ICU RNs floated to floors?

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So lately our managers have been floating us out to the med surg floors if they have holes. Well get floated instead of being on call. I'm getting so sick of it and so is everyone else. Does your hospital do this? What are your thoughts?

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg.
Can anyone tell me if they are being compensated when pulled to ICU? I'm on a step down unit and due to low census, my floor is continually getting pulled to the ICU. I don't mind every once in a while but since Thanksgiving it's every weekend. It's a situation that is creating very low morale, people are frustrated and pissed because we don't have a say. Supposedly my floor is the only floor able to be pulled to ICU and with new nurses that aren't off of orientation, there are only a select few that can be pulled. So week after week the same people are pulled. I don't know what the current pay is for ICU but I would imagine it's more than what I'm making. I believe that if we were compensated, maybe it wouldn't be so frowned upon. I'm trying to stay positive but if I wanted an ICU position, I would have applied for it. I don't mind once in a while but the constant is really upsetting. Anyone have any insight??

Where I've worked, the pay is the same in the ICU as the other floors. Not aware of any hospitals that pay more for ICU, at least not locally.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

No pay difference from the floor to ICU where I work either. We do get float pay of 1.00 more an hour when ever we float outside our unit. We get people from step down sometimes but not often. Usually they take care of stable pts awaiting a bed to the floor.

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In my first nursing job I worked on a tele/observation floor. We often got pulled to the unit as we were the only other Rns in the hospital who had been through the critical care course .... It sucked at times because as we all know, being pulled sucks. We never had unstable patients in the unit and usually had tele patients who hadn't been moved due to no beds. It is what it is. At my hospital I work at now, we don't get pulled to the units, there is a critical care float rn team.

I do find that icu Rns have a difficult time handling a 5 patient load when they are pulled to my floor, which is a tele/trauma unit. They are often behind and can't keep up with the pace. They are knowledgeable and spend lots of time with their patients when they are pulled to my unit but my unit doesn't allow that kind of time due to high acuity and how busy it is.

I think the bottom line is that when census is lower in one area and units are short staffed, being pulled is the name of the game, regardless of skills and knowledge. If it's your turn that's the deciding factor. :-/

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Can anyone tell me if they are being compensated when pulled to ICU? I'm on a step down unit and due to low census, my floor is continually getting pulled to the ICU. I don't mind every once in a while but since Thanksgiving it's every weekend. It's a situation that is creating very low morale, people are frustrated and pissed because we don't have a say. Supposedly my floor is the only floor able to be pulled to ICU and with new nurses that aren't off of orientation, there are only a select few that can be pulled. So week after week the same people are pulled. I don't know what the current pay is for ICU but I would imagine it's more than what I'm making. I believe that if we were compensated, maybe it wouldn't be so frowned upon. I'm trying to stay positive but if I wanted an ICU position, I would have applied for it. I don't mind once in a while but the constant is really upsetting. Anyone have any insight??

When I was an ICU nurse they used to pay the floaters to the unit a float premium plus an ICU premium of $1 per hour. Should be more now. If you're a good stepdown nurse they will keep floating you to the unit.

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Specializes in Critical care.

Where I work, ICU is a closed unit and we don't float to other units, nor do other units come to us. We do our own scheduling just within the ICU. It's nice.

We do have travelers who are sometimes floated to tele.

Those of you who are med surg RNs being floated to ICU.... I can't imagine. Are you given stable patients? Vented patients? Any other training other than just ACLS? Do you take a titrate drips?

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At the facility I work at, we are floated from ICU to the floor frequently. What is the most frustrating is when there is a 2:1 ratio in the ICU with high acuity then you float to the floor its a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. I personally think when this happens ICU nurse are just being miss used, especially when the ICU could use the extra help.

I personally do not mind being on the floors, but I prefer to be in the ICU. The one benefit of floating to the floors is creating relationships with the other nurses, which will improve communication when a code or RRT is called.

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Absolutely not. I work in ISC at a large hospital and they will only float us to other ICUs, not stepdowns and never the floor. We would go home before allowing management to float us to med/surg. It's not that we can't take 6 or 7 patients but we aren't used to it and some of the nurses I work with have only ever done ICU.

I know there's a hospital near by that will float their ICU nurses to step down units and for that reason alone I have no interest in ever working there. I would gladly be tripled before I would float to the floor.

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What about nurses that started off in ICU and don't have experience in a certain area for example, ER? It's doesn't seem right to be floated to a unit your not familiar with.

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.
My old employer did this with ICU nurses. Generally they did admission assessments and task nursing, no patient load incase they were needed back in ICU.

I have done and experienced this on several ICUs throughout my career. I am just curious if the opposite happens...that is, do folks from the step down unit float to the ICUs and get assigned as sitters or other tasks.

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.
Absolutely not. I work in ISC at a large hospital and they will only float us to other ICUs, not stepdowns and never the floor. We would go home before allowing management to float us to med/surg. It's not that we can't take 6 or 7 patients but we aren't used to it and some of the nurses I work with have only ever done ICU.

I know there's a hospital near by that will float their ICU nurses to step down units and for that reason alone I have no interest in ever working there. I would gladly be tripled before I would float to the floor.

Do you colleagues get the "look" by management when they decide to go home before floating? I am interested on learning more if this is an "agreement" between the staff and the management in the ICU. You are right, getting floated to the floors or other areas can be difficult or stressful for some. Specially if it is the first time and they are not familiar with the floor layout.

And do the other floors in need have people on call when things happen or does management wants to use the in house pool before calling the on call due to cost savings?

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Specializes in Cardiac Tele.
On 4/28/2015 at 10:14 AM, jamisaurus said:

I interpret ABGs and call the physician, all while knowing what he'll want changed. Increase in rate, increase in TV, lower FiO2. Do I myself physically do it? Usually not.

Do I interpret when the ventilator alarms and fix it? YES. Someone who doesn't regularly come into contact with vents won't know peak pressure needs suction or a bite block, or that not pulling volumes means your ETT could have got pulled out, etc etc. it's not fair to act like ICU RNs just sit there and do nothing with the vents, because that's not true.

I am a new grad just found a job in ICU, what is TV means? Do you have any suggestions for me? Do vents have respiratory therapist? I saw RT when I had preceptorship in ICU. 

 

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.
On 10/30/2022 at 9:49 AM, struggleforfuture said:

I am a new grad just found a job in ICU, what is TV means? Do you have any suggestions for me? Do vents have respiratory therapist? I saw RT when I had preceptorship in ICU. 

TV is tidal volume, or the volume of the breaths the ventilator is delivering to the patient. There are usually RTs on the unit with vents, but I'm in a smaller community hospital so sometimes the RT is on break, traveling with another patient for imaging, doing an admission, etc. So it's important to have a general idea of the alarms and what interventions are appropriate for you as a nurse. And if you just don't know, you can bag them manually with the ETT in place if they're hypoxic (hoping it's not a plug in the ETT). You should get some orientation with RT where you will get basic education on the vent and how to managge patients. And once you've seen it a while you'll get the hang of it. 

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