth is, it was extrememly rare that we would ever be pulled to another floor. Instead, we had people from other floors or resource. We would always be short nurses if it wasn't for them.

I think that new grads in my unit get 1 year (not sure if that's time at the hospital or time off orientation) before we float. But being a NICU, we would only float to the other NICU in the network, or downstairs to nursery. However, the only people I have seen float so far are the RTs, as nursing has been understaffed.

at the hospital i'm about to leave, we have to be there for 6 months before we can be floated. it's usually to our sister unit though, which is maternal-child. i've had good experiences when i've floated. usually though, the prn/flexi or agency nurses get floated first, then it goes by whose turn it is to float.