At my hospital ICU RNs are required to float to ED if they are short. The problem is mant times we are floated and medsurg tele nurses come to ICU to take our place. There have bewn times when it is only one or 2 icu nurses and multiple mst rns who have not been traind to handle drips or certain types of patients. I am just wobdering if this is the norm or of this is a potential patient safey issue?
Our union contract prohibits this practice. I would decline this assignment as "unsafe". This illustrates why almost all hospitals would benefit from a union it's not just about pay and benefits, but also patient safety.
We have union but the hospital was very stubborn during negotiations :(. Thank you for the replies, we are having a meeting about this next week, just wanted to see peoples opinions about this.
32539RN
2 Posts
At my hospital ICU RNs are required to float to ED if they are short. The problem is mant times we are floated and medsurg tele nurses come to ICU to take our place. There have bewn times when it is only one or 2 icu nurses and multiple mst rns who have not been traind to handle drips or certain types of patients. I am just wobdering if this is the norm or of this is a potential patient safey issue?