Float positions?

[pbajil]

Hello,

A friend of mine told me about a float position available at her hospital that pays well. It would involve floating between critical care, tele, and med/surg. Who has done this, and do you like it/hate it? I am considering doing it for the $ but am wondering if I would regret it!

[RNperdiem, RN]

I worked per diem float pool at my hospital. I floated between ICU and stepdown units. I worked once or twice on the floor at my request when no ICU was available. I worked a lot as a transport nurse. I worked part time 4 to 12 hours a week.

I enjoyed it. I generally liked to float before I went per diem. I knew many of the nurses in the units, and they knew me from my full-time days, so I was always well treated. I had floated in all the units before I went to the float pool so I already knew where things were and how the units differed. There is a lot of learning and variety in floating.

The main drawback is not having a "home". I didn't really belong anywhere. I didn't have a mailbox or a locker or a group of regular peers.

[Zookeeper3]

I LOVED IT!!!! Sure you have no "home", but you show up, do your 12 hrs and go. No staff meetings, no politics.. sick of your patient? Most likely won't be there the next day.

You become a jack of all trades, get to see so much, never tire of one are or a small core group of bad apples. The variety for me became the job plus instead of the uncertainty of where I'd be. Yep, there are units I preferred over the others... same as assignments and staff with staying in the same place. I did all ICU, ER and one step down that had basically all trached vents and long term multi system. LOVED the ER, but couldn't do it for 3 12's a week, I'd burn out.

For me, it was a great job. It just takes a bit to get used to being out of your element, then you become flexable in almost any situation. It's not for everyone... but it really has its benefits.

[nyapa, RN]

going to be doing this for a few days. I did it years ago and used to get really stressed out, but over the years getting used to the different fields helps. See how I go though.

[RN1989]

I would hope that you have a very good background in critical care. I have seen too many nurses with just some tele experience that attempted positions like this. Things did not turn out well for them due to their inexperience with gtts, vents, chest tubes, CVPs, etc.

I often see problems with ICU nurses that go to tele or medsurg because they are accustomed to such a low patient load. They get a lot more face time with their patient in the unit and freak out when they only get to see a patient once in a couple of hours when they are out on the floor. Some also have difficulty prioritizing care for 6-8 patients as opposed to 1-3 patients. ICU nurses also usually have help when they need it. Not so on the floor when you wait 10 minutes for help to come and no one shows up. And when you go out in the hall there is no one there.

Unless you are already accustomed to floating and getting new patients every day, I would not recommend that you do this. Not everyone can walk into a unit and take a load of patients with little to no information about them and have a good day without feeling overwhelmed. Many nurses don't feel comfortable with their patient load until they have at least one shift with the patient and going between levels of care can make it more difficult.

Make sure that you know all the ins and outs of the job before you do it. Take it from experience - money isn't everything.