One means of ensuring that nurses floated to other patient care areas

QUESTION

One means of ensuring that nurses floated to other patient care areas in healthcare organizations are qualified to work in those areas is:

a. Employing additional staff to assist with orientation processes.
b. Cross-educating staff members to other areas of the institution.
c. Transferring patients to units where the staffing pattern is optimal.
d. Orienting staff members to all patient care areas as part of their general orientation to the institution.

ANSWER:

ANS: B
Nurses should be floated to units as similar as possible to their own to decrease the potential for liability. Negotiating cross-training, a proactive approach to temporary staffing problems, reduces the potential for liability.