Float pool in Missouri hospitals

[IHopeIGetIt]

Different hospitals do different things. I was wondering if anyone who works in their hospital's float pool or knows someone who does can chime in on this one.

How does your float pool work?

What is starting pay?

Can you work as many hours as you want?

What are the mininum hours necessary?

Are your hours guaranteed or can you be called off?

If you commit to fulltime hours, do you get benefits?

Do you float daily or are you assigned to a unit for a period of time?

Do you float in the middle of your assignment and how many times per shift can this happen?

Do you float to one or more hospitals within your system?

What qualities and personalities work best in the float pool?

What is orientation/training like in the beginning?

Is experience required for hire?

Please write down what hospital you work at and if you are med surg and/or critical care, or ltac.

Thank you in advance.

[Gooseontheloose, ADN]

On 10/29/2019 at 4:47 AM, IHopeIGetIt said:

Different hospitals do different things. I was wondering if anyone who works in their hospital's float pool or knows someone who does can chime in on this one.

How does your float pool work?

What is starting pay?

Can you work as many hours as you want?

What are the mininum hours necessary?

Are your hours guaranteed or can you be called off?

If you commit to fulltime hours, do you get benefits?

Do you float daily or are you assigned to a unit for a period of time?

Do you float in the middle of your assignment and how many times per shift can this happen?

Do you float to one or more hospitals within your system?

What qualities and personalities work best in the float pool?

What is orientation/training like in the beginning?

Is experience required for hire?

Please write down what hospital you work at and if you are med surg and/or critical care, or ltac.

Thank you in advance.

Hi There. I don't live in Missouri (but my family does ? ) However, I was hoping to help answer your questions. I hope by now you found a job and have answered those questions yourself. But for anyone else curious, I'll be as helpful as I can. I have only ever been a float pool nurse and have worked at 2 hospitals.

1) At my current hospital, we float to 10 different units. We check in with the staffing office before our shift starts to find out where we will be working.

2)Our starting pay is no different than any other staff nurse. We have a step/pay grade system where you start at one rate and move up in step increments over time. My starting rate was really high, but that's because I live in California, where many nurses make over $50/hr starting due to the high cost of living. Where I work, we don't have a float differential like some hospitals do.

3)We can only work as many hours as our FTE allows, so if you are a 0.9, you have to work that. But if OT is available, we are welcome to take it as long as the manager approves.

4)Regular (non per-diem) employees have benefits and retirement. Per diem employees do not.

5)We can and do occasionally get cancelled, but we can opt to use our paid leave to offset the loss of shift if we want to.

6)For the last year, I do not float daily because the float pool has been staffing our overflow tele unit. That unit recently opened as a permanent unit so I am still staffing that unit temporarily and will return to daily floating. Most of the time we float each shift.

7)I have floated in the middle of an assignment, but I always know this will happen before my shift starts. For example: My assignment may say I will spend the first 4 hours of my shift on X unit and the last 4 hours in ER. This is rare, but it does happen from time to time.

8)My hospital is its own company, so we don't have a system, but I do hear of many other big systems doing that with their float nurses. It depends on who you work for. I wouldn't recommend doing that if you are a newer RN.

9)Qualities: You must be a good team player and you must be quick to adapt to change. You will work with many different patient populations and different teams in your hospital and you need to be able learn quickly with a good attitude. If you are super shy, float pool will be challenging at first. You will be required to float to unfamiliar places and will need to assert yourself to find supplies and get help. Float pool is hard and challenging. If you have an easy going personality, you will be a good fit.

10) Orientation: The orientation for float pool was longer than other units because you have to learn multiple units and be semi competent at each one before being released from orientation. Expect to have more time and need more time.

11) Experience: I was hired at my previous hospital with ZERO experience and I have to say that I don't recommend it. It's totally doable if you are willing to keep up and can adapt to having a lot of learning thrown at you all at once. It's not a great choice for a new grad in my opinion, but I did it and so can anyone who is willing. Float pool requires a very broad set of skills. You will be the jack of all trades, master of none. If you can be ok with that, then it's all good. If you have some nursing experience already, even better. Many new grads struggle on any floor or unit their first few months. It's a challenging and exciting time. But having to learn multiple floors can be daunting for some.

12) My hospital won't be relevant for you in Missouri, but to answer your question, I primarily do tele/med-surg. We are currently working on adding a critical care float pool as well, but it's a long way off.

Good luck and I hope I was able to help! ?