Pros
Very flexible scheduling- able to move shifts at a short notice because of float pool Less holidays than a regular floor nurse and you can pick dont have to work a certain one or rotate. One summer one winter Holidays are memorial day july 4th labor day thanksgiving xmas, xmas eve nye and new years So i only worked memorial day and nye, and im dayshift so that doesnt bother me. And i can work that every year if i want Decent amount of education if you want it. If youre icu you can learn open hearts in surgical, you can pick up to get certified to learn other unit’s equipment- like you can learn to take iabp impella and you can learn evds lumbar drains etc that may not be taken in your unit if you just want to learn AT LEAST 4 weeks of PTO a year. Full time is 36 hours/week- so you get 6 hours of pto per check at baseline, but if you work overtime its a certain amount of pto per hour so you can accumulate more the more OT you work Essentially unlimited OT if you want it, with premium pay on top of ot most times Theyre generally very good about cross training if you want it, just have to stay on top of your manager
Cons
Pay based on experience, so im ICU trained so can go anywhere in the hospital, but i make the same as an icu nurse with my same level of experience even though im float pool. You used to get 5-7 extra an hour for being in float pool. Patient load can be sketchy- i never felt unsafe in ICU, its rare to get 3 patients but if you do its never 3 actual icu patients, it could be one icu two stepdown, etc. or at least i never felt unsafe. All cardiac devices are generally 1:1 like iabp impella etc On other floors like pcu you usually have 5 patients. If in medical pcu where they take trach vents you are limited to 3 Medsurg you mostly take 6 but can have 7 at times but never less than 6 probably bc im ICU trained i cant handle the 7 personally. Pcu takes amio drips, cardene, cardizem, heparin post caths with q15 checks. These wouldnt be bad with 3 patients will extremely difficult with 5. We have a lot of core staff icu but much less in all the other units.