Article 5.6 of our Collective Bargaining Agreement has language on floating.

“The Employer retains the right to changes the nurse’s daily work assignment on a shift by shift basis to meet patient care needs. Nurses will be expected to perform all basic nursing functions but will not be required to perform tasks or procedures specifically applicable to the nursing unit for which they are not qualified or trained to perform. Nurses required to float within the hospital will receive orientation appropriate to the assignment. …”

We all float down here! Here are some tips from your friendly Ex-ACFP night shift friend and Grievance Officer, Sam Forte.

While I loved float pool (evidenced by my many years spent in the ACFP) I know nothing is worse than being unexpectedly sent off to what may as well be another continent when you drove into work planning on a lovely shift with a family you bonded with the day or night before. You wave goodbye to all your friends during huddle and take your lunch to another floor, or another building. Floating is one of the many woes of being a nurse (unless that's what you're into... if that's the case this article probably isn't for you float pooler). Here are some points that make it bearable (and sometimes fun!) from someone who made a lil career out of it.

Get to know the people around you. Treat it like freshman year in college and say hello to everyone you run into. Anyone who has ever met me knows I'm not bubbly in any way, shape, or form, but it helps to know who your resources are and let them know you're not from around those parts so that they know to look out for you. I always want to know who my charge nurses are and who to call when I need something (which I always do). Write their numbers down on your brain so you have them when you need them. You're there to help fill their staffing hole and I've never met a charge nurse who was cross about helping me figure out a pump or help me catch up on meds or help me get ahold of a resident.

Ask your charge nurse what the resident structure on the unit looks like so you know how to escalate clinical concerns. On some units they have resident teams, on some they have NPs, on some they have a sleeping doctor two hospitals away.

Set up a time for a tour. The off-going nurse may or may not be available to do this, maybe she's got to catch a shuttle or a ferry or something. Another chance to pal up with your charge! Say "Can you take a minute to show me around?" You want to know where the meds are, where the airway equipment is kept (because sometimes your oxygen tubing is a mile away from your other supplies), where the nourishment room is tucked away and where and when your cluster huddles are … anything you might anticipate being an urgent need, just note where that is.

Trust your own awesome knowledge and expertise! We're a group of incredible nurses. You all know the basics of nursing. We all learned under the mantra of Airway, Breathing, Circulation and we all learned to know our meds before we give them. One of my favorite parts of float pool was getting to see that it's not just standalone units that make great teams, it’s our nurses as a whole. Everyone is helpful and everyone is on the side of "let’s take care of these patients." And everyone’s floated before!

Bottom line is that we're all amazing and truly on each-others’ sides. And when you float and have a great shift, let a takeaway be that you identified the support you needed as a truly great self-advocate and are ready to reflect that level of support to the next Gilligan that falls onto your home unit!