pulling ob nurses to other floors

[mamaofsix]

Hi,

I work on an OB floor at a small hospital. We are frequently pulled to work on other floors. Is this a common practice at most hospitals? Does anyone know of any CDC guidelines about pulling OB nurses to other nurses related to swine flu? Thank you

[klone, MSN, RN]

We do not float to different areas. Most of us would be completely lost on a med/surg floor. We do have nurses that float to our area, though (they do postpartum only).

Usually, if our census is low and we need to cut a nurse or two, we have plenty of volunteers who are willing to get called off.

[schack]

I work in a small OB unit. We work both L&D and PP but do not float to other floors. I could probably pick up extra shifts since I have a med/surg background but choose not too.

[Obnurseamber06]

I work at a hospital that has approximately 1000 births a year.

I went to OB right after graduation and have not worked elsewhere (except floating) since I started. We are floated to all other floors (except ER). We are always on "call back". We are given a patient load almost all of the time. We are required to perform all of the daily tasks that would be performed by an RN on the floor that we are floated to .When someone is floated to our floor we typically ask them to take vital signs, help with feeding babies, pass pain medication and thats about it. I feel very uncomfortable on other floors and it's been brought up to the director and "higher ups". Nothing is done about it. We have to change scrubs if we are called back to the floor. But thats the only thing we are required to do if called back.