Floating

[babiesRmylife]

I was wondering how other units do floating. What's your policy? Does your NICU float between NICU & special care/mother baby/etc? Do you do a certain amount of time in each unit or do you just float PRN?

Our unit has come up with this "wonderful" idea :angryfire that our NICU staff should have to float 2 weeks in our NSCU unit & then back 2 weeks in our regular NICU unit. Keep in mind that NSCU staff doesn't have to float at all. I have heard from other friends that work in other states that NICU & NSCU (special care) that those units are created as completely separate & that NICU works in just ICU & NSCU works in just that unit.

Just wondering how other units do it.

Thanks!

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

We just have one big unit. A vented kid could be next to a feeder/grower being discharged. Everybody is competent to take care of everyone. If we float, it's only to the newborn nursery on a per diem basis.

[Sweeper933]

Our NICU is also intensive care kids and "feeder growers". When we float, we only float up to the newborn nursery, and do all of their baby admissions - and to the peds floor where we only take care of babies

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

We get floated to PICU and I *think* the general pedi floor. The NSCU people get floated to our level III but take our stable patients here. I don't think the NICU floats to NSCU (DARN!). At my last facility, NICU floated to newborn only (not couplet care).

[babyNP., APRN]

Our unit will float to PICU and CICU and our babies are all lumped in the same unit.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I work at a Children's hospital. We are a level III but we have babies who are feeder/growers all the way up to surgery and kids on Nitric. We float to every other unit in the hospital. I hate floating to Hemonc, it is terribly sad.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

We can float only to a few units in our "care cluster" such as PICU, NBN, general peds, etc. Full timers RARELY if ever get floated, since we are always at/above census, and per diems float first.

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

I've only had to float once (to couplet care, where we just take the babies) in my 3+ years at my current hospital. Our unit is so busy we rarely ever have any extra nurses. Works for me because I hate floating!

[babiesRmylife]

Our unit is completely backwards I guess. Fulltimers are the 1st to get floated.

PRN people they are no longer making float & just keeping them in NICU, which by the way I think is completely dumb considering the whole reason for this change is so our parents can have consistent care by staff. I would think that NICU kids would need just as much if not more consistent care than NSCU (special care) considering they are critical care you would want the staff to know their history.

Our level III NICU staff are the 1st to be floated to Special Care/mother baby unit even when NICU is swimming with kids. While NSCU staff rarely gets floated down to NICU.

Oh boy what a mess!

[littlepeach]

When our census is down, Our people can be pulled anywhere a warm body is needed. Highly unsafe. We have all complained about this and it falls on deaf ears. Especially the nurses that have never worked in med/surg before. They still have to take a team of patients. But i have never seen a nurse get pulled to our unit before.