Learning and Community

A float pool in a hospital is an internal group of credentialed healthcare professionals — including physicians, advanced practice providers (APPs), nurses, CRNAs, and allied health staff — who are not permanently assigned to a single unit but instead move flexibly across multiple departments to fill staffing gaps caused by census fluctuations, unplanned absences, or patient volume surges. Unlike agency travelers or external contractors, float pool clinicians are employed dir

Healthcare staffing in 2026 is not the same problem it was three years ago. The shortage has not been resolved. It has restructured. The U.S. is projected to face a shortfall of over 3.2 million healthcare workers, burnout remains the leading driver of turnover, and the cost of replacing a single nurse now sits between $40,000 and $60,000. Staffing operations managers are being asked to do more with less, and the old playbook of layering on agency spend is no longer sustainab