Registry RN position - New Grad Float pool

Could be good experience for you in general, also allowing you to help determine where your 'niche' will be in your nursing career. My concern with a new grad working float is this...make sure they allow for ample orientation on each unit you will be potentially working.

Does this position include benefits? If not, I think you are being duped in the name of being a new grad. Most hospitals don't want new grads in their float pools because floating can be challenging and is best for people with some experience under their belts. When I say challenging, I mean in the sense that each unit that you float to may be run differently, and it will be up to you to remember how things are done on each unit. Also, while a lot of people don't like to admit it, often times, the regular staff on a unit like to save their "problem child" patients for the floats so that they can get a break from them.

I have roughly twelve years of experience as a Med/Surg float nurse working out of the registry/nursing office and this has been my experience:

--What I said about being dumped on with the worst patients, a bunch of patients in contact isolation (takes extra time to glove and gown, pretty inconvenient when you have more than one at a time), the patient that everyone thinks is about to code, et.

--I have always been paid several dollars an hour above what the regular nurses on the units make because I didn't have benefits. This should be a given, benefits are expensive for the hospital and you should be rewarded somehow for not being eligible for them.

--It is hard (but not impossible) to make good friends at work when you work on a different unit all the time. The nurses on the units become close and can be clique-ey, though most of them are nice and try to make you feel welcome. Don't let it bother you though, if you walk into a shift and see that they are having a potluck, gift exchange, etc. and you aren't included or didn't know about it and don't have anything to contribute, because that's just part of floating.

--You get to know several different types of nursing, which is definitely not a bad thing.

Floating has been a good thing for me, but I wouldn't have necessarily wanted to do it fresh out of school, and I still think that your hospital designed this "new grad float pool" primarily so that they can pay you all a lot less than what they would have to pay experienced RNs to float, and that's not a nice thing to do. If you take the job, I hope that you have a lot of support from your supervisors and that they are patient with you as you learn the ropes of all the different units.

There are no benefits, and the pay is 3$ less than what I was offered at a different hospital I interviewed for (I didnt get the job).

From my understanding, I thought registry nurses made more. Im not so concerned with floating to other units, I know nurses I graduated with that are floating as their first job, and they had 3 months orientation and are both doing fine. Not sure if they are receiving benefits or what their pay is like though.

Just dont really get the lower pay/no benefits thing. But at this point if I am offered this job I would probably accept as I have had no other offers and desperately need experience. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for a few months until I could use the experience to land a better hospital job. Just a thought, guess I will find out more when I go to the interview in a couple weeks.

I worked as new grad registry and i did get less pay then regular registries, no benefits, weird hours, and less orientation.

you do get the "harder" patients but think of them as an experience. being a new grad everything is overwhelming but thats how you learn when you float. also think that you get to see how different floors run, manager styles, etc. this will help you figure out which area of nursing you like/dislike so when an opening comes up you'll know if you really want it or not. also the staff will eventually get used to you and know your a new grad... managers got used to me and could ease up my work load . lastly networking on the different floors will help you be a shoe in for that up and coming open position for your dream job.

Generally New Grads in CA aren't able to start with a Registry. Most hospitals require that 1 year of Acute Experience, but yet how do you get it. I would love to hire New Grads. Registries try to equal a facility. But the facilities are watching their budgets and dictate how much they want to pay. After Worker's Comp, Mal practice insurance, etc (which keep going up every year) its hard to stay competitive. The advantage to registry is picking the days you want to work and having a variety of hospitals to get experience at. I'm beginning to offer benefits for the nurses that are working with me more than 3 days a week. Good luck and don't get discouraged.