Nurse Managers and healthcare staffing experts agree that it’s a necessity—for any top-notch hospital—to have experienced registered nurses on staff, who float to departments experiencing staffing shortages and higher patient volume. In addition,  floating to departments experiencing staffing shortages assures hospitals that travel nurses really play an important role and can perform to the best of their ability.

Registered nurses, among them travel nurses, approach their float assignments capably and with a high degree of adaptability and skill; further good news—as revealed by a study that looked into flexible healthcare staffing approaches, like travel nurse jobs—found that, surprisingly, more nurses are choosing to float in today’s healthcare landscape, rather than waiting to be asked.

American Traveler checked in with Clinical Coordinator, Debbie Bacurin, R.N., a former Nurse Manager, to weigh-in on what drives this emerging trend for floating nurses.

“We are seeing more and more facilities post float nurse positions, this lets the nurse know upfront that she/he may work on any unit for their scheduled shift. Resource managers are helping nurses on float shifts transition more seamlessly into Med/Surg, telemetry, PACU hospital departments and more,—when a floating nurse does well, it leads to getting more experience in the ICU further down the road; they get over the initial reality shock of nursing. If there’s any discomfort, nurses on float assignment should remember—it’s just one shift—and there are always resources available to use for assistance during your shift.”

When American Traveler talked with its travel nurses and their experiences as floats, we discovered that the “guidance” Debbie talks about is owed, in part, to travel nurse jobs melding so well with the digital age. Web-based technology, used by staffing offices to fill shortages, assumes a lot of the credit in making floating shifts easier to come by and benefit from. Health IT is streamlining the sign-up process for floats, and encouraging diversification in nursing careers with opportunities galore for those lucky enough to be in travel nurse jobs.

American Traveler client expert on floating, Jamie Coshun, a staffing manager in a Boynton Beach, Florida hospital, concurs. Hiring managers at healthcare facilities are in agreement; in fact, records show that many employers use a nurse’s ability to float well as an additional skill in both team work and nursing skills for travel nurse jobs. But as much as there is to look forward to in floating, some older caveats apply.

Cons
Since a resource nurse helps guide the R.N. on float assignment, things generally go smoothly; still there are a few enduring reasons why many nurses prefer not to float. They are:

• A negative mental model kicking in
• Float nurses usually don’t know anyone on the floor
• Increased liability: skill sets need to be reviewed before being floated to a unit

Pros
Paper based approaches to sign up for floating shifts used to lead to urgent phone calls from nursing managers—a balancing act with shaky results. Here’s what strides in Health IT are doing for floating nurses:

• A wider selection of floating positions, viewable online
• Organization-wide awareness of work opportunities
• Increased understanding of hospital’s overall needs
• Gives registered nurses experiencing burn-out the discreet opportunity to try something new

With more registered nurses filling shifts online, floating is on the decline but won’t go away completely; enhance your travel nurse jobs by knowing how to float safely.

How to float safely

A Board of Nursing in every state maintains that floating nurse assignments should include only those duties and responsibilities for which competency has been validated.  Registered nurses are obligated to refuse the float assignment if they know themselves to be incompetent at providing a specialty level of patient care. Nurses, as well as their supervisory R.N., are subject to Board discipline in the event of injury to a patient. Ask your nursing manager for resource materials that explore safe floating strategies!

What American Traveler wants you to know …

Our nursing jobs are in award winning medical facilities and outpatient centers nationwide; contact one of our expert recruiters today for optimum job placement in both permanent and travel nursing jobs. Floating or not, the right nursing career anchors you to your goals. Set your world on fire and apply online today.

Patient safety is foremost in providing excellent healthcare—which is why “alarm fatigue” is an alarming topic. The best way to increase awareness among the medical community, especially those in nursing jobs, is to educate them on what, exactly, nursing alarm fatigue is and when it is most likely to occur.

Recently, a hospital in the northeast with a very busy nursing floor had an ill patient’s alarm sounding. Surrounded by constantly beeping monitors, nurses failed to respond to this heart patient’s alarm, signaling a drop in heart rate and ending in fatality 20 minutes later.

Nursing Alarm Fatigue has been blamed; it happens because nurses become desensitized to round the clock beeping. You may be suffering from this fatigue, if, while performing your duties you hear so many ubiquitous alarms, you no longer react with the appropriate degree of concern or speed. In the case of the incident stated above, investigators found that the tragedy was due, in part, to the alarm’s volume adjustment by an unknown person; rather than scandal, investigators suspected the alarm was disabled simply because hospital staff sensed its potential to become aggravating.

Apparently disabling of alarms happens frequently in hospitals, with nurses, doctors and hospital staff citing, simply, just way too many of them.  Debbie Bacurin, American Traveler’s Clinical Resource Manager gives insight into the matter of nursing alarm fatigue by summarizing what she’s seen as a veteran of Nurse Management on crowded hospital floors. She says:

“Nursing Alarm Fatigue is very common – there are multiple alarms for things as minor as a thermometer not replaced on its charger; bed alarms beep or ring when it thinks the patient is trying to get up and may fall; there are alarms attached to monitors, IV pumps, feeding tube pumps—the list goes on, and for every alarmed device, there are several reasons the alarm can sound. Hospitals tend to see nursing alarm fatigue more in telemetry nursing jobs, ICU nurse jobs and the ED—which is attributable to the number of patients in these units.

Debbie raises an excellent point here. Nurse-patient ratio, when kept low, saves lives. Nursing Alarm Fatigue can be reduced by hospitals that reexamine their policies and systems, including disabling the “off” switch for alarms on bedside cardiac monitors.

American Traveler encourages nurses working in both permanent positions and travel nursing jobs to be aware of Nursing Alarm Fatigue, as well as cognizant of its symptoms. When you pay close attention to those life-saving beeps emitted by hospital monitors, pumps and other equipment, you are doing your part to ensure high-quality healthcare—a service that gives patients and their families a better outcome and priceless peace of mind.

Gerri just dropped us a line from Baltimore and is having the time of her life. Traveling with American Traveler going on three years now, the Telemetry / ICU expert is enjoying a brief, eight-week assignment in the ‘Monument City’ where trips to “Little Italy” and the city’s Inner Harbor have made for incredible first time experiences. Lady Luck in Atlantic City has tempted the Southern Belle more than once and the Big Apple is on her list of things to do before her assignment is over.

Originally from Milledgeville, Georgia, this 54-year-old nursing dynamo loves to travel and has her heart set on assignments in California and sightseeing along Route 66. At first she thought she was too old to travel, but her American Traveler Consultant, Janet Burrell, quickly dispelled that myth.

“I hooked up with Janet and it’s been great. We have an excellent rapport and, because of her thoroughness, traveling has been uncomplicated and wonderful,” she said.

The 30-year practitioner said American Traveler’s free private housing is always above standard and she likes the way everyone at Corporate knows who she is, even if she doesn’t identify herself by name when she calls. “My heavy southern accent gives me away sometimes.”

Gerri finds herself floating quite a bit, but likes it because it “enhances her abilities” she said. Hospital staff have always been welcoming to her and she was impressed with the friendliness of Baltimore natives during her recent assignment.

“I hadn’t taken a bus since I was a young girl,” said Gerri, “And when I got the bus alone for the first time in Baltimore, these two ladies took me under their wing, showed me where to go and pointed-out some highlights in the city.”

In addition to Maryland, Gerri has taken travel nursing jobs in Louisiana, Wisconsin and Florida; all with American Traveler, and has plans to keep on going on her travel nursing career.

“I’ve always been adventurous and I love nursing, so the whole travel nursing thing coincides nicely with my life,” she said.