New Grads ....how long until they can float ?

[DaddyO]

Hi,

just wondering if new grads can float after orientation, or is there usually a timeline ? I know this may be hospital specific, just wondering what others have heard or experienced.

I ask this, because there is a PT position available with the posibility of FT hours.....but in the event the hours are not available I would try to ask to be floated.

[silentRN]

I floated a week after I was off orientation...but that was when I started off as a floor nurse. In the ICU, I started floating 3 months after orientation.

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

Depends on the unit and depends on the nurse.

[anzean_rn]

In my unit we were not allowed to float until the 6 month mark

[Mbshil]

In my facility new grads are not supposed to float for twelve months. Experienced nurses after three months

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

In psych, I started floating immediately.

[coolpeach]

4 months on my floor.

[BettyBoop01]

My floor you could float right off orientation, and it was traumatizing. It was also not safe.

[brownbook]

As you thought it depends on the hospital. My first job as a new grad was in the float pool.

If you ask 100 nurses about floating you will get 99 horror stories about the unsafe, dangerous, traumatizing horrors of floating. I am the 1 who will say I love floating, loved it from the start. (I was scared as a new grad, not scared due to floating.) Give it a try if it is offered, don't let the naysayers scare you away.

I work extra help now and am frequently called into work when others are canceled because the bosses know I am flexible and have experience in many areas of nursing.

[Flo., BSN, RN]

6 mos post orientation. Orientation is 3 mos.

[msjellybean]

My manager doesn't allow new grads to float until they've been on their own for 4 months. I don't know what her policy is for non new-grad, new nurses though.

[wtrang]

whats floating?