While you’re contracted for a specific specialty, hospitals and healthcare facilities may reassign you to similar units or floors within your skill set when staffing needs arise, a practice known as floating. When it comes to travel nurse floating, we’ve heard from many nurses that it can come with challenges.

Whether you’re a seasoned float pool nurse or adjusting to the unpredictability that floating can bring, we wanted to call out some often-underrated perks of floating while on a travel nurse assignment. Because we’ve learned from other nurses that when you join the float pool, you can…

• Avoid unit politics and drama
• Treat a diverse range of patient populations
• Enhance your clinical skills
• Foster personal and professional growth
• Unlock job opportunities
• Meet new people and build new connections
• Make a positive difference in patient care
• Increase your job satisfaction
• ✨BONUS✨ Frequently asked questions
  
  

8 Underrated Perks of Floating as a Travel Nurse

Avoid unit politics and drama

One major pro to being floated as a travel nurse is the opportunity to step in, apply your skills where they're needed, and get a break from the day-to-day unit dynamics of your home floor.

“Being the float nurse, I can focus on my patients and not unit politics,” said a Reddit registered nurse. “It’s a much-needed chance to learn new things and feel refreshed about nursing.”

When you're floated to another unit, you’re there to lend a hand, slay at your job, and then move on to the next travel nursing job — all while being blissfully uninvolved in the politics of it all.

Treat a diverse range of patient demographics

Instead of seeing the same conditions and patient populations with every shift, being floated as a nurse allows you to diversify and work with a wider range of patient demographics.

“I would recommend floating to anyone, especially new nurses,” said another Reddit travel nurse. “It gives you so much experience in different areas and also lets you meet a whole bunch of people!”

Floating introduces you to a variety of patients with diverse backgrounds and needs, helping you refine your ability to adapt while staying within your area of nursing expertise. Navigating different unit workflows can strengthen your clinical confidence, enhance your flexibility, and reinforce the core skills that make you a strong travel nurse.

Enhance your clinical skills

As a travel nurse, every new assignment is already a chance to grow your clinical skills but add floating to the mix and your expertise may broaden even more. From different protocols to cutting-edge technology to innovative patient care approaches, you can look forward to expanding your knowledge base. Being floated to different units allows you to add new tools to your nursing toolbox that you can carry with you wherever you go.

Foster personal and professional growth

Not only does working the float pool give you the opportunity to strengthen your clinical skills, but it can also help you grow personally and professionally by adapting to new environments and challenges.

Related: Soft Skills Are Essential to Your Healthcare Travel Career. Here’s Why.

You've already accomplished hard things to become a nurse, like passing the national certification licensing examination and earning your Basic Life Support certification. From stepping out of your comfort zone to adapting to new environments and embracing change with an open mind, floating is just a reminder of how capable you are — and that’s a powerful feeling.

Floating isn’t just about filling staffing shortages, but it's an opportunity to expand your clinical experience, strengthen your adaptability, and grow as a nurse in new environments.

Unlock job opportunities

When you embrace floating as a travel nurse, you gain experience and build a resume that stands out to healthcare organizations and facilities across the U.S. healthcare system.

Every new assignment, different unit, and unique patient population adds another layer to your professional development and shows you’re adaptable, quick to learn, and comfortable stepping into multiple roles. With floating, you gain more nursing experience and collect more options for your next move.

Meet new people and build new connections

It can be tough to connect with and meet healthcare teams across different units and floors. But floating helps you build a strong professional network organically.

“A major pro to floating is you make connections everywhere,” said a traveling registered nurse on Reddit. “Every charge nurse knows me, I made friends and connections with coworkers on every floor, and this is huge!”

Instead of working with the same team every shift, floating empowers you to collaborate with new colleagues like float nurses, techs, and other healthcare professionals that you might never have crossed paths with otherwise. In the float pool, you can learn from someone new, swap stories, and build relationships in unexpected places.

Before you know it, you’ll have familiar faces in multiple departments, making the hospital or healthcare facility feel a little more like home.

Make a positive difference in patient care

No matter where floating takes you, you’re making a positive difference in patient care, as well as in healthcare staffing. When you lend a hand in alternative units, you help lighten the load for overwhelmed staff healthcare professionals and ensure patients receive the attention and high-quality care they deserve.

Floating can emphasize that nursing is all about human connection, and that there’s few things in life more fulfilling than knowing you’ve made someone’s day a little brighter.

Increase your job satisfaction

Floating as a travel nurse might seem unpredictable at times, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding. Instead of the same routine and daily grind, you’re constantly learning, adapting, and expanding your skills. And that kind of variety makes you a stronger nurse and keeps you engaged and motivated in your travel nursing career, and can even contribute to a better work-life balance.

Plus, floating gives you a sense of autonomy and control over your career in a meaningful way. Whether it’s the excitement of learning something new, the joy of meeting incredible colleagues, or the pride of making an impact wherever you go, floating allows you to find meaning and satisfaction in every shift.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between floating and being a float pool nurse?

A float pool nurse or working in the nursing float pool is a registered nurse who is specifically assigned to a hospital's "float pool," meaning they're regularly available to work in various units as needed. On the other hand, floating as a travel nurse means being assigned to different units within a facility on a temporary contract.

What are common units that travel nurses float to?

Travel nurses often float to a variety of units depending on the needs of the facility. Common units floating assignments may include:

• Med-surg nurses floating to other medical-surgical units, such as telemetry or step-down units. In some cases, these travel nurses could be floated to intensive care units (ICU), but in those instances are usually there to care for lower-acuity or discharge-ready patients.
• ICU nurses are commonly floated to step-down or high-acuity med-surg units and may also be asked to work in the emergency room (ER), if needed.
• ER RNs may be floated to urgent care, step-down, or ICU.
• Specialty nurses (such as labor and delivery, operating room, post anesthesia care unit, etc.) are less commonly floated outside of their area but if needed, may assist in related units. 

The specific units you may float to as a travel nurse will depend on your expertise, the facility's staffing needs, and the terms of your contract.

Is floating more common at certain types of hospitals?

Floating for travel nurses may be more common at larger hospitals or facilities with higher patient volumes, and that's because these hospitals typically have a variety of specialized units and a constant need to shift staff around based on patient care demands. But no matter the size of the hospital, floating can be part of the travel nurse gig — it just depends on the needs of the facility and how much flexibility they require.

From keeping your shifts fresh and avoiding unit drama, the pros of floating go far beyond just filling staffing shortages and gaps. Embrace it fully or approach it with cautious optimism, either way, floating as a travel nurse can be an extraordinary opportunity to grow, connect, and improve the lives of others.

As one travel nurse said on Reddit: “Floating may sometimes suck but it will make you a much better nurse. I used to hate floating but after doing it enough, I came to realize it has its benefits!”

*Disclaimer: this blog was reviewed by Fusion Medical Staffing’s Clinical team. The information in this blog was accurate at the time of publication. Changes may have occurred since. Verify independently for the latest details.