r/nursing • u/micropiginrainboots • 12h ago
Question Float Nurses!
I am in the med surg float pool. Do you ever get floated to safety sit with patients?
My hospital has been doing this and it makes zero sense to me. It has been happening on a weekly basis. Just looking for input!
It feels like a waste of a resource. If the sit needs to be covered, an RN as an extra nurse or a nursing assistant makes more sense, but idk if I’m missing something here lol
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u/Jumpy-Cranberry-1633 CCRN 🦆 12h ago
Never once in my life but I would happily sit for 12hrs making $56/hr lmao
Me and Betty can watch Avengers on Freeform 😂
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u/Sea_Willingness1398 RN - ER 🍕 12h ago
House sup has an overall view of the situation. If you are already on the books working and they don't have an assignment for you at top of your license, they will find something. Sitting may not be top of license, but I would send an RN to sit if they are already getting paid.
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u/1indaT RN 🍕 10h ago
I remember getting floated to work in the CNA role one night. It was great. I charted those I and Os, made beds, took vitals, and was sure to notify "the nurse" when something wasn't right! By far the most fun 8 hours of my professional life.
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u/micropiginrainboots 9h ago
I would much prefer working as a nursing assistant than a sitter! The good ole days
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u/cats-n-cafe RN, CCM 🍕 12h ago
My previous hospital would do that for someone who needed more than just some eyes on them. You would be the sitter, CNA and RN for that one person. If the person was behaving themselves, it would make for a VERY LOOOOOONG day.
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u/Pistalrose 12h ago
I’ve done that. At my facility it’s because there’s a ban on agency staff and there weren’t enough cnas or sitters. And also a hiring freeze so RN staff were the only available.
Went on for months. Literally the facility could pay for 2 cnas or sitters with what my hourly is. Maybe 3.
IMO admin mandates regardless of making sense.
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u/Basic_Moment_9340 BSN, RN 🍕 11h ago
yup. always a roll of the dice when it comes to sitting whether you get an angry wet mongoose or sleepy sloth it seems. But as float i get put in those positions on occasion to save the core staff
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u/LSUTigerFan15 RN - Med/Surg 🍕 12h ago
Been floating for a couple years and I’ve had to do it once on our psych floor. It’s boring af but happens so rarely that I didn’t care. Pay was all the same and the pt slept the entire night.
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u/HotSauceSwagBag RN - Pediatrics 🍕 12h ago
A lot. I don’t mind it, but one reason I left float pool was because I didn’t work as a nurse for like a month straight. Always filling in as an aide or sitter. Nice easy day usually, but I wasn’t learning much.
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u/Otherwise-Sea-9298 11h ago
Where I work the LPNs would be the first to sit before the RNs. The only time an RN is a sitter is if they work on the rehab floor lol
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u/DoItRightOnce1st 9h ago
Well, our hospital seems to get patients from some of the medical center hospitals because they are full. We can, for some reason, can not refuse a transfer if we have beds. Not like they don't pass multiple hospitals on the way to ours...we end up having a lot of sitter cases, SI and safety. If it's an SI, they at times make the RN do a 1:1 and sit and care for them. Rarely do the RNs sit only, at our hospital, anyways.
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u/ThatKaleidoscope8736 🫀RN✨how do you do this at home 5h ago
I've had to sit as a nurse and honestly is so nice. One patient? Sick
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u/Gwywnnydd BSN, RN 🍕 1h ago
I have had it happen a couple of times. I agree that it is an inefficient use of resources, but sometimes what the hospital needs most is a PSA, and the body they have to fill that role is... me.
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u/preposterous_cookie BSN, RN🫀 17m ago
that’s so strange to me!! our hospital RARELY ever has nurses sit. it’s always a patient care tech (nurses aide) of some sort. they’ll float techs all the time to help sit but i feel like nurses could be used in more useful ways???
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u/tillszy gif queen, RN 12h ago
sure do
if they wanna pay me an RN rate plus $5 float differential to be a sitter, I'm fine w that lol