Who Here "Floats" to Other Units

[Ted]

Hello -

I'm almost sure that this topic has been started sometime, somewhere on this bulletin board. But I'm no stranger to repetition and so I guess I'm presenting this topic again.

But this topic was inspired by a very brief discussion, on another thread, on floating.

I work for a very small, community "Critical Care Access" hospital. My main unit is ICU/CCU. However, I also float to Med/Surg, ER, Maternity (mainly to feed the babies and change their diapers), do PACU, and do "Ambulance Runs" for patients needing more extensive cardiac-respiratory monitoring and/or IV med titration (my favorite "float" of all because of the Dunkin Donut run after the transfer). In the past, I have done ALL of the units during one 12-hour shift! Not often, but I've done it.

So. . . Who here also floats? Where do you float to? What's your favorite place to float to? What's your "dreaded unit" to float to?

Here's to all of the floaters! Cheers! :cheers:

:)

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

We cannot refuse to float. We are supposed to be properly oriented to a unit before we are floated there. Their idea of orientation is to point out where things are. Most of the nurses on my FBC unit have never done anything but labor, NICU or postpartum, so you can imagine. How unsafe we feel. As the union goonette, I advise the nurses to file an unsafe staffing report if they in any way feel like they are unable to do safe care. Administration seems to think that a warm body whose name tag includes RN on it is plenty good.

[MomRN0913]

That actually sounds like some great experience and opportunity. I floated as a new grad and really didn't like it except to float to the nursery and feed babies and change diapers.

I landed a job in the ICU and there is a rotation depending on staffing needs, but the ICU only floats to Telemetry and ER holding.

It was my turn to float shortly after getting off orientation in the ICU. Word had gotten around I floated a few times to mother/baby and at 11pm they needed a nurse to go feed babies. They asked me even though we weren't supposed to float there, being in ICU. I jumped on on it and happily endorsed my very confused patient who was driving me nuts!

I would say to make sure on a resume to include all the areas you float to.

[Ted]

We cannot refuse to float. We are supposed to be properly oriented to a unit before we are floated there. Their idea of orientation is to point out where things are. Most of the nurses on my FBC unit have never done anything but labor, NICU or postpartum, so you can imagine. How unsafe we feel. As the union goonette, I advise the nurses to file an unsafe staffing report if they in any way feel like they are unable to do safe care. Administration seems to think that a warm body whose name tag includes RN on it is plenty good.

It's not cool when inadequate orientation is given (or not given at all), especially for a hospital where floating is an expectation. Not cool. I hope that those unsafe staffing reports are taken seriously by someone (if only to at least beef up the orientation process).

I will say that I was at least adequately oriented to all of the units. Our facility is unique in that the total potential census to our hospital is less than many unit's bed count. (When ALL the units are full including the ER, it's roughly 32 beds.) We've all seemed to grown accustomed to "floating" and most feel relatively comfortable with the idea. Generally, we don't let the nurses doing the floating flounder. It's just too small of a hospital and we all know each other and each other's capabilities quite well.

I shudder to think about being "obligated" to float in a bigger hospital. Yikes!

[MomRN0913]

The whole hospital is 32 beds???

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

Only one person in my unit floats without complaint and that is because she has lots of experience and doesn't feel like fish outta water. NO WAY would any of us include where we have floated to on a resume! Not in a million years.

[Ted]

MomRN0913 - Yep! About 32 or 33 beds for the entire hospital. It's small! LOL! :)

tntrn - Sounds scary! How helpful is the union in supporting your concerns??

[Aurora77]

I work for a 100 bed hospital; we have to float all over. I normally work post surgical, but I've gone to the medical unit, step down, CCU, Peds, and OB (postpartum only). I enjoy the variety. I feel like I've gotten to learn things my counterparts in bigger facilities don't.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

MomRN0913 - Yep! About 32 or 33 beds for the entire hospital. It's small! LOL! :)tntrn - Sounds scary! How helpful is the union in supporting your concerns??

We work closely with the union, hence the unsafe staffing reports, which are the only proof a nurse has that she or he was assigned a load unsafe for whatever reason....too many patients, long list of meds we have never heard of, diagnoses and conditions we have never even seen...etc., etc.

[Ted]

We work closely with the union, hence the unsafe staffing reports, which are the only proof a nurse has that she or he was assigned a load unsafe for whatever reason....too many patients, long list of meds we have never heard of, diagnoses and conditions we have never even seen...etc., etc.

Sooo not cool, tntrn, and freakin' scary. . . .

Don't those unsafe staffing reports help in any way??

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

we have to if needed, yes. I recently floated to Pedi, but they had overflow gyn surgicals, so I took those.

but typically if units need floats, they take them from places other than Maternity/L&D first!

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

Good question. The suits and high heel types have to spend time on them so that is good. It is establishing a paper trail that we can take to negotiations and to the legal department. It will take time. There is another thread going on about being a patient in your own hospital. If I could be on my unit, yes. If anywhere else, no because the staffing is awful and people like me are given assignments I really can't do safely.