Floating to other units...

[owensmommy]

Just wondering what your policy is for floating to other units. Especially for new hires...is there a minimum time frame they have to be out of orientation before they can be pulled to other floors? Ours is 30 days for an experienced nurse, and 90 days for a new grad. Do you get any kind of extra pay when you get pulled? We don't but sometimes I feel like we should just because our float pool nurses make almost double what the floor nurses do. My floor is so over staffed right now on day shift that I get pulled about every 2 weeks. And part of the reason is because our newer staff are exempt from floating. When I was a new grad, I was pulled to other units left and right!

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

We don't have designated float nurses. Charge Nurses compare staff to patient ratios at bed meeting and offer-up staff if it's available. Except our ICU, which has a habit of calling people at home to warn them they'll be floated if they come in, so they can call in. (Whoops, off topic, LOL.) I have not been floated since I was a new grad, and usually I was the one that would be floated because I wouldn't make a big stink about it and throw a fit (and the charge nurses told me so). I think that's ridiculous, to float the least experienced person, just because others don't think they should have to float. Now that I have a little more experience, I've not even been asked to float.

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That's not fair, if you get floated, everyone should have their just turn. At my hospital, we keep track of when everyone was last pulled, that way we'll know whose "turn" it is to go next. Nurses with greater than 20 years of service can't get pulled

[Sarah Bellum]

Employees who have been there 15 years are exempt from floating. Otherwise you can get pulled as soon as your orientation is over.

I've heard of people calling in sick if they see we are overstaffed to avoid floating. Problem is if another unit is really short they may pull from our unit anyway and that leaves us short.

I try to think of floating as a new adventure but really some days it's just a PITA.