If you are asked to float, please refer to the contract language in article 8.6 below.

Please note specifically the section about what work nurses will and will not be expected to perform. If you find that you are being expected to take on patient care or procedures and you have not received appropriate training and orientation, you must discuss it with your supervision. Your orientation and training must be appropriate to the assignment. Any orientation and training is to occur on paid time! If you have been instructed to “stop by after work” on a unit to which you might float, please know that you are no longer on the hospital’s paid time and should not go to other units!

We ask you to please highlight your concerns for patient safety. We want to remind you to complete an ADO every time you feel unsafe. Use the proper chain of command first, but follow that up with an ADO. The Nurse Staffing Committee will review these and an ADO documents what happened in real time so that you have full recall of that shift and assignment.
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6.8 Floating. The Employer retains the right to change the nurses daily work assignment to meet patient care needs. Reasonable efforts will be made to limit floating assignments to designated clinical groupings (as defined in Section 7.6.1) or to care for patients which would have been otherwise typically located within the nurses clinical group. Floating assignments will be made based on matching the skills of the nurse to her/his assigned unit/patients. 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. If during the floating assignment a nurse is asked to perform a task or procedure for which the nurse does not feel qualified or trained to perform, the nurse should immediately discuss the matter with supervision. Nurses required to float must be properly trained and oriented and will receive orientation appropriate to the assignment. Orientation will be dependent upon the nurse's previous experience and familiarity with the nursing unit to which such nurse is assigned. Nursing managers in consultation with staff nurses regularly assigned to the unit will develop unit specific orientation tools (including but not limited to examples of charting, a map of the unit, specific protocols, special procedures and the assignment of a resources person) to be used by staff nurses floated to the unit. Floating shall be assigned on an equitable basis taking into consideration patient care needs and the skill and competence of the individual nurse. The Employer will make a good faith effort not to float a nurse to a different unit more than once per shift. The Employer may include travelers, and supplemental part-time employees in the rotation. A nurse that feels they are not properly trained and qualified to care for patients to whom they are assigned should follow the protocol listed in Article 6.12 and Article 15.4.

Article 6.12 is regarding Staffing Concerns. It is important to protect your patients and your practice by completing a staffing concern form/ADO.

Article 15.4 is regarding Nurse Staffing Committee and its function and scope. The committee reviews Staffing Concern Forms/ADOs.

ADO (Assignment Despite Objection) forms are to be completed on-line and can be found at https://www.wsna.org/union/ado.

Don’t forget to complete the Staffing Survey before February 21st, which will be compiled by Sally Budack, WSNA Secretary: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M3ZWRH5.

WSNA Nurse Representative Change
Barbara Friesen, WSNA Nurse Representative, will be taking over St. Joseph Medical Center effective immediately. Barbara can be reached at (206) 575-7979, Ext. 3056 or bfriesen@wsna.org.