Charge!

I'm still a relatively (under 5 years) newer nurse, so I didn't really relish the opportunity to be the charge nurse on one of my recent shifts. We never had them at Saintarama, so I don't actually mind them. At Madison, all the RNs take turns. I know the basic requirements, but it really threw me for a loop. Happily, even with a patient complaining of coronary issues, I survived.

So how did I do it? I asked for help where I needed it. Thankfully, most of the people I worked with that night worked the night before, so the assignments were a breeze. I talked to the charge on the previous shift and she helped me with some other issues. No one complained, so it must have worked.

Most of all, I had a very cooperative team and the oncoming shift arrived on time for the most part, so I got to leave on time. Hooray!

Here are a few interesting things I found out about charge nurses on the internet.

• Lynne Connelly has a great article about being a charge nurse and what's out there in the literature. It's academic, but interesting in that it discusses the competencies needed in a charge nurse role and the factors that can be barriers or facilitators to charge nurses.
• There's even a good book out there about being a charge nurse: A Charge Nurse's Guide: Navigating the Path of Leadership.
• Charge nurses can make or break your unit. This article from Nursing Management talks about the importance of a consistent charge nurse on a unit.
• Who's in charge? is a great general article about the duties of a charge nurse and the legal ramifications from http://www.nurse.com/.
• It's an expired CE activity, but this article from AdvanceWEB also discusses the charge nurse role, including how to get mentally prepared for the role.

Finally, MJ from www.nurseratchedsplace.com has the BEST article about a real charge nurse incident. I really enjoyed it!

Stay tuned!