Charge Nurse vs. Nursing Supervisor

Chewie_123 · Mar 25, 2009

At least in my hospital:

Charge Nurses act as a resource for the nurses and other staff, and oversee the running of a unit over an individual shift as they actually work on the floor.

Nursing Supervisors are responsible for the overall, day-to-day management of nursing staff in a unit or larger section of the hospital. As such, they are little more than rumors to most staff nurses, as they are rarely seen out of an office setting.

caliotter3 · Mar 25, 2009

At least in my hospital:
Charge Nurses act as a resource for the nurses and other staff, and oversee the running of a unit over an individual shift as they actually work on the floor.
Nursing Supervisors are responsible for the overall, day-to-day management of nursing staff in a unit or larger section of the hospital. As such, they are little more than rumors to most staff nurses, as they are rarely seen out of an office setting.

On the money description.

Jedi of Zen · Mar 26, 2009

At least in my hospital:
Charge Nurses act as a resource for the nurses and other staff, and oversee the running of a unit over an individual shift as they actually work on the floor.
Nursing Supervisors are responsible for the overall, day-to-day management of nursing staff in a unit or larger section of the hospital. As such, they are little more than rumors to most staff nurses, as they are rarely seen out of an office setting.

Okay. I guess I was thinking that your description of "Nursing Supervisor" is more of a description of a "Nursing Manager". Is there a difference between those two, or are they one and the same?

Sorry, just wanting to be clear.

ERjodiRN · Mar 26, 2009

with my hospital the charge nurses are in charge of their specific unit, while the nursing supervisor oversees all the units in the hospital. they facilitate transferring pt's to other floors (say and icu being downgraded to sub), in order for a pt. on another floor to go there (like an icu pt. holding in the ER or a rapid response on a tele floor).

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2009

Having been both, let me inform you. . .a charge nurse supervises the nursing staff of an individual nursing unit. The charge nurse, or nurse in charge, is usually responsible for assigning the patients you, Nurse Jedi of Zen will be taking care of today, stamping out fires related to problems that come up with the running of the shift, making sure you and everyone else get their lunch breaks and get out on time. If Dr. Smith comes on the floor and decides he wants to put a chest tube in someone the charge nurse makes sure that he gets the equipment he will need. If Mr. Brown comes to the nurses station to complain about the lousy service his wife is getting the charge nurse handles his complaint as well. The charge nurse probably orders stock meds and equipment for the unit. She handles disputes between staff and helps with any problems that the unit staff might have.

The supervisor is a management position. They generally work the off shifts and are the stand ins for the nurse managers. They assess the overall staffing and patient bed situation for the entire facility and move staff around as necessary to match acuity. When I was a supervisor I was required to make regular rounds of all the nursing units to which I was assigned and be aware of what was going on with patient care and be prepared to make staffing changes as required. We called surgical teams in for emergency surgery as necessary and notified the administrators of any unusual situations that might come up. We attended all Code Blues and reported on all ICU, CCU and ER patients to our coordinator. I have to disagree with you, Chewie 123. As a supervisor you would have been well aware of my presence when I was working. In fact, we supervisors had no office to hide in and that was because our coordinators wanted us on the nursing units. If necessary, we handled employee disciplinary problems and gave employee evaluations for the nurse managers. We were required to attend nursing management meetings.

Chewie_123 · Mar 26, 2009

Well, then, I truly wish I could have worked with you or at your facility, Daytonite!

TheFuture09 · Jul 2, 2010

Having been both, let me inform you. . .a charge nurse supervises the nursing staff of an individual nursing unit. The charge nurse, or nurse in charge, is usually responsible for assigning the patients you, Nurse Jedi of Zen will be taking care of today, stamping out fires related to problems that come up with the running of the shift, making sure you and everyone else get their lunch breaks and get out on time. If Dr. Smith comes on the floor and decides he wants to put a chest tube in someone the charge nurse makes sure that he gets the equipment he will need. If Mr. Brown comes to the nurses station to complain about the lousy service his wife is getting the charge nurse handles his complaint as well. The charge nurse probably orders stock meds and equipment for the unit. She handles disputes between staff and helps with any problems that the unit staff might have.
The supervisor is a management position. They generally work the off shifts and are the stand ins for the nurse managers. They assess the overall staffing and patient bed situation for the entire facility and move staff around as necessary to match acuity. When I was a supervisor I was required to make regular rounds of all the nursing units to which I was assigned and be aware of what was going on with patient care and be prepared to make staffing changes as required. We called surgical teams in for emergency surgery as necessary and notified the administrators of any unusual situations that might come up. We attended all Code Blues and reported on all ICU, CCU and ER patients to our coordinator. I have to disagree with you, Chewie 123. As a supervisor you would have been well aware of my presence when I was working. In fact, we supervisors had no office to hide in and that was because our coordinators wanted us on the nursing units. If necessary, we handled employee disciplinary problems and gave employee evaluations for the nurse managers. We were required to attend nursing management meetings.

Thanks for that explanation, i have also been kind of confused on those also. You spoke of Charge Nurse and Supervisior. So can you please tell me who Director and Nursing Manger are and what they do? or are they the same thing. Sorry just want to be clear before i do start a job soon.

elkpark · Jul 2, 2010

Director of Nursing (aka Chief Nursing Officer, VP for Nursing, several other possible titles): Overall, global responsibility "24/7/365" for running the entire nursing service/operations of a facility/hospital/etc.

Supervisor (aka Shift Supervisor, House Supervisor, other possible titles): Overall direct responsibility for keeping the nursing service/operations of an entire facility/hospital running for a given shift.

Nurse Manager: Overall administrative responsibility "24/7/365" for running a particular unit/department of a hospital/facility.

Charge Nurse: Responsibility for running the nursing service/operations of a particular unit/department for a given shift.

The DON, supervisor and nurse manager positions are usually considered part of nursing administration -- charge nurses, usually, are not. Some facilities have specific, designated Charge Nurses (and the role is more like an Assistant NM); in some facilities it's just a matter of who feels like it, or whose turn it is, on a particular shift and all RNs take turns. There's a lot of variation amomg employers/facilities with much of this stuff. And my familiarity is with acute care hospitals -- LTC and other kinds of healthcare settings are another whole ball of wax -- in smaller operations/facilities, these roles may be combined into just one or two positions.

momwannab · Sep 8, 2010

Good info!