I survived.....

[RainMom]

and so did the patients. Had my first shift as charge RN. Had to do a post-op admission about 0230 with only a few minor difficulties. Primarily, it would have been helpful if protocol orders were used instead of written since the surgeon was obviously a little brain dead after doing the surgery about midnight & left some info out (route for med, no O2 order which was needed when sats dropped every time pt dosed). Was not happy when I had to call him. All in all though, learned a lot - what to do, what not to do - & get to do it again in a couple weeks...

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Congratulations on your success at charge.

Be careful what you wish for.

The charge position is all responsibility and no authority.

I wish I had NEVER accepted the charge position I had for years.

Please think about the ramifications... carefully.

[RainMom]

Yeah, I'd rather NOT do it, but on nights just about everybody does at some point. We've had 1 RN go to a different hospital & 3 others that changed shifts in the last 3-4 months, so that bumps me up with a couple newer RNs behind me in seniority. So, it looks like I'll probably be charging occasionally, once every couple weeks so far on the schedule. It was good to know I had help available from the supervisor & the general med/surg charge! And I used them!

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

congrats!!!! at least you can say that you did it and survived!, even though it's not your cup of tea

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

Congratulations! I can relate... my first time as charge nurse was a night shift as well. All of the nurses I was working with had

[perioddrama]

Congratulations! Big, major accomplishment, check! So when you are a charge nurse the next time in your schedule, remember, you survived the first time! You can do anything. :)

[RainMom]

Thanks everybody! Looks like I get to go at it again next Tues (a little sooner than I was thinking)!