Newbie LTC RN with a dumb question re: Charge Nurse

[nycNurse2b]

Um...what's a charge nurse? Sorry....and thanks in advance for your help!

[NightNurse,RN, ASN, RN]

A Charge Nurse can be an R.N. or L.P.N. that is in charge of a whole facility, floor, or unit. Sometimes they also have patients and manage. If you are gonna take a charge position as a newbie ... be careful.

[NotFlo]

But some facilities refer to their floor nurses as "charge nurse" and their unit managers/supervisors as, well, unit managers or supervisors. Some facilities split things up with one nurse being the "med" nurse and one "charge". The charge in that instance typically does the dressing changes, assessments and documentation, etc. while the med nurse is pretty much only doing meds (there is one company with a few facilities in my area that splits it up like that and gives each med/charge nurse combo like sixty patients...no thank you!).

Anyway, I have seen "charge" used differently in different facilities. Where I am now I was hired for a "charge nurse" position...just means I'm the nurse for my group on the floor. I still have a unit manager and house supervisor.

[RescueNinja]

At the LTC homes in my area, the RN is always the charge nurse and is the "supervisor" when the DON is not in the building...so it might be you if it's a small- to medium-sized LTC home where there is only 1 or 2 RNs in the building or on the unit on your shift.

[itsmejuli]

At my facility the charge nurse on weekend day shift is an RN, I wouldn't want her job.

[DizzyLizzyNurse]

During the day during the week, we have the DON, an RN supervisor, RN infection control nurse, RN for MSDS stuff, and an RN unit manager on each unit. During midnights (my shift) and weekends, when the only RN in the building is the supervisor each LPN (usually called Team Leader) is considered a Charge Nurse and gets paid an extra 75 cents an hour.

[DizzyLizzyNurse]

Just wanted to say there aren't any dumb questions BTW. If you want to be a nurse who keeps learning things (you'll never know everything and there will always be advances to learn about) keep asking questions!!!

[blessedmomma247]

DizzyLizzy..you took the words right out of my mouth!!!

I am LPN Charge Nurse for my group at my LTC. There are two charge nurse's for each unit, a HUC, a unit manager (RN), and the DON is also in the building. I go to my unit manager a lot and ask questions. She is extremely helpful. The other day, I asked a question about dressing a skin tear. My pt had one for three days now and the current tx wasnt working. She laughed and smiled, and told me she had been a floor nurse for years. She reminded me that I was the "Charge Nurse" and it was my job to assess the patients needs and get an order for it. If I felt the current tx wasnt working, then I needed to inform the DR and get a new order (or in this case, the wound care nurse). Its a lot on me bc I do not feel like I know what I am doing half of the time, but I am learning a lot very quickly and this site is extremely helpful.:redpinkhe

[dblpn]

I didnt know they do that in some facilities. i dunno, maybe that's what we should do in our facility.