Charge Nurse already

[MelBel]

I graduated this past May, and started work in June on an Acute Geriatric medical floor. I've been off orientation for a month now, and have been in charge 2 nights so far. The first night wasn't too bad...I was with another new grad who is EXTREMELY helpful and understanding, and a traveler who has been a nurse for many years.

However, last night, it was me, an LPN from day shift, a float LPN, and an RN from dayshift who only has a few more months experience than I do. Our 2 aides were also not regulars on our night shift. While the staffing was excellent, and we NEVER have 2 nurses on nights, I still felt very uncomfortable being the one in charge. Luckily nothing major came up, but it is a little scary that I am left in that position!

When I got in, I knew it wouldn't be a great night, but I decided to put that aside, and said, I'm going to do my best, given the situation. And although I'm sure some mistakes were made, I know that my patients were all still alive and breathing at the end of the shift, with stable VS, and all their meds passed.

Anyone else found themselves in this position yet?

[Nurse Lulu]

I know how you feel...I got off orientation in may and was in charge by June..on a critical care unit..I pray no one codes.I have expressed my problems and no one cares because no onewants to be in charge. CAT

[PRESLA]

]:angryfire Be scared really scared, something will happen and apparently the facility you work for does not care very much for their staff because of this situation (not saying that you are not a great nurse), but who will be at fault if something bad happens YOU because you were in charge. I have only been in one lawsuit in my career THANK GOD and I felt like I did not know my A** from a hole in the ground p the lawyer got finished c my deposition. And all I did was walk into the room to help c a vacuum delivery. Remember how hard you have worked for your license.

:smilecoffeeIlovecof

Lisa

[CTRN84]

I graduated in May, and will have the highest seniority on my weekend. I am really considering looking for a position somewhere else. What do people think about my situation?? does it look for myself to take a new job after less than 1 year?

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

RUN!!!!!!!! Your employer seems not to care whether your license is safe or not, but you need to! They are not going to protect you if anything untoward happens while you're the most senior person on the unit. And as someone with fewer than six months' experience, there's no way you should be the most senior on for a WEEKEND! It says a lot about you employer, you know, that this siutation exists. They aren't keeping experienced people and they aren't worried about the safety of their patients or their staff. Lots of people leave their first Nursing Jobs within the first year, and can legitimately say in an interview that the position they left "was not a good fit". If pressed, you could always say you didn't feel that you were ready for the degree of resonssibility the position demanded, or that the commute was too difficult, or that you needed more regular hours... there are all sorts of plausible reasons you could give without trashing the place. Think about it.

[CTRN84]

Thanks! You brought up a lot of good points. I'm going to try to get out before everyone leaves.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I don't think it would be ridiculous to discuss your concerns with your manager. My unit solicits applications for new charges as needed. A few of my co-workers have become charge in their first year--late in their first year--with encouragement from management and more experienced charges. They've done well--with occassional moments of drama and/or trauma--but have generally had more seasoned nurses around to lean on.

Me, I've kept a very low profile when the need for new charges has arisen. So far, being in charge of myself has seemed like more than enough. But I suppose I'll have to step up, next go-round, which hopefully won't be for at least several months.

It does seem like an awful lot of responsibility to be putting on you, at this stage. I certainly wouldn't blame you for bolting. But if management were amenable to providing you enough support, it might not be insane to stay with it.

I work weekend nights, and while it has numerous advantages, one of the drawbacks is that there isn't nearly as much ancillary support. If you need a social worker, or speech and swallow, or several other departments, you tell it to the nurse who follows you on Mon am. It isn't all that much better on weekend days, either. You need to have someone around you who knows how to work the system.

If they can't, or won't, address your concerns, it's nice that other jobs aren't usually to hard to find.

[nyapa, RN]

I wouldn't do it. If they did it to me, I'd fill in an incident report, as I would feel that I was working in an unsafe environment for me and my patients despite trying to prevent that situation from happening.

I too have been involved in two coroners cases when I was an EN. Not nice. And yes, like a previous poster said, you may have met the person for a second...