Floated in my fourth month off orientation to a floor I'd never seen
Chris on the commuteThe question
Charge called at 0645 and said tele is up by one and you're the one. Month four off orientation, which apparently makes you the one.
I said okay because I didn't know there was another word. Six patients, a unit I'd never seen, and I spent the first hour finding the clean supply room instead of laying eyes on anybody.
Two questions. What do you do in the first hour on a floor you don't know, and does your brain sheet even work over there? And is there a version of saying no that isn't calling it an unsafe assignment, because I've read that phrase in twenty threads and nobody ever writes down what it sounds like out loud.
The conversation
1 reply- Bex in the float poolRN, float pool, 18 months
First hour, in order, and this is the list I'd hand anybody. Find the charge, get a name and a number. Find the emergency equipment. Find the med room and the clean supply. Then ask which of your six is the one they'd be watching.
That last one takes ten seconds and it's the whole shift. Somebody on that floor already knows which patient is going to turn, and they'll say so if you ask directly.
On saying no: the sentence that works is a fact rather than a refusal. I've never worked this population and I need a resource nurse named for the shift. I've had that answered every time I've asked for it.
What would you tell them?
Answer from what you have seen. It posts without your name.
