I am a day-shift staff nurse on a 45 bed medical surgical unit. 166 bed rural county hospital. The charge nurse on our floor usually "floats" without a patient assignment. When she does need to take patients, it is a reduced load of less than 5. Average staff nurse has 6-8 patients on day shift. It is definitely nice to have the charge nurse freed up from a specific pt assignment---I have been on both sides of the issue.