Float RN...are you crazy???

[rehabhereIcome]

OK...so I am about to start a new position which I am quite excited about. IT is a full time float in a rehab hospital. I will be expected to go between 2 floors(4 units)...all similar but at the same time different. When I tell my fellow current nurses, at a different place of employment, about the new position they all seem to say "are you crazy" "they will eat you alive"..."they will give you all the awful/difficult patients":uhoh3:...I am not expecting that or was not thinking about that...so is this the way it is with float staff!?? your thoughts....and I would love to hear back from other float nurses.

thanx

[floatRN]

It depends on the floor and who is in charge. I was a float nurse for a few years and liked it. Most of the time, they were so happy to have an extra nurse that they treated me well. I also learned alot and was able to avoid alot of the drama and politics that often goes on. Just make sure you get an adequate orientation for each unit and ask for help if you come across something you are unfamiliar with.

[rehabhereIcome]

HA...like your name...I guess you were the "one" I wanted to talk to!! :)

What you said was what I expected...hmmm...guess will see if they eat me alive...if I don't post for awhile I guess they did!!!

thanx

[floatRN]

You're welcome. Good luck with the new job.

[RN1989]

I've preferred my float and agency positions to most of my regular staff positions. Keeps you out of some of the drama and you don't have to get bored seeing the same patients for days on end.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I had a great experience floating. I think it depends on the culture of the place you are working.

When I was a float nurse, I had worked full-time previously and knew most of the charge nurses before I went to float pool. I was not a stranger to dump on; they knew me.

I was given the best assignments and had help from the charge nurse when needed.

Keep an open mind and look for the best in new situations.

[ArwenEvenstar]

I was a float at two different hospitals - a small town 100 bed hospital, and later at a giant 800 plus bed teaching hospital. There are pros and cons to floating.

Pros: You can avoid "politics" and other "issues" on individual units. It is great to just float in and out, and not have to get tangled up in things. Overall, I loved being a float at both hospitals! I loved the independence I had...

Cons: Some units mistreat floats. (However, other units treat floats very fairly and well. So, it is variable.) But let me tell you, you can get crap assignments sometimes. The regular nurses want a break from the hard/challenging patients so they give the float ALL the hard/challenging patients! I could tell you some stories...where I was assigned every restrained patient on the unit, or every confused/demented patient on the unit, or....

As a float, you do need to be an assertive type of person. You need to know what you know, and know what you don't know...Especially when floating among diverse units, like I did at the huge teaching hospital.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i've never been a float nurse, but i've been a charge nurse. some of our float nurses (the full time ones, anyway) were around so much they were just part of our staff! they could fly above the politics and below the radar, but in terms of assignments they were just like the rest of us -- took their turns with the chronics and got their turns with the interesting new patients. here, the float pool is mostly made up of per diem nurses and we don't see them very often so we usually give them something easy.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

I worked float, and it was one of my favorite positions.

As others have said, sometimes float nurses do get tougher assignments. because you may be taking the patient that the regular staff needs a break from. Occasionally I'd float to a floor that was no fun at al to work- they'd give the float nurse a bad assignment, acted as if I were an idiot because I didn't know what their routine was or where all their supplies were kept (everything wasn't identical on every floor, surprise!!).

If you had a bad shift, usually you knew you were unlikely to be back on that floor the next shift.

Many times, most times, though, you got a decent assignment and staff that was grateful to have the help. You get to avoid the politics and you get a lot of variety.

[queenjean]

I have had to float before, and only once did I feel mistreated because they could dump on the float nurse. I was going to suck it up and take it, but then the supervisor came by, saw what was going on, and made some immediate changes.

Our hospital used to have a float pool. You got paid a couple of dollars an hour more to be a part of it. Unfortunately it was eventually disbanded, I'm not sure why. I would totally be a float nurse if they had the float pool again. I like the variety.