Charge nurse/ years of experience

[shortstuff31117]

Hi all

just wondering - in your facility, what are the requirements for charge nurse?

I work in a small LDRP unit, we have 4 main charge nurses on each shift. My manager wants to train another nurse to do charge sometimes, however this nurse only has 3 years of experience. The rest of us don't feel like it's a good idea.

So I'm curious about what other facilities are doing? Thanks?

[lasair]

I think I had a month experience as staff nurse

[shortstuff31117]

If you read your post, it is lacking... Would you not think it odd that someone is questioning a nurse with 3 years of bedside work experience to be Charge? Three years a lot of work experience.

I have taken a different approach... My guess is that this particular nurse is not liked by you or the other nurses who are gossiping with you. You and the others may justify your dislike of this nurse by raising concerns regarding his/her nursing judgement, his/her nursing practice, and/or maybe his/her leadership skills or lack thereof...., which will make a heck of a lot more sense than questioning 3 years of bedside work experience. However, keep in mind that this particular nurse still works on that floor, still cares for patients, and has done so long enough to give the powers-that-be the impression that she is competent enough to be a Charge Nurse over you and the others.

Thus, if you and your friends/co-workers bring up negatives and concerns about this nurse becoming Charge and those concerns were not made aware to the powers-that-be until now, you and the others will look unprofessional because it is very immature (I am thinking junior-high-mean-girls immature). In fact, if a nurse is really a problem or a concern on your floor (I doubt it.. I think he/she is just not liked), you and/or the others had a professional responsibility as nurses to have brought up those concerns way back when; not at the time that he/she is being looked at for a leadership role or a promotion.

On the other hand, if you and the others have brought up concerns in the past, then bring them up again. Maybe the-powers-that-be will ensure that this particular nurse receives the support and training he/she deserves? By doing so, he/she will have the opportunity to make an excellent Charge Nurse.

No, this nurse is good. There are a lot of things going on in our unit right now that I wouldn't even think of getting into on here. And you say we should have brought up concerns before...well how would we do that when it was just suggested that she train for charge? There haven't been issues with her nursing care, so there was nothing to bring up before. Again, I was only trying to get an idea of what other facilities are doing, I shouldn't have put in the part about her experience I guess. I think it's a little ridiculous of you to call us immature.

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

a year and take the "charge nurse seminar" which is basically 8 hours of fluff and how to deal with other personalities.

[bebbercorn]

I feel like 3 years is plenty. I also did charge as a new grad on a step-down unit fresh off orientation. Yes, I was still asking for help with skills based things, but I could facilitate flow, handle pt/family complaints and resource if needed. I had one less pt as charge. I'm in a busier ED setting now where one would need a little more experience, but once an RN knows the ropes of the units and has successfully handled a scenario of unhappy pt/family, pt crashing, code, need for transfer, he/she can handle charge imho.

If this nurse is training as charge as opposed to someone with more seniority, I can see how this would cause an issue.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I went straight from nursing school into a charge position. New unit (adult mental health), no one in the hospital wanted any part of it. In my current place, a year of experience in a line level position is required.

[PA_RN87, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I'm not sure what the exact criteria are for my unit, but I just hit two years experience and have been asked to train for charge nurse. I think partially the reason they asked me over some others with more experience was because I am planning to further my education into graduate studies.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

There really is no comparison between an expert nurse of twenty years and a competent nurse of a year or two in terms of knowledge base and clinical judgement. But seniority and experience are not looked on favorably in 2015. This "restructuring" trend to make young, and sometimes very unassertive, nurses into "leaders" is just another ruse to silence the older nurses who would object to unsafe staffing and other unethical situations. It defies logic and common sense to expect a highly experienced nurse to carry a full assignment and be a resource for the charge nurse! The profession ends up with a lot of older nurses who feel unappreciated and even slighted. I truly believe it is just a ruse to keep us from being unified.

This is my opinion, based on what I have seen in many hospitals, and although I do not intend it to be divisive, you are free to disagree.

[skeltonb]

Big and very busy postpartum unit and nursery -- 6 mos. You get two shifts of "training" and then the next night you are charge. Day shift doesn't get any patients but night shift gets half a load.