What does Charge Nurse really mean?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just wondering how people feel....

The term charge nurse in LTC has always puzzled me. In my experiences there all the nurses on the floor were charge nurses.

Well usually you have different units, one nurse per unit, and each one is in charge if their unit doing the duties I mentioned in the above post.

I have heard that on some units the charge nurse doesnt have their own assignment. in our unit we do, and i remember the many of times that i have been charge and thought that it would be nice not to have my own patient load also.

Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/LTC.

So do any of you resent doing this with minimal preparation and compensation? It seems wrong. Call me crazy.....

You sound like a great charge nurse and I would love to have you come and work with me.

Just a thought from a fellow Georgia peach(transplanted to Michigan-GO STATE!!!)

I thought I would share with you what a charge nurse does..cause I are one !

Well, this is what I do anyway. As soon as my shift starts, I get a cup of coffee, my cigarettes, and mobile phone, and go outside to the smoking area, sit at the table in the nice picnic area, and have the nurses call me with any questions they might have. OK, that is the way I want to do it. Now what I really do..I get report from the night charge nurse, make rounds on all the patients, once in the am, once in the pm, assign all admissions to beds and assign the nurse that will be taking the pt, go to a bed board meeting at 10am-meeting with the supervisor and all other charge nurses, assign lunches, and make out a new assignment at 3pm and again at 7pm, offer my help frequently to the nurses, making sure they are doing ok, deciphering dr. orders,(each RN signs off her own pts. orders), give pain meds, hang IV's, start int's, help pts to bathroom, help with lifting and turning, act as a resource for the nurses and patient care techs, assist doctors, cover the desk for the unit clerk while she is at lunch, sometimes cover for nurses when they are at lunch, handle patient complaints, handle nurses complaints, handle doctors complaints. Basically I do a lot of everything. Oh, and I tell jokes !!! I stronly believe that we must have some fun at work....and humor does help ease things up a bit. Oh yeah, sometimes during all the above, I find time to go to the bathroom !!

I got one day, and that was when I worked day shift. That was 2 years ago. I now work 12 hour shifts on afternoons/midnights, and they expect you to know what is going on. I do it by the seat of my pants and with alot of thanks to God.

Hmm, so what extra orientation, if any, did you all have in preparation for this?
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