Who makes your assignments?

Published

Specializes in Med/Surg; Psych; Tele.

Just had a quick question...

Who makes your assignments, the off-going charge nurse or the charge nurse for your shift?

Thanks in advance!

charge nurse of your shift..

Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

ditto the charge nurse of my shift

Specializes in Neuro ICU.

We meet at the beginning of chift, hear a brief rundown of pateints from the off going charge nurse and then we choose our own assignments.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Off-going charge nurse. They know the patients and the acuity better than the one coming on, especially if the one coming on has been off a few days.

Specializes in Med/Surg; Psych; Tele.
We meet at the beginning of chift, hear a brief rundown of pateints from the off going charge nurse and then we choose our own assignments.

Wow - I've never heard of that. Seems kinda neat. But, are there ever any problems with nurses fussing over wanting the same patient(s) or even with nurses refusing patients?

The whole reason I posed the question was b/c where I worked just before this transfer, the Charge Nurse of the shift made our assignments. The unit I work on now has the off-going Charge Nurse making the assignments.

And quite frankly, I getting kinda sick of getting report only to find I need to do 2 discharges which sets me up to get 2 admissions right off the bat (we get a lot of admits at night). My last few shifts have been a little Hellish, but then before this Hell streak, I had a really just too easy shift (which leads me to think the person doing the assignments is not really taking acuity, etc. into account properly).

Aah, what to do? I just kinda wondered if it was in fact somehow better if the oncoming Charge Nurse made the assignments. From my previous experience, I might have to say yes. Just wanted to know what others think.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Where I work if the same people are working the same shift the next day then the assignment is carried over,Sometimes the previous shift charge makes it out if it's not done.Sometimes we make it up before we listen to report,anyone is allowed to make it up, charge or whoever. If you have had the same people for a couple of days and want a switch you can just ask.

Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.

The off going charge nurse does our assignment. But our charge nurse on our shift will make changes if necessary.

Where I work, we used to pick our own assignments. Nurses who worked the day before had the right to request their patients back, and lighter assignments were left for the floaters or new nurses.

Now that the unit expanded to 16 beds and there is a lot of nurses with differing amounts of experience, the ongoing and offgoing charge nurses sit down together and work out the assignments. They do a good job making assignments and matching up nurses to their patient assignments.

Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

Off going charge. And they always give me the worst assignment on the floor. I go to work feeling like I need to put on full body armour and a helmet. Constantly being set up to fail. I hate it.

Specializes in OB, Med-Surg.

we ( the nurses ) on our floor, decide who is taking who right after report. Usually split right down the middle, taking into consideration each person's load, type of patients, etc....

Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.

Off-going charge, usually it has to be tweaked a bit, but we take care of that amongst ourselves

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