Permanent Charge Nurses

[ReadyforChange]

I would like opinions on the pro's and con's of having permanent charge nurses, as opposed to rotating the charge nurse position.

Do permanent charge nurses lose their bedside skills?

Do nurses who used to be a rotating charge nurse but were not selected as the permanent charge nurse have lower morale?

Is "permanent charge nurse" an administrative position in your hospital? That is, are you paid out of an administrative budget or a unit nursing budget? Do you do staff evaluations? Are you directly responsible for the actions of the RN's working on your unit?

Do you have a job description for permanent charge nurse that you can share?

Thanks!

[CHATSDALE]

i think that a permanent charge is good d/t the more yo do a job the better you are at it

charge nurses do a lot of work and wil take pts when there is a call in and no one available to pull or come in but the other nurses will help out by making rounds etc

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

I think only a few people should be charge, as opposed to rotation. I don't see any benefit of rotation. I like the idea of continuity-the same people doing the same things. There are so many other things to do while in charge that it would be a pain to have it done differently all the time.