No charge nurse

BadBird, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2002

How stupid of administration to do this, I would just have the nursing supervisor paged everytime a patient or family has a complaint, I wouldn't even try to handle it myself. If you overwhelm them then I bet the charge nurse position would be reinstated.

woundnurse · Sep 19, 2002

While going to nursing school I worked as the monitor tech/unit clerk... Fortunately we did have charge nurses because that was one thankless job. Would seem everything would happen at once... monitors going off, new admits etc. Was so happy to quite that job.

Cory

perkines · Sep 20, 2002

When I started there was a clinical manager for each unit. Then we had one for both but also had two adm/charge for surg and three for med. They are eliminating the adm/charge in the hopes of staff filling up open positions in other places in the hosp. We will be going back to a clinical manager for each unit again. They are also thinking about doing team nursing with RN/LPN with a 12-14 pt load. Has anybody done team nursing and how is it from RN view and LPN view

Thanks for all your posts. You are all so helpful

RNforLongTime · Sep 20, 2002

I don't think that it's legal for a unit clerk to make out pt assignments. I know in the two states where I have RN licenses (OH and PA) a NURSE makes out the assignments, usually an RN. I'd fight this tooth and nail! Good luck!

Kelly

TheLionessRN, RN · Sep 20, 2002

I worked team with an LPN and I thought it worked out okay at night, because there were never more than 10 patients. But I was used to being busy and used poorly, so this was a step up. The previous job was day shift and I had 12 or more patients with a tech or an lpn, depending on the staff that day. It was horrible, because doing 12 assessments, passing meds on 12 patients, and then doing the charting was just TOO MUCH. If the tech was lazy, or if the unit clerk didn't use good sense, it made things even worse.

The charge nurse was a rotating thing and included a big 50 cents an hour and she still had to take a full patient load. I just don't understand how some of those admins can look themselves in the mirror.

Lacey · Sep 20, 2002

I work part-time at a small hospital that has tried every trick in the book to cut nursing and call it "Quality Care". We had the cellphones and beepers (eventually they all were "lost" and never replaced). They had team nursing which I liked when they had enough staffing to make it work. We have gone back and forth with charge nurses. The doctors are ready to flip because we keep changing the system and they never know whom to ask for info.The staff is constantly fighting and bickering depending on the system "du jour", and the patients are left in the dust. My solution- I keep this as my "don't take it seriously part-time job" and work at a bigger hospital that isn't afraid to spend a little money. Quality care means professionall nurses!

renerian, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2002

That sounds like a nightmare!!!!!I would be seriously worried about those numbers.......

renerian

Sodie, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2002

I thought it was a standard of care that the patient assignment was made based upon the acuity of the patient and the ability or the skills of the nurse. The ward clerk does not assess patients and she does not take report. She is not trained to do this. This seems out of line with standards of care issues to me.

In my hospital, the ward clerks are trained to be monitor techs. Even thought they are capable of putting orders in the computer, their first responsibility is the monitor. My hospital specializes in the heart, so many floors are monitored. We have several telemetry units. It is a requirement that someone has to sit infront of the monitors at all times. When the ward clerk goes on a break, a nurse has to sit behind the monitors while she is gone. We usually divide her lunch break into 10 minute sitting times for each nurse to take a turn.