Float Pool Incentive????

[AmyD_RN]

I have an oppurtunity friday (maybe if a girl doesn't call back) to join a float pool. The HR person said there is an incentive (financially) to work this area cause the special high training. anyone know what it might be?

[nightingale, RN]

I have seen $ 2.00 to 18%.

More importantly, is this your first year in Nursing? That is the Forum you are posting within. IMHO, it would be best to wait after a year or two to get comfortable with being a Nurse before you switch gears so rapidly in different setting. Perhaps, you could explain the meaning of Float Pool for this facility.

If you need me to move this post to a different Forum, I would be happy to move it out of this Forum.

[AmyD_RN]

No I am a new nurse going for my first job. The lady said they would highly train me till I was comfortable with the job. Float pool is where you float from floor to floor depending on who needs you that day. Usually the med surg floors. It is also called the "nursing care team".

[Altra, BSN, RN]

AmyD, this is just my two cents, but you did ask for input ...

I would not do float pool for your first job as a nurse. When you start working, you will quickly learn how much you don't know as a brand new nurse. I firmly believe you need some time in one position in one department with a structured orientation period in order to get a handle on your skills, prioritization, and develop those instincts that allow an experienced nurse to sense trouble before it happens, without the added stress of juggling different physical environments, different phone systems, different staff, different procedures/routines, etc.

Float nurses are assigned wherever staffing is short, and as such need to be able to step right in, assume responsibility for the assignment and function pretty independently. A brand-new nurse does not function independently.

Please don't take this to mean that you personally can't handle it ... I just don't think it's a good idea for any new grad nurse.

Good luck in finding a position! :balloons:

[AmyD_RN]

AmyD, this is just my two cents, but you did ask for input ...

I would not do float pool for your first job as a nurse. When you start working, you will quickly learn how much you don't know as a brand new nurse. I firmly believe you need some time in one position in one department with a structured orientation period in order to get a handle on your skills, prioritization, and develop those instincts that allow an experienced nurse to sense trouble before it happens, without the added stress of juggling different physical environments, different phone systems, different staff, different procedures/routines, etc.

Float nurses are assigned wherever staffing is short, and as such need to be able to step right in, assume responsibility for the assignment and function pretty independently. A brand-new nurse does not function independently.

Please don't take this to mean that you personally can't handle it ... I just don't think it's a good idea for any new grad nurse.

Good luck in finding a position! :balloons:

Oh no I didn't take it like that at all. That is the great thing about allnurses you can learn from others who have been there first. I will keep all this in mind I still think I would be shorting myself by not at least going to the interview. She said I would be trained with a preceptor for at least 6 mos. so I probably will go to hear her out if the other gal offered the job doesnt' call or show up.

Thanks again for the advice!

AmyD RN

[mtngrl, ASN, RN]

I agree that float pool is not a good choice for a new nurse, even if they say they will train you. What hospitals say and what they do can sometimes be completely different. Either way, I would want to start on one floor for a year or so. You don't want to get in over your head.

[smilin_gp]

I am in my first month of nursing, and I am so clueless half of the time on my floor that at this point I can't imagine floating. In the hospital where I work, all nurses are required to float-there is no formal float pool- but they wait almost a year with new nurses because of the learning curve. Good luck!

[AmyD_RN]

I am in my first month of nursing, and I am so clueless half of the time on my floor that at this point I can't imagine floating. In the hospital where I work, all nurses are required to float-there is no formal float pool- but they wait almost a year with new nurses because of the learning curve. Good luck!

Off topic, but I really love your signature in your posts.......I love Christopher on SNL!!!!!

[steelydanfan]

Don't do it, please!

Float pool training goes right out the window when they "need you there, right now". "It's only for this and that" means we are going to send you wherever there is a crisis and handle it because you are an RN.

Unless you work in a union hospital and have a clearly defined contract as to scope of work you will be in a very risky situation.

Find a place where you can work on your skills as a new nurse and feel comfortable instead of being constantly challenged to meet a standard you

canot possibly obtain.

Cate