Healthy Workforce
Welcoming Floaters, Travelers and Registry Nurses
Roll out the red carpet
Bad Behavior: Unkind and unsupportive treatment of outside nurses
Culture of Caring Solution: Be welcoming and grateful for their help
One of the most anxiety-provoking situations for nurses is to come into work and find out they have been floated to another unit. The unfamiliar environment isn’t usually the problem — the anxiety comes from the painful awareness that temporary nurses are usually ignored or treated with disdain.
Float staff and nurses from travel or registry services frequently receive the worst treatment and toughest patient assignments. I’ve heard nurses say, “Well, travelers and agency nurses make the big bucks — they should expect to get the worst patients.” We often exclude, ignore and torment float nurses as well.
Here are some real-world examples of how this poor treatment might manifest:
- The nurses refuse to give float nurses the code to the staff bathroom, forcing them to leave the unit and find a public bathroom.
- The staff hides the blood pressure cuffs and won’t give travel nurses a med cart.
- Registry nurses are regularly assigned all the isolation, incontinent and dementia patients.
Rather than being hostile and horrible to fellow nurses who are there to help, instead make a point of welcoming them by rolling out the red carpet. Treat colleagues who don’t normally work on your unit as if they were honored guests in your home. For example:
