One year in...time to charge?

Nurses General Nursing

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A little background on me: I graduated last May, passed boards and started working in July and finished orientation at the end of September.

My manager (new to the unit and hospital started in April) pulled me into her office last week and told me that she wants me to orient to charge by Christmas. Something in my gut tells me its too soon but the charge nurses on the unit are confident in my ability (or so they tell me!). The idea of it freaks me out but I don't want to seem as though I'm not a team player. We don't see many codes on my unit (I work peds) and just recently took and passed PALS. I feel like I definitely need more experience under my belt before I take this on...

Any advice or opinions out there for me?

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Ugh, I feel for ya. =) I personally hated being in charge on my Med/Surge unit, but I did it every once in a while. Fortunately at the hospital I worked at, they never made anyone train to be a full-fledged charge nurse until they were ready; however it was still expected that the senior nurse on each shift would kinda assume the role of charge nurse on nights that there wasn't actually a designated one scheduled.

Where I work now though, I have no choice to be in charge every night, because I'm the only RN on the unit! :) The new role still kinda freaks me out at times, but I'm settling into it.

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