Taking a Position as a Float Nurse as a New Grad

cmj806 · Jul 10, 2016

I am looking forward to replies, I am interested as well.

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Jul 10, 2016

It sounds like a nightmare, to me ....but I don't like floating- ever. I would rather eat a bug ...not a real one, but maybe one made of candy.

NOADLS · Jul 10, 2016

Floating isn't desirable. It is the "I need a job, so I'll take anything" position. It is a nice way to build your hours up and transition into something else at the same facility. A perk of that is having seen a bunch of different positions through having floated which makes decision making for the next position easier.

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2016

It depends on the facility. I think some places have new grad float programs that are designed to give you the support you'll need as a new nurse while still letting you taste different areas of the hospital. But I would say absolutely not to a new grad just going into a standard float pool. You need a degree of consistency as a new grad in order to develop your skills and knowledge base, and that "home" is also where you'll draw your mentors from, the experienced nurses that you can ask any questions of and want to emulate.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Jul 10, 2016

Floating isn't desirable. It is the "I need a job, so I'll take anything" position. It is a nice way to build your hours up and transition into something else at the same facility. A perk of that is having seen a bunch of different positions through having floated which makes decision making for the next position easier.

Not in all cases. Floating isn't desirable to the full time or part time employees since they prefer to stay on one unit. Perhaps you are thinking of PRN positions as they are open to specific floors if that is all that is available to a nurse wanting to work only on that floor.

Most of us (at my hospital) became float nurses because we didn't need the hospital's benefits; so we opted for the well-increased hourly pay rates and flexibility of controlling our own schedules. The floors would love to have us to become permanent members of a particular unit or floor, (and even offer contracts to float solely to their unit. Most of us reject those because of the temporary full time scheduling for the next few weeks). We are there because they are short-staffed...not enough nurses applied for or accepted those full time or part time positions.

To the OP, this and many hospitals float every one of its nurses when they need to. But only nurses with at least two years of current hospital experience are allowed to be a part of its float team. New grads are still learning to accept the major hiccups in nursing, and are not even allowed to apply to the float pool in the facilities that I've worked. Hospitals are not willing to risk the possibility of simple or major errors resulting in patient safety issues by constantly placing the new nurse in new environments within an overall new environment.

If you find a facility that will hire new grads to its float pool, I'd think twice about the overall working conditions at the facility if I were you. Floating means that you are experienced enough and can be expected to hit the floor running with very little or no assistance in the area that you are floated to. No one is trained to be a float nurse. It is a pool created and designed for the experienced nurse.

Be very careful when looking for positions in which you have limited-to-no experience because it is your license on the line.

HeySis, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2016

My facility has a float pool that they hire new nurses too... you can even be a full time float, but this is how it works. New grads go through a six week residency program with a preceptor and then continue to meet weekly for another six weeks for didactic class. Those in the float pool only float to surgical or medical to begin with and those to units are set up physically the same (so everything is in the same place). So it's like working a smaller hospital with a combined med-surf unit. Six months after your orientation is complete (not 6 months after starting) you can orient to transitional care (with is like a LTC with rehab) and behavioral health. Again you receive and orientation to these units before being thrown in. After a year in float pool you can orient to ICU. We don't have a step down unit so floaters to ICU are assigned the "step-down" patients.

As long as the training and support are there, float pool can be an ok area.... for many new grads in our area that don't already work there as a CNA or LPN, it's the only way to get your foot in the door at the hospital.

Take time to ask as many questions as possible. If you've already had your interview, don't be shy to call back and say I have further questions when can we set up a time by phone or in person to talk. I've never had a prospective employer be unhappy with me asking a lot of questions.

Good Luck!!

roser13, ASN, RN · Jul 10, 2016

I would never have survived my first year if I had spent it as a float. Nursing school is just the beginning of your nursing education. To have that first critical year spent floating from one unit to another seems counter-productive to me. To never have the continuity and support of one unit/ one set of co-workers as you learn to prioritize, delegate, communicate with MD's et al, just seems like a death wish to me.

I have worked with nurses who thrive on every day & every shift being a different experience from the one before. They seem to function best under stress. If you're one of those folks, perhaps float pool will be for you. Just not the first year.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 10, 2016

Agree that float pool is not a place for new grads. How can one hone nursing skills and judgement without consistency?

AutumnApple · Jul 10, 2016

From someone who doesn't mind floating and often did so because other nurses on the unit dreaded it so much: It's doable, and has some advantages actually, but the disadvantages are the type that lead to being unsafe, not just uncomfortable.

My problem with a new grad nurse doing it would be you have less of a chance of being well trained. Being oriented, trained by a preceptor and learning from senior staff isn't something that ends after you are on your own for the first time. Wise new grads allow themselves to be taken under the wings of their more experienced co-workers and continue to grow. It's just done from a standpoint of learning while being independent as well.

You will not have this core of support around you. In fact, it is very likely that once you are off orientation and on your own, you will be 'thrown into the fire' more so than your peers who are stationary on one unit. None of the people at the units you'll be going to 'know' you. You'll just be another float nurse. And you'll be expected to perform like a well seasoned veteran...........literally........starting the day orientation is over.

Finding whose wing you want to go under takes time and getting to know people. You won't have either. Then you also put the fact that float pool pays more (usually) into the pot and..........yep........even higher expectations that you be independent.

I'll end with this: I know of veteran nurses (ten years or more) who say it is unsafe for them to go into the float pool if it's their first job at that particular hospital. Wonder what they'd say about going there on your first job ever, anywhere?

Wrench Party · Jul 10, 2016

I've seen it done occasionally with new grads in our nurse residency program, mainly to gen med, neuro, and occasionally some telemetry. Those new grads are oriented identically as the others, except they get rotated around to 2 or 3 units on their orientation. They only float to those units for the first year, then they get to join the regular float pool. So it's not a 'traditional' float pool position per se.

JaxJax5423 · Jul 10, 2016

I am 6 yr nurse and would have a challenging time in float pool. in my opinion, it's for the most experienced staff. You have to learn the ins and outs of all the units. as a new grad, it's hard enough to learn one unit. that's just my opinion