Floated

For an overflow ward like our ward (read: overflow ward means we are handling some patients who are not accepted by female medical ward, female surgical ward, and paediatric wards due to high census and other reasons approved by the administration), we are expected that we can handle any type of patients, be it a surgical case, a medical case, and paediatric cases. Due to this reason, everytime our census is low, and sometimes, even if it is high, when one of the other wards would need extra staff, the nursing supervisor on duty will ask one from us to be "floated" to that ward.

The nursing supervisors would say that the New Female Medical Ward (our ward) staff are the only staff from among the different wards who are capable of handling all types of patients that is why they would always get the floater from our ward. It is very seldom that our ward would have a floater from other wards. Yes, we feel honored because it means they can see our hardships, but we also feel that we are being abused especially when our census is high, and they will leave only two staff because "you can manage" even if you're only two, but in fact, we are only trying to survive the 12-hour shift running from one patient to another, giving patient care and answering every call bells.

Indeed, it is a a very challenging experience being in the ward not my own--from working with staff I only knew that day and have never worked with before to handling cases which are alien to me--makes me feel like I am "new" in our hospital. I have to learn their routine works and the different procedures that we never perform in our ward. And to top it all, I have to be extra careful with everything I am doing. Not that I am not being one. I just have to spend a little time making sure I am doing the correct thing so that they will not say anything against me. Well, some people believes first impression lasts, so I have to leave a good one, haha.

But being a floater has its own advantages also. First, I handle new cases, which means new learnings. I wouldn't just be confined on the usual cases at our ward. Next, I meet new people, which means new friends. That's not all. I meet fellow Bicolanas and Bicolanos and even speak our own dialect! And the last thing is, they will consider that you're only a floater, and they would give you easy cases, not all the time though. Once I was floated to the busiest of all wards, Female Surgical Ward and I was given easy cases only, but at the end of the day, I had the most number of patients because of my three admissions! When I was also floated to Male Surgical Ward, they gave me a day 3 post tonsillectomy patient (an easy one and one of the cases in our "home" ward) but in the middle of our shift, he developed active bleeding and we have had emergency OR to cauterize the bleeder. That was the first time I was assigned to MSW so you can imagine how hard it was.

Now, Male Surgical Ward is under complete renovation and they are closed. They transferred to our ward. Of course, MSW staff are more used to handling surgical cases that is why they transferred to our ward also. The result? We are being floated for more than a month now. It is quite hard. We don't know where we will be floated unless we will see our assignment sheet upon arrival at the hospital. And at the ward where you were floated, you never met the patient before, so you have to read his/her chart from his medical history up to present.

At Newborn Nursery. He's adorable, yes?

Now I am getting used to it. If before the MSW renovation, we were dreading every expected duties where we will be floated, now we are getting excited to seeing where we will be assigned. That is the only thing we can do anyway.

Wondering which ward I will be tomorrow.