The Floater Patient: A Scheduling Secret Weapon

One of the first tricks I learned when I entered home health was the “Floater” or “Flex” patient.  The Floater is the patient who saves your bacon time and time again.  He or she is most likely a very sweet or possibly minorly confused older adult who is as flexible as a palm tree in a hurricane.

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But the hurricane in your case is the day from hell where you have sudden cancellations you weren’t accounting for and now must plug the hole or sink like the titanic as you sit with a forlorn face at starbucks.  
Two hour gaps are unpleasant in the July heat as the temperature in your office car is a shade cooler than the surface of the sun and you’re fresh out of icebergs (another titanic reference? Jeez!) for your depleting water stores.  In comes the Floater to save the day as you give them a quick ring on the phone (or just show up, for the “Super Floater”) and they happily oblige you for a therapy session.  

These patients are gold!  Treat them as treasures they are.  Were it not for the Floater, we’d all be a touch more sunburned on our left arm with the characteristic “home health tan” and a lot less happy to treat our later patients.  
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