Charge Nurses

we still have charge nurses here in vegas

We have charge nurses, as well. They usually man the desk and take a lighter load of patients. They sign off on MD orders and deal w/ the staffing office, etc.

We have a "Core Coordinator" (CC), which is the same thing as a charge nurse so I'm told. Our med-surg/onc floor is usually staffed 5/4 (34 beds). On weekdays 7 to 3, we staff a core-coordinator, who does not take patients.

The CC primary roles: floor audits (restraint compliance if we have them, and DOH, infection control monitoring), staffing, codes/rapid responses, assisting swamped nurses, ensure nurses get breaks, facilitating discharges, and chemo checks.

Secondary roles: admits (we usually have a house admit nurse), doing interventions for nurses (NG tubs, catheters etc), passing meds, taking a patient, answering overtime call lights, assist in discharge planning with the social workers.

I CC 3 days a week and stay pretty busy. Our floor went to having a CC after coordinators such as myself said we couldn't take 5-6 patients AND coordinate a 34 bed unit.

I am the charge nurse on a 34 bed med surg floor. Our staffing for our nurses is 4:1 or 5:1 plus our CNA's and a unit secretary. We are a very busy floor. I am responsible for reviewing orders, updating MAR's, signing off orders, notifying nurses of new orders, calling doctors for problems/ order clarifications, rounding on all patients, helping staff with needs such as starting IV's, placing foley's, etc, doing staffing for the oncoming shift, making the assignments for any incoming patients, keeping up with lab/ x-ray results and calling the MD if required. Our charge nurses do not take a patient assignment.

We have charge nurses on our unit. They do not take patients themselves but assist the nurses in their patient care. The charge nurse handles all new admits/databases, etc., discharges, transfers, witnessing meds/wastes, starting IV's, assisting in foley cath placement, and basically helping the nurses if they need help.

If you don't have charge nurses on your units who signs off orders and enters orders for you?

I am a charge nurse which on my floor means bedding patients and assisting in any way needed on the floor. We have unit clerks that enter orders for us and the RN assigned to that patient is responsible for signing them off. We also do 12 hour chart checks to ensure all orders are entered and carried out correctly. In Feb. our physicians will be entering in their own orders. Should be interesting.

I sign off my own orders after the unit secretary has entered them. On occasion, if the unit sec has called off for the day, we enter our own orders.

I'm a night shift charge nurse. I take a full load of patients, assign beds, make assignment for next shift, help when I can and troubleshoot.