How do you Handle Floating?

Published

I know in our local hospital floating is done a lot, and the administration has no problem with it. I know of one particular new RN who was so stressed she left the nursing field. I could see she was overwhelmed. That happened when I was in training.

Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

Our union also negotiated float rules but we still float to any critical care area from the cardiovascular surgical unit. As a rule we all hate it. If anyone knows of a hospital out there that doesn't float please post- I'm likely to apply! The worst part is even after working for the same hospital for 20+ years you never know what the rules are in a different unit- do you call first call or senior resident, when do you draw daily labs, where do you find ANYTHING. I spend more time on scavenger hunts than I do doing patient care.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

I work L&D, and we only float to other areas in the maternal child health dept. (includes L&D, antepartum, mother/baby, NICU, and peds). Our RNs have 6 months from date of hire (new grads have 1 year) to choose one float area. Also, no one from anywhere else in the hospital floats to our areas.

We keep a record of floats and on calls to make sure not one person is getting called off or floating all the time. This also makes it nice because we kind of know when our turn is coming around to float and can go into work with that frame of mind.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Ah, I see what you're saying. No, I agree with you that those were hardly reasonable situations to expect someone to be happy with. That's not what I was talking about; I meant learning because the regular staff could tell you things, show you stuff PRN during the shift while in the care of your own patients. If half the nurses are floats, well, clearly there's a problem! And in no case should someone without a clue be taking care of peds....that assignment was foolish.

I've floated to the ED to be an extra set of hands; that is, an RN license available to help but with the understanding that I was not familiar with the unit. I could hang fluids, start IVs (lots), give meds, start intake forms. I did learn alot, and helped alot, without being in a position to hurt anyone. Same with floating to other units: taking an assignment to give a reasonable burden to the regular staff, but not taking someone that one of the regulars ought to have!

If it was like that I wouldn't mind either. Unfortunately I work NICU and that always seems to get lumped in with peds and picu. I've even floated to pediatric oncology floors. Never have I been seen as just an extra set of hands. I take an assignment just like the regulars.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

I only have to float to CVICU from ICU.

We have kind of a cool rule.........if a staff ICU nurse is required to float anywhere than the ICU or CVICU; we have a choice to go home or float. If we have nurses to float, then obviously we are overstaffed.

Travelers have to float; they have no choice. PRN or staff nurses can go home instead. Personally, I would rather go home than go to med/surg and have up to 8 patients :trout:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
It is a huge issue for nurses in hospitals, so much so, that the Union in the hospital where I work negotiated floating 'rules' to make it less stressful. We have a sister unit or often a few units that are closely related in pt population and scope of practice that we are expected to float to when it is our turn. Those units are usually close in physical proximity as well, so through floating and just meeting on the floor, we tend to know each other. You are not expected to float outside of your primary work area and your secondary area(s) unless you agree to it.

Nurses who have reached their 10 yr anniversary never have to float unless they agree to it. For instance, as an ICU nurse, I only float to ICU's... it has really helped in the stress and unhappiness around floating in my institution. Another reason that I think every hospital needs a Union for their nurses.

I agree with you completely. The old administrator didn't care where the nurse was floated. Sometimes the nurse would be floated to lets say L&D for half a shift, and the other half would be floated to Med-Surg. Those poor nurses were constantly stressed out. In fact, I often wonder if that poor little new RN I spoke about earlier stayed in the nursing field. I hope so. She was such a nice young woman. That is unless it took its toll on her, then I truly hope she got into a field she felt more comfortable in. I know those loans have to be paid back, and the organizations that granted the loans aren't going to wait forever. They will garnishe their wages if they feel its necessary. My oldest daughter is currently paying back $450 every month, and she is just paying off the interest now; not the actual loan. I feel sorry for her.
Up Vote Up Vote ×
If it was like that I wouldn't mind either. Unfortunately I work NICU and that always seems to get lumped in with peds and picu. I've even floated to pediatric oncology floors. Never have I been seen as just an extra set of hands. I take an assignment just like the regulars.

This has been my experience with floating as well, and it is really a horrible situation to be in, since I do not have any experience (aside from floating) in other areas. With the exception of OR (the one place nobody floats to), I only do babies - I only know babies. I'm not comfortable with the other areas and there is often no one to help me out. This is just one of the many reasons why I will be so happy to leave the role of staff nurse behind when I get my MSN.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg.

at the hospital i work at, we are forced to float to two other hospitals we own in our city. i work 7p-7a shift we are called at 5:oo pm when it is our turn to go. when hired 8 yrs. ago this was never mentioned. they started this 1 year ago. there is one hospital that no one wants to go to. you feel unsafe from the moment you enter the hospital. it is staffed mostly of people that our hospital had put on the do not allow back list. i should explain that all 3 hospitals are hospitals within a hospital. meaning we each are situated in a different hospital, x number of beds on a single floor. we were told if we refuse we will be let go. the stress this creates is horrible, i don't pay for parking at my facility. you do at the other two, we use different doctors at my facility. it is very chaotic at the one hospital they can't get a handle on staffing and we are forced to be their prn staff. iam so angry when i am forced to go that it takes me at least 2 hours to calm down. not good!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
at the hospital i work at, we are forced to float to two other hospitals we own in our city. i work 7p-7a shift we are called at 5:oo pm when it is our turn to go. when hired 8 yrs. ago this was never mentioned. they started this 1 year ago. there is one hospital that no one wants to go to. you feel unsafe from the moment you enter the hospital. it is staffed mostly of people that our hospital had put on the do not allow back list. i should explain that all 3 hospitals are hospitals within a hospital. meaning we each are situated in a different hospital, x number of beds on a single floor. we were told if we refuse we will be let go. the stress this creates is horrible, i don't pay for parking at my facility. you do at the other two, we use different doctors at my facility. it is very chaotic at the one hospital they can't get a handle on staffing and we are forced to be their prn staff. iam so angry when i am forced to go that it takes me at least 2 hours to calm down. not good!
I take my hat off to anyone who enters the nursing field now; especially hospital nursing.

When I was a patient in a TCU for rehab back in 2001, we had a wonderful little LPN who worked anywhere without complaint. Then a month came around where she was named employee of the month. The employee who was distinguished with that honor was given a choice parking spot for a whole month, and a special dinner in his/her honor, along with a bonus check. When the day arrived for her to attend the dinner, she was mandated to work a double, and wasn't able to attend that dinner. I felt so bad for her.

Amy, :icon_hug:wherever you are now, I hope you have been blessed for the sacrifice you made that day. You deserve it. I shall never forget you.:balloons:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Our union also negotiated float rules but we still float to any critical care area from the cardiovascular surgical unit. As a rule we all hate it. If anyone knows of a hospital out there that doesn't float please post- I'm likely to apply! The worst part is even after working for the same hospital for 20+ years you never know what the rules are in a different unit- do you call first call or senior resident, when do you draw daily labs, where do you find ANYTHING. I spend more time on scavenger hunts than I do doing patient care.

I worked a hospital once where every time you were pulled, you received a letter of thanks from the VP of nursing and the director of the unit you were pulled to; included in that letter was a questionnaire where you rated your experience. It asked if the charge nurse had greeted you and introduced you to the staff, oriented you to the unit, provided a 'resource' person to help you out during the shift, shown you where supplies and equipment were located, informed you of unit routines, etc.

I was completely shocked. I've never seen anything like that before or since. I was also told by my manager that it was taken VERY seriously by nursing administration, and any deficiencies noted on the questionnaire were addressed.

Amazing, huh?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Floating is part of the job. I'm employed by my hospital, not just my unit, so if I'm needed elsewhere, I go!

For new nurses (new hires, not just new grads), there's a three-month period that starts after orientation in which you are not floated. That gives you time to get comfortable in your own skin on your own unit. After that, you are floated as needed. That doesn't mean you are thrown to the wind, LOL, if you are unfamiliar with the area in which you're going, you get a less unit-specific assignment. For instance, if you don't know what to do on vents, you're not going to be assigned one. You get admissions just like anyone else. However, it doesn't always work out for the best that way; sometimes the float assignment will create quite a bit of stress. Overall though, not a big deal.

The exception is areas of the hospital where you have to have X amount of experience before going there, such as ICU and OB. Not sure what their criteria are, LOL, since you can't get OB experience until you float there, right? They're hardly EVER short anyway; it's mostly ICU that's shortstaffed and pulling from everywhere else. And then, hey, beggars can't be choosers when it comes to asking for floats!

There's a float sheet on every unit, where it's a list of names in rotation and when your turn comes up, you go, period. Of the people on that shift at that time, when a float is needed, whoever was floated most recently stays and whoever floated "earlier" goes.

I don't mind floating; I like seeing different things and different patients. I've been to every unit in the hospital from ED to rehab (both physical unit and substance abuse). I don't know why some people get so freaked out about it, personally....why are they afraid to learn something new? How are they going to expand as a nurse?

I admire your enthusiasm for floating and your courage, particularly for someone so new. I can tell you that as a nurse with 22y of exp. in several areas, I think floating is a terrible idea, and it sets nurses up for frustration and potentially serious mistakes.

It's simply impossible to provide expert care in multiple unrelated disciplines, particularly for a new nurse. Nothing personal, but one year does not make you an expert at anything yet. Nurses are not interchageable parts like you get in a Lego box. Floating is a hospital's short-sighted solution to chronic understaffing/poor staffing.

Learning is one thing. Floating people one place or another is not providing a positive teaching environment. There are far better ways to expand as a nurse than buying the hospital party line that floating is "good for you." I don't mean to be unkind, but I really think this is a situation where "you don't know what you don't know." You have no leg to stand on if you float to unfamiliar turf and make a mistake as a result--and don't think your hospital won't be looking for the fastest way to offload you.

If you want to learn more, take a course, go back to school. Jeopardizing your license by floating here, there and everywhere...sorry, but this old-timer says "No way." And I've worked in many areas and probably could float if needed. I just value my license too much.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
i worked a hospital once where every time you were pulled, you received a letter of thanks from the vp of nursing and the director of the unit you were pulled to; included in that letter was a questionnaire where you rated your experience. it asked if the charge nurse had greeted you and introduced you to the staff, oriented you to the unit, provided a 'resource' person to help you out during the shift, shown you where supplies and equipment were located, informed you of unit routines, etc.

i was completely shocked. i've never seen anything like that before or since. i was also told by my manager that it was taken very seriously by nursing administration, and any deficiencies noted on the questionnaire were addressed.

amazing, huh?

if this is true, then why oh why did you leave? or did you die and go to heaven?
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion