Would you consider this putting patient safety at risk

[GeminiNurse29]

So this weekend we were short staffed in urgent care. I do phone triage along with two other nurses. There’s usually a charge on days and one on evenings that does nurse visits (throat swabs, flu shots, IVs if needed). Im lowest seniority and haven’t been trained on the floor. (Change in management right after I started, I’m only e/o weekend part time). The night charge called in (we’ve lost 3 in the past month). I come for my shift and get told I or my coworker may have to work charge. Neither of us have been trained on the floor. Long story short, both managers claimed they weren’t the on-call and so the day charge nurse felt bad and stayed the rest of the night.

Now would you consider it putting patient safety at risk if I or my coworker had ended up working as charge nurse? Not to mention our licenses! I have no idea where most the supplies are and haven’t shadowed a charge nurse during a shift before.

[JKL33]

2 hours ago, GeminiNurse29 said:

Now would you consider it putting patient safety at risk if I or my coworker had ended up working as charge nurse?

That depends upon whether you know enough about it that you understand the expectations and obligations of the role and that you can perform these safely and prudently.

But if you're asking because you want to have a rebuttal that sounds good should this happen again, know that a catchphrase is not necessary. It is perfectly fine to say, "no" and make it clear that if there are other aspects of the workflow that they want you to be able to be prudently involved in, some minimal/basic training is required and expected. Stick up for yourself. We have a role in teaching others how to treat us.