Med-Surg Roll Call

mandrews · Sep 6, 2005

Hi! I graduated 05/05/05 and began orientation 05/30/05. Tonight 09/05/05 I was required to "team lead" - actual I was tricked into being charge nurse. I had refused two times previously, this time I was told I would team lead and later learned that I had accepted the charge nurse position.
I have expressed my concern over accepting this responsibility with my manager and two house supervisors and have been told that it means nothing more than doing the bed assignments. I do not believe them. I feel like I risked my license tonight and am just lucky that nothing monumental occurred. I am hoping you can give me some advise. Thanks!

I don't know if this is a good idea. I graduated 12/04 and I am in no way prepared to be the charge nurse. No Way!!! :uhoh3:

dawn1rhino · Sep 6, 2005

I don't know if this is a good idea. I graduated 12/04 and I am in no way prepared to be the charge nurse. No Way!!!

Thanks for responding. It's just nice to know that someone else thinks it is a bad idea. I am at a loss of what to do.... I've contacted my local board of nursing requesting advise, hope I can wait long enough for a reply.

One of my co-workers said last night that it would be better for me to walk off / quit and start over some place else than to risk my license again.

Here's a little more info on the situation..

I work 7p - 7a on a 34 bed unit. Last night we had four nurses and two PCAs for the 11p-7a shift. I called House Supervisor twice (and never got a return phone call). Out of pure luck someone called in to see if they could pick up a shift and so we ended up with five RNs and two PCAs. Obviously they are having shortage difficulties and I am sympathetic but doesn't accepting the assignment of charge nurse mean that I am saying "OK, I'm responsible for all 34 patients and as 'supervisor' I'm accepting professional responsibility for the actions (or lack there of) of all the patient care on the unit"???

Any response / advise is much appreciated.

Dawn

mandrews · Sep 7, 2005

I definitely believe the charge nurse is responsible. At my hospital we have to talk to charge before we call the doc's. What if I told someone not to call and something bad happened. I don't have enough experience, and there is too much we have never seen before.

dawn1rhino · Sep 7, 2005

I definitely believe the charge nurse is responsible. At my hospital we have to talk to charge before we call the doc's. What if I told someone not to call and something bad happened. I don't have enough experience, and there is too much we have never seen before.

Just an update - I emailed my state board of nursing for clarification. So far no response, but I told someone at work last night that I was contacting the board and was promptly called into my unit manager's office first thing this morning. She was livid!! However, she said that I will not be asked to "team lead" or be "charge nurse" again. Fortunately she also praised my nursing skills and said she wished I had as much confidence in myself as she has in me. So, problem resolved. Thanks so much for the support / advise!!

JennRN&Mom23 · Oct 2, 2005

Hi, I work on a Medical Unit (surg is separate at our hospital). It is in total a 70 bed unit with telemetry. I have been working there for 10 years in total (6 as an RPN and 4 as an RN). I loved it and can't imagine working anywhere else.

I'm in Canada and am not sure what certifications you are talking about. We don't get certified here to work med/surg.

fifi9857 · Oct 3, 2005

Hi, I work on a Medical Unit (surg is separate at our hospital). It is in total a 70 bed unit with telemetry. I have been working there for 10 years in total (6 as an RPN and 4 as an RN). I loved it and can't imagine working anywhere else.
I'm in Canada and am not sure what certifications you are talking about. We don't get certified here to work med/surg.

I have had a varied experience, I worked med/surg telemetry for two years--36 patients, 3 nurses (one an LPN) and 1 assistant--I was brand new and did not know any better. I then went to home health, then to the outpatient heart cath unit.

I am back to med surg and I love it! I am certified through AMSN and am proud that I have declared my specialty and have proven I know what I am doing. I have explained it to nurses and physicians (who have questioned my new intials) that is the difference between a general practioner and a specialist. This has earned me additional respect from my co-workers and from the physicans that I work closely with.

I work on a 36 bed medical unit that does have telemetry on approx 75-80% of the patients. Day shift has six nurses, Evening shift has five to six, and Night shift has five. Of course, the day and evening shift staff is subject to cencus. Our second and third shift work seven days on and seven days off. We work seven days and get paid for nine days. This is the incentive for working this schedule. However, new hires are not getting this option.

The nursing shortage has made a tremendous difference in the number of nurses that we have. Day shift only has FOUR FULL TIME RN'S. We are located between two large cities, where commuting will pay you an additional $5 to $10 dollars an hour. I am working an extra day on my off week to help out. Our hospital has recently started a flexi-pool to handle these situations, but my experience is that their work is substandard. One nurse did not sign off/ or do the tasks on three pages of orders.

Unfortunately, this was not caught until third shift.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. Of course, commiseration is a good thing too! Good luck out there, Veronica RN, CMSRN

galfromnairobi · Oct 3, 2005

our charge nurse role is different. we take turns doing charge.(RN's with experience to do so) the charge nurse is there to help with sticky situations especially those that are time consuming. the nurses call the md on behalf of their patients which is a good thing coz the primary nurse knows more about the pt than the charge nurse does. i would not want anyone making calls for me, i think this takes away the ability of the nurse to make decisive actions concerning their pts. there are times when i feel nervous about calling certain mds and i wish somene else could do it for me, but this is a fundamental role of the nurse which builds confidence in your practice. sure we all make blunders but it's the best way to learn.

grace90, LPN, LVN · Oct 11, 2005

our charge nurse role is different. we take turns doing charge.(RN's with experience to do so) the charge nurse is there to help with sticky situations especially those that are time consuming. the nurses call the md on behalf of their patients which is a good thing coz the primary nurse knows more about the pt than the charge nurse does. i would not want anyone making calls for me, i think this takes away the ability of the nurse to make decisive actions concerning their pts. there are times when i feel nervous about calling certain mds and i wish somene else could do it for me, but this is a fundamental role of the nurse which builds confidence in your practice. sure we all make blunders but it's the best way to learn.

ITA with everything you said! Our unit is setup the same way on 11-7 in that we take turns being charge and the rn's call the docs on their own primaries/covers. When we're calling a doc we'll ask around to see if anyone else needs to talk to them as well.

grace90, LPN, LVN · Oct 11, 2005

Hi! I graduated 05/05/05 and began orientation 05/30/05. Tonight 09/05/05 I was required to "team lead" - actual I was tricked into being charge nurse. I had refused two times previously, this time I was told I would team lead and later learned that I had accepted the charge nurse position.
I have expressed my concern over accepting this responsibility with my manager and two house supervisors and have been told that it means nothing more than doing the bed assignments. I do not believe them. I feel like I risked my license tonight and am just lucky that nothing monumental occurred. I am hoping you can give me some advise. Thanks!

I've been working as an RN since 6/04 on a primarily surgical floor. I was told I needed to start being charge last October and by December the other nurses had me doing it a couple times a week. Now I do it at least 3 times a week I think. I don't mind doing the bed assignments and shift assignments, but I am uncomfortable being the "go-to" person. But when there's nurses working who are more senior than myself, I send questions to them. What's really scary is... I've worked multiple shifts in which I was the most senior RN and everyone, LPN's included, had had their license a shorter period of time or just a little bit longer than me. On nights like that, I've found that more senior RN's on other floors are willing to lend wisdom.

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 11, 2005

I just graduated from nursing school this past May '05 & am an RN & have my BSN. I have been working as a med/surg/tele nurse for 3 months now (this is my second career-have a Master's in biology & previously worked in Biological Research) & like it a lot. I plan on working in med/surg for a couple of years before I start taking classes part-time to become an acute care adult NP. For now, I'm enjoying learning about taking care of all the many different types of patients we see on our unit. I also joined the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. I love reading the journal I get every month. I don't know if I'll get certified or not. I think going to grad school will be the next thing on my plate.

-Christine

gentle · Dec 22, 2005

hello all,

I often find myself on medical surgical/telemetry units. Not too terribly crazy about the telemetry; but, definitely enjoy the med-surg. I enjoy the surgical side and don't mind the frequent flyers--as long as they are not belligerent or violent. I do not hold a certification at this point in time, but do have the intention of obtaining this in 2 or 3 years. (Family first :).)

gentle

Mary-RN · Jan 27, 2006

I am currently a Med/Surg RN x almost 2 years. I was just looking in to certifying. I truely love it. I hurt my back right before Thanksgiving and may have to leave M&S for a while but hope to return. I love the diversity of the patients.