How long before being charge nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi all. I'm wondering how long nurses usually work before they're considered ready to be charge nurse. The reason I ask is because I have been a nurse for approximately 4 months and I was put in charge just the other night. If any of you read my other posts you see that I'm still learning and definitely shouldn't be trusted to be responsible for all that a charge nurse has to do. So, day shift did not actually tell me I was in charge. After all of them had scattered one of my coworkers just mentioned it. I imediately said I don't think so. I actually refused. And I'm very glad I did. Everyone had faith I could do it, but they're wrong and I feel like they're so short staffed that they actually are putting patients lives at risk. It's not only a safety issue, but it's not fair to me. I ended up not even sitting down until 4:30 am and then only for 30 minutes. There is no way I could have handled being charge. Plus, j haven't been trained to be. My boss agreed when I talked to her about it, but I feel like if I had agreed to do it and nobody died then she would have just let me do it.

What do you guys think?

I'm already looking into other places to work. They just have such a low standard of care and so short staffed. Oh and not to mention there was a nurse working that had been there for 30 years and they didn't make Her charge. Instead some nurse a little more experienced than me was. I don't get it.

The most experienced RN available (who makes wise decisions) should be charge.

I don't really agree with this. Less experienced nurses need to be given the opportunity for professional development.

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
The most experienced RN available (who makes wise decisions) should be charge.

And when the most experienced nurse has less than a year under their belt, what makes that safe? They are still learning how to be a nurse.

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

I think it's all relative. As a rule, I think under a year is a little soon unless it just has to be that way, but I also think there are exceptions. I was charging about 8 months into being a nurse, but I took to it quickly. It wasn't that I knew the most or had answers to all the questions, it was that I knew how to find the answers and keep a level head about it. I was recognized as someone that handles stress better than most and am resourceful enough to find solutions to problems I may not immediately know the solution to.

So in cases like mine, although it was nerve wracking at first, I feel I was ready. In other cases, people that have been there for years just don't want the extra responsibility for whatever reason. So there's really not a set time I think when people are "ready", but a year seems to be a good general rule of thumb.

Either way, I think you did the right thing. If you didn't feel comfortable and confident with it then you shouldn't do it. 4 months really is too short for anyone, in my opinion anyway. It takes longer than that for most people to even learn how to efficiently care a full patient load without being overwhelmed.

The hospital that I worked at wanted about six months. It was more about the nurse that the amount of time licensed though, and whether or not you are working charge nurse at the desk of a large, busy unit or doing so in a small unit where you may have a patient assignment as well. Usually the hospital that I worked out started nurses out in the smaller units for their initial charge nurse shifts before handing them a floor with 60 patients on it. What I mean by it depending on the nurse is that if they chose you to fill this role (even though you didn't feel comfortable and had the right to refuse) then they are pretty confident in your nursing skills and ability to take leadership. If anything try to take it as a compliment. There are nurses that have decades of experience that the facility would never trust to work as charge nurse. There are also some nurses that absolutely refuse to take on that role (whether or not they stay employed is between them and the facility). If you don't feel comfortable then say so like you did. They should of definitely took the time to train you first though so that you at least would know exactly what is expected of you.

Well I was gonna have 6 patients to take care of too and there's just no way I would have been able to answer all of the calls or give the right answers. I don't think it's right that a very experienced nurse was working and they didn't ask her to do it. Instead they tell me I'm gonna do it. I don't think so. I'm glad I said no and I made sure my boss wouldn't be asking me to do it for a long time.

Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

I think it should be decided on an individual basis. I definitely don't agree with throwing someone into being charge with no warning and no training.

They don't compensate enough for charge nurse role at any facility I've worked. I prefer NOT to do it experienced or not.

It sounds like you are a very good and mindful nurse, and someday you will probably make a good charge nurse. On my unit a year off orientation is sufficient, but it depends on the nurse, their personality and their comfort with the role. I was asked to be charge nurse one night when I came in because the real charge had called in sick at the last minute. I was not expected to really do more than swat that night. Later I was formally trained in the role and all the duties like staffing, audits, etc. It's definitely a huge responsibility and it took about 4 months before I felt comfortable in that role. I still don't have all the answers when someone has a question, but I know who to ask.

Well I was gonna have 6 patients to take care of too and there's just no way I would have been able to answer all of the calls or give the right answers. I don't think it's right that a very experienced nurse was working and they didn't ask her to do it. Instead they tell me I'm gonna do it. I don't think so. I'm glad I said no and I made sure my boss wouldn't be asking me to do it for a long time.

Being charge AND having patients-- no way! That is something that even very experienced charge nurses become nervous about (at least on my unit).

Take it as a compliment that your boss asked you, and maybe keep it in your back pocket that you can apply for the position later when you have more experience.

The unit I left had several night shift nurses that had taken the seminar (you have to take a seminar to do charge - at least on that unit). I was on the unit 9 months and had done "default charge" the few nights that there was no charge.

I will also say we had 2 nurses that had been bedside nurses since Flo lit the lamp and outright refused to do charge. And when they did and someone else was charge they were useless...wouldn't help out, and sat in a corner charting and isolated the entire night.

Specializes in Neuroscience.

On my unit I was put in charge around six months after I was off orientation. One very brief on the fly night of "training" the night before and then thrown into it the next next night. They basically forced me into it out of necessity as night shift constantly experiences an exodus of more experienced nurses going to days, and in influx of newbies.

I have been on the floor for a year and a half now and still hate doing charge. I want to focus on my patients, not the b.s. of the floor. I was treated horribly with blatant disrespect from co-workers for a position I never asked to be put in. I will never forget that. Also, I never really believed for one damned second that my managers/co-workers had any faith in my abilities or preferred me to do it as they never sent me to a charge class. My personality also does not fit it. People that like doing charge on my unit seem very ego/power hungry which I find comical considering that as charge you have no real power.

Again, I am a more senior body on the night shift staff now so they use me.

I would put Lassie in charge of the nurse that worked on the floor for twenty years and new every policy and procedure. If asked why the simple answer is that I would prefer the nurse that know what she or she is doing to perform patient care so that the charge nurse has the opportunity to learn and respect his or her resources. Charge nurse is not that difficult if you know when and who to ask. Lassie knew when and where to go get help. The other think I notice is that it is usually the nurse that should not be in charge that ask to be in charge. When a person ask to be in charge I wonder the motivation, is it money status or an insult to those in charge.

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.
People that like doing charge on my unit seem very ego/power hungry which I find comical considering that as charge you have no real power.

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I just wanted to say the reason I've always enjoyed charging is because I'm a busy body. Even when I'm not charging I like being involved in as much as I can, I like learning as much as I can, and I like to know what's going on all around the floor (although I do intentionally try not to be nosy). I like people coming to me with problems not so I can show of my (lack of) knowledge, but so I can learn with them how to solve it. It's just a kind of curiosity I guess. So that tendency worked well with being charge because then it was my business to at least have an idea of what was going on with all the patients on the floor.

You're right though, charges don't really have much power except to shift people around and assign rooms so if power is the reason someone becomes charge it's pretty useless.

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