Charge Nurse Experience
NURS 130
September 22, 2010
All nurses have multiple duties that they must complete during their entire shift. The types of duties can vary during the day and on some days, they can be very overwhelming. This is especially true for a charge nurse. “Charge nurses are expected to lead staff while managing the work systems and processes on their units to ensure that the needs of patients are met” (, 2009). Upon observation, the charge nurse at a geriatric facility has many duties. They are in charge of the unit operations for their given shift. Some of those duties include the admit and the discharge of patients. Also during the shift, they need to decide which patients will be assigned to each nurse. They also are responsible for the administrative and managerial duties for the shift. If there is a shortage of nurses during the given shift or if there are too many duties for a given nurse to complete, the charge nurse may step in and offer help to complete the duties that need to be completed. The charge nurse will also supervise the work that is done by the nurses on the given shift. One of the main differences with the roles of a charge nurse and the adult day care would be the level of responsibility. Not only is the charge nurse responsible for patients, they are also responsible for the other nurses and also the management side for the shift. If something were to happen in the adult day care, they would have to report it to the charge nurse and then the charge would have to report it to upper management. They would also have to make sure the patients were okay. A charge nurse can either be an LPN, ADN or a BSN graduate. At major hospitals, a BSN graduate would usually be the charge nurse. Typically, the charge nurse will have a lot of experience and they will not let a new graduate become the charge nurse. The charge nurse also usually has been with the facility for a while as they know the operations very well. As for the legal practice of a charge
September 22, 2010
All nurses have multiple duties that they must complete during their entire shift. The types of duties can vary during the day and on some days, they can be very overwhelming. This is especially true for a charge nurse. “Charge nurses are expected to lead staff while managing the work systems and processes on their units to ensure that the needs of patients are met” (, 2009). Upon observation, the charge nurse at a geriatric facility has many duties. They are in charge of the unit operations for their given shift. Some of those duties include the admit and the discharge of patients. Also during the shift, they need to decide which patients will be assigned to each nurse. They also are responsible for the administrative and managerial duties for the shift. If there is a shortage of nurses during the given shift or if there are too many duties for a given nurse to complete, the charge nurse may step in and offer help to complete the duties that need to be completed. The charge nurse will also supervise the work that is done by the nurses on the given shift. One of the main differences with the roles of a charge nurse and the adult day care would be the level of responsibility. Not only is the charge nurse responsible for patients, they are also responsible for the other nurses and also the management side for the shift. If something were to happen in the adult day care, they would have to report it to the charge nurse and then the charge would have to report it to upper management. They would also have to make sure the patients were okay. A charge nurse can either be an LPN, ADN or a BSN graduate. At major hospitals, a BSN graduate would usually be the charge nurse. Typically, the charge nurse will have a lot of experience and they will not let a new graduate become the charge nurse. The charge nurse also usually has been with the facility for a while as they know the operations very well. As for the legal practice of a charge
References: (2009). Navigate Nursing. Retrieved from http://www.navigatenursing.org/PDFs/charge%20nurse.pdf