Traveling in the Light

Earlier this year, I was forced to leave my home in Wichita, Kansas and take a travel nurse position because of COVID-19.  Contrary to what anyone would have predicted during a global pandemic; contract nursing, per diem nursing and travel nursing contracts were terminated in central Kansas as all elective procedures, tests and surgeries were cancelled.  Contributing to the lack of need for contract nurses was that people feared going to the hospital this past spring, and being exposed to COVID-19.

Having travel nursed in the state of Washington the two previous years, I chose the Seattle area as my destination and was fortunate to find a cardiac telemetry contract in an excellent hospital, but for the first time I would be in the "float pool".   Float pool nurses agree to be sent to virtually any unit in the hospital, except for labor/delivery and pediatrics, which are units that require specific training and certification.

My 13 week travel contract was executed with a hospital east of Lake Washington which had 10 different units where I eventually "floated", sometimes three times during a 12 hour shift.  Adding to the stress of residing and navigating in a new city and hospital, was attempting to learn to work on 10 different units in the hospital, including units that cared for COVID-19 patients.  

Float pool nursing requires knowing specific protocols and procedures for each unit, such as the stroke protocols and requirements on the admitting stroke floor in the hospital.  In addition, floating requires learning where all equipment, medication and supplies are kept on each unit, along with the names and jobs of staff from housekeepers to patient care techs, fellow RNs and charge nurses, all whom you have never seen before, and are wearing masks continuously.  

Every morning, I would arrive at the hospital at 6:30 am, don mask and goggles in my car, enter the hospital, answer the obligatory covid questions and have my temperature taken before reporting to the staffing office, where the list of float pool nurses and their assignments was posted on the bulletin board, just like the list of homecoming candidates in high school.  As I walked down the hallway, I prayed for favor and grace in my assignment for the day.  The first days and weeks of this assignment were emphatically the most stressful of my nursing career.

Oftentimes, even though I was on the schedule for the day, my name wasn't on the list and I'd have to enter the staffing office and ask to be assigned for the day.  Frequently as well, I would walk to the unit assigned on the list only to be told I was floating to a different floor on the other side of the hospital.  This was a stressful and anxiety-inducing time because I knew noone on the floors and oftentimes was ignored by the charge nurses when I reported to the units.  I chalked their indifference to the pressures and tension created during the global health pandemic created by the coronavirus.

Many friends checked in with me during the first weeks of my relocation and new assignment and my kind, supportive brother lent a listening ear as I called him from the car every night after my 12 hour shift, processing the highs and lows of my days as a float pool nurse in a new hospital.  

My prayers for favor and grace were heard as I made friends on the various units of the patient care techs, nurses and other travelers who helped me find supplies, locate equipment, figure out how to contact doctors and most importantly deliver care and advocate for my patients.

The single common thread throughout this assignment, which I extended from 13 weeks to a total of 26, were the people who needed care during the tension and uncertainty of a global pandemic, during which visitors were not allowed in the hospital and many patients were afraid for their lives.  Many of my patients expressed their fears and needed a listening ear and comforting touch during their hospital stay.  I was blessed to happily provide these reassurances and thankful that I worked in an essential industry in a job that allowed me to interact freely and closely with others who needed my care.  

I have been thankful each and every day, no matter how trying the assignment I had, for being able to continue to work closely with others and care for the most vulnerable and at-risk people this year.  I am ever grateful to be a nurse and so very humbled to be a part of the force of healthcare providers and essential workers each year, but especially during the challenges and uncertainty of 2020.