Floating to other units while traveling

rocklandhappygreen · Dec 25, 2006

If you are not happy with your accepted assignment donot sign it and tell your recruiter that you want to change your assignment and ask the recruiter to look some more. There are a lot of assignment to choose from. Donot jump fast and you might regret. That's a 13 week to be miserable with. If you are experienced these agencies will be vying for you. Why? Because you're going to make money for them. Satisfy yourself first. Be happy. Read the fine prints in the contract.

NurseguyFL · Dec 31, 2006

Some people will say that a verbal agreement is still an agreemtn and should be honored. I disagree. I feel that as long as you didn't sign anything you can always change your mind and back out of it, as long as you give notice well in advance of the start date. If you do not like ortho then don't go. Doesn't matter what the agency recruiter says. If they can't find you the position you want then tell them 'thanks' and call another agency. If the hospital went through the trouble to put that specific language into your contract then chances are you will get floated to ortho a lot. Why would you want to put yourself into a situation you know you won't like?

Nursonegreat · Dec 31, 2006

This is my first travel assignments and i do not want it to be my last. I have not signed anything but have agreed to go for 13 weeks. the manager from this hospital phones me and during the interview, she asked me if I would be ok with floating to orthopedics. I hesitated and then said...yes, occasionally. The minute I said it, I regretted it. But this is my first job, and I do not know what to expect. Well, the paperwork showed up in the mail and on the contract, it stated...will float to orthopedics as needed per hospital policy. I absolutely hate orthopedics and am going into traveling specifically to get away from that. How can I handle this? I am dreading this first assignment because I know that I will be stuck on orthopedics and that is exactly what I do not want. Any advice? By saying yes to the hospital, have I committed? Im I being too picky?

u r going into traveling to avoid floating? is that it? cause everywhere i went as a traveler, we were the 1st to float. so it was that we took turns among the travelers....if u r the only traveler on the floor, it will ALWAYS be your turn 1st. it is what i hate about traveling the most. i would be surprised if they let u write "no floating" into the contract...if i was a traveler on that floor and another traveler came on with a no loating clause i may have to go ape **** on someone. but thats because i hate floating. GL and one thing to keep in mind on a positive note...u can do anything for 3 mos (13 weeks). it will be over before u know it

Bluehair · Dec 31, 2006

This is my first travel assignments and i do not want it to be my last. I have not signed anything but have agreed to go for 13 weeks. the manager from this hospital phones me and during the interview, she asked me if I would be ok with floating to orthopedics. I hesitated and then said...yes, occasionally. The minute I said it, I regretted it. But this is my first job, and I do not know what to expect. Well, the paperwork showed up in the mail and on the contract, it stated...will float to orthopedics as needed per hospital policy. I absolutely hate orthopedics and am going into traveling specifically to get away from that. How can I handle this? I am dreading this first assignment because I know that I will be stuck on orthopedics and that is exactly what I do not want. Any advice? By saying yes to the hospital, have I committed? Im I being too picky?

I have to agree that travelers are generally the first ones to float. It comes with the territory. If someone told me I had to float and the traveler got to stay on my unit, I would start looking for another job. Generally travelers are well received at my hospital, staff gets along with them well. But when it comes to floating, they are definately the first ones to go. You may want to reconsider the whole traveling thing if you don't want to float at all. Generally our director will call and do a phone interview of any travelers that are looking at coming for an assignment so they can ask questions, know what sort of unit/assignments, etc. they will be coming to and make sure that is what they want. It helps make both sides of this arrangement more prepared, and overall seems to have helped 'attrition' (if that is the right word...) of travelers. Floating is brought up as an expectation.

BUT!!! NO ONE can force you to take an assignment to perform tasks you are not able to show competency to perform. That seems to be the magic phrase, 'I am not competent in O.B.' or whatever. Do not take assignments on things you are not able to perform until you have training or you could be putting yourself/license at risk! In our hospital, it doesn't mean you won't have to float to that area but your assignment will be in things you CAN do. Example: float to OB you can answer call lights, help pass meds/trays, general assessment, IV"s, do general patient care sort of things. But the OB nurse does the fundus checks, checks to see if the amount of drainage on the pad is normal, etc. It helps them out a lot and does not put the nurse or patient at risk.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

Nursonegreat · Dec 31, 2006

yes, what the above poster said...i had to float to a tele unit, and i had no tele exp at the time....so one of the floor nurses had to do whatever they do with the strips for me...we generally only floated to units they could use us in a capacity...no ER, OB, PACU or ICU, etc... if we were form med/surg.

moonrose2u · Jan 1, 2007

Having been a nurse house supervisor, in different hospitals, the rule was that we always floated the travelers first. always. no matter what the traveler thought she agreed to, she/he went first...much to their constellation at times!:wink2:

Shiggles! · Jan 3, 2007

I am currently traveling at a hospital in Florida. In the interview they had asked me, there will be some floating to other units. They certainly didn't clarify how much. I know it depends on the hospitals needs and travelers do float first. Worked nights (12 hrs) they floated me at 2300, to another hospital. I was floating every shift in between shifts. If the interviewer was a little bit more honest with how often you floated I would have known what to expect. I ended up switching to days in which I float maybe once in 2 weeks. I learn a little bit more with every travel assignment. I always make sure I ask my recruiter tons of questions, and never verbalize or sign anything until I am ready, no matter how much they hound me. There is always another travel assignment around the corner.

bagladyrn, RN · Jan 4, 2007

Floating can be clarified in the interview. I am always very specific in the interview as to my background, what areas I can float to "as an extra set of hands" but not to take a patient assignment as well as the fact that I will float only IN ROTATION with the regular staff. I will not always be the first to float. By being clear on this in the interview, if this doesn't work for their facility, then they simply don't offer me the position. I've only had a couple of times in 10 years of traveling that the facility tried to change that after I got there and since my recruiters are quite aware of my spiel to the interviewer, that didn't fly.

Moonrose - that type of supervisor attitude was responsible for the only contract I have given notice on in 10 yrs. of traveling - with the full support of my company in doing so.

lorster · Jan 4, 2007

Ok, so my next question. Can they just cancel my shift if they don't need me? Should I have that written into the contract. I have read numerous posts from travelers that get sent home shift after shift. This language does not appear in this contract. Is the traveler the first one on low census or call on any given shift?

Nursonegreat · Jan 5, 2007

i was under the understanding that travelers were guanteed their minimum hrs. i always was

suzanne4, RN · Jan 5, 2007

If it is not in the contract that the shifts are guaranteed, then they may not be. If it is not written, then it does not exist. Never assume, first law of travel nursing.

And remember, your recruiter can promise you the world, but if it is not written, it does not exist.

A travel nurse will normally get cancelled before the permanent staff of a facility. This is another reason to be flexible with the units that you can work. However, getting floated to telemetry without any experience for that unit, or even getting floated to the ICU is crazy. If you are unable to read and document the monitor strips, all you are doing is delegating that to someone else, but you are the one that would be legally responsible for that patient and if the other nurse read it wrong, then you are the one that will be cited, since you are the one that is listed on the roster as the person caring for that patient, not the person that read your strips. If you do not have training in a specialty area, do not float there.

And it is up to the contract that the facility has with your agency. Remember that your contract is with the agency, not the facility. You are an employee of the agency, not the facility.