Healthy Workforce
How to Welcome Floaters, Travelers and Registry Nurses
Roll out the red carpet
Here’s the second in our series of “culture of caring” initiatives that can help transform your workplace culture from one of conflict to one of compassion, professionalism and mutual respect. The first is “Creating Thoughtful Zones: Keeping Conflict Away From Patient Areas.”
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.