How long before you were a charge nurse?

[SoundofMusic]

On our unit, it's tough to figure out how they select charge nurses. One nurse comes in w/ 2 years of experience at a doc's office, and she is selected as a charge nurse. She's not the greatest nurse, but has lots of non-medical management experience. Ok. Whatever. Then another nurse comes in w/ about 5 years of experience and they are grooming her now for the role. I just wonder how many years it takes before they start to consider you for the role after you have come into the unit as a new nurse.

[melsman1904]

I was a month into my career when I first had to charge. I was totally lost. Thankfully, I had two very experienced LPNs who knew the floor well. I still act as relief charge when our normal charge nurses are out sick or aren't scheduled. I hate it, but it comes with the territory sometimes.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

The second I was there over a year I was in charge. We we're pathetically low and eligible nurses.

[Larry77, RN]

Is pretty funny I'm the lowest seniority nurse on days but I'm designated charge...most of the nurses with tons of experience have been at the desk before and have "put in their time"...now it's my turn I guess. We do get an extra 2.20/hr but it's definitely not enough for the added stress. We have 2 designated charges for days and 2 for noc's then we have a handful of relief charges that fill in the blanks...I still work the floor some on extra days to try and keep my skills up.