ABSTRACT
Professional Development The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted nurse staffing worldwide, forcing many hospitals to fulfill gaps in staffing by using per diem nurses and those from outside agencies. Historically, our NCI-designated ambulatory cancer care center has utilized float pool nurses who specialize in the care of patients with solid tumors or hematological cancers to fulfill these nurse staff shortages. However, in order to meet the pandemic staffing demands, nurse leadership recognized the need for greater clinical versatility from the float pool nurses and aimed to develop a float team equipped to provide care for populations across the institute's 13 disease-specific centers. With a focus on empowering float pool nurses to directly influence this work from its inception, foster proficiency, professional growth and development, and camaraderie among members, nurse leaders set out to develop an innovative approach to address staffing needs. The purpose was to create an innovative float pool infrastructure and processes to address pandemic staffing consequences while limiting utilization of per diem nurses and those from outside agencies. First, disease-centric education was created utilizing a multimodal approach. Didactic education was widely accessible to all staff via online modules and case studies. Experiential learning was enabled through a strategic placement program where float pool nurses were assigned to a disease center to gain exposure alongside chosen expert nurse mentors for 4 months. Secondly, an intentional check-in process was created consisting of meetings between the float pool nurse, clinical specialist, and nurse director every two weeks during the nurse's first four months on the team, and then every two months thereafter. Within 6 months, 100% of float pool nurses completed both their assigned didactic and strategic placement requirements. Within 10 months, they began caring for patients across multiple disease centers. As an outcome of the connections created throughout the check-in process, float pool nurses contributed valuable insight which shaped the content, timing, and delivery of each educational opportunity. Enhancing the clinical diversity of the float pool nurses provides a global support to all units requiring staffing support within the institute. It has the potential to provide improved patient outcomes by mitigating the safety risks of overusing per diem nurses and those from outside agencies who are not familiar with the environments, workflows, and safety checks for specialized care.