L&D Charge Nurses

[Drakebrn]

One of our nurse managers attended a conference last year that indicated the national standard for years experience required for charge nurse for L&D was 5 years. I have looked all over the internet for this national standard and I am unable to find it. Does anyone have any info on this standard please let me know. Also if you could include how many years experience required for charge nurse at you facility would be very helpful. Thanks!

[ldchargern]

I actually have not looked into the national standard (I truly did not know there was one). I think the exact years of experience does not matter (more than 3 preferably), but whether or not that person has leadership qualities, can make decisions in stressful situations, and has the personality to deal with whatever may come (staff, managers, doctors, etc). I do not think our job posting had a specific number of years, it may have said 1-2 years of clinical experience. I will look for the national standard though.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I concur with the above post. Also remember, charge nurse duties do vary by institution and location. In a large teaching hospital, for example, a charge nurse might need to have much more experience and even a certain level of education, while in smaller rural settings, she may not, yet he/she will be expected to also take a patient assignment along with charge nurse duties.

It really varies but the qualities listed in the above post are dead-on.

[NurseNora, BSN, RN]

It also depends on the shift you are working. In general, night shift has the newest nurses and it's not uncommon for someone to get thrown into charge responsibilities early because there's no one else to do it.