Transitioning into Leadership: Becoming a Charge Nurse
Becoming a Charge Nurse
If you’re interested in becoming a charge nurse, you’re likely passionate not only about patient care, but leadership in your field. Charge nurses provide and maintain a leadership hierarchy within smaller sections of the hospital called units., Charge nurses are in charge of the other nurses, admissions and discharge, staffing, and more. Not only are they still able to maintain bedside responsibilities and skills but also are able to use and hone leadership skills. They basically run the unit for the 12 hours that they’re there.
In this article, we’ll help you decide if becoming a charge nurse is right for you by exploring the who, what, when, where, why, and how of becoming and being a charge nurse!
Who should be a charge nurse?
Charge nurses should be the most experienced nurses on the floor and those with the best leadership skills. It’s also important that they are enthusiastic and ambitious, willing to learn, and grow into their new roles as leaders. Not every nurse is cut out to be a charge nurse.
What does a charge nurse do?
What exactly is a charge nurse, you may be asking. When working with a group of nurses on every 12 hour shift, there’s a nurse called a charge nurse. They are involved in being a resource, scheduling, dealing with patient assignments, and planning for the next shift. They have leadership skills along with clinical skills, making them the perfect mix of clinical and leadership.
It depends on the unit, but most charge nurses will continue to provide patient care with a reduced assignment. Some units may have charge nurses take no assignments, such as on a high acuity intensive care unit, so that they can provide more hands-on support to the other nurses.
They also make assignments and deal with staffing issues throughout the shifts. This includes deciding what nurse should take care of which patients, how many nurses are needed in general, and more.
Charge nurses will often assist the unit manager in things like staff meetings, running committees, and developing the full schedule of all the nurses, techs, and other staff.
Where do they work?
Every unit in a hospital needs a charge nurse for every shift. This requires multiple nurses being able to take on the responsibilities. Each unit will have a few nurses that can alternate serving as a charge nurse for each shift so that there’s always a charge nurse on the schedule.
Not only do charge nurses work in hospital settings, they can work in any healthcare setting. Outpatient clinics will have a smaller group of registered nurses, likely with one serving as something similar to a charge nurse but called something else like a supervising nurse or a registered nurse level II.
Why are they important?
Charge nurses are important because they are the point of contact for nurses, physicians, and hospital administration. They help coordinate the best care for the patients on their units and keep everything running smoothly.
Without a charge nurse, a unit would be much more chaotic. Physicians wouldn’t know which nurse is caring for which patient. Nurses wouldn’t be able to coordinate care and do things like carry out orders, admit, or discharge patients. Hospital administration wouldn’t be able to tell when they have room for more patients, know where to put patients, or when there are issues.
Charge nurses are an integral piece of both the clinical staff as well as the leadership staff that aides the administrative staff.
How do you become a charge nurse?
Becoming a charge nurse may sound like an exciting next step for any registered staff nurse on most units, but how is it actually done?
There are three primary steps in becoming a charge nurse and we’ll dive into each of them below:
Become a registered nurse
This one seems obvious but you have to be a nurse before you can be in chargeof other nurses! Getting your degree, passing the NCLEX, getting your license, and getting a job all have to happen before you can even think about becoming a charge nurse.
2. Gain nursing experience
Once you get a registered nurse job, you’re not ready right away for the charge nurse role. As a charge nurse, you’ll serve as a resource for all other nurses working with you on your shift. Because of this, you need to be an expert which only comes with experience.
3. Demonstrate leadership skills
Once you feel comfortable in your role as a staff nurse, start distinguishing yourself as a leader apart from the other staff. This could be volunteering for an extra shift (occasionally- don’t burn yourself out!), lead a meeting, run a committee or a project, precept new nurses or nursing students, or even just help out your fellow nurses more at work. These actions will prove you have the leadership skills necessary for a role like charge nurse.
Perks of being a charge nurse
Not only do you gain more patient care experience as well as leadership skills, being a charge nurse has other perks.
The national nursing shortage in general means that charge nurses are harder to find as well. It’s estimated that the nursing profession will grow by 12% by 2028, below the previous average. This makes the career outlook look great for charge nurses as they’ll always be needed!
The salaries for charge nurses are also generally higher. The average annual nurse salary is $70,000 to $80,000 while the average salary for charge nurses is $90,000 up to $100,000.
Besides these obvious perks, you’ll feel more purpose and responsibility at work. You’ll be able to manage a team and learn what works and what doesn’t. You’ll learn about yourself more than anything.
So, if you’re ready to start talking about becoming a charge nurse, schedule a EARN evaluation to discuss with a peer today!
References:
https://nurse.org/resources/charge-nurse/
https://nursejournal.org/articles/what-does-it-take-to-become-an-effective-charge-nurse/
https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-information/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/charge-nurse-salary
Biography:
Alison Shely, DNP, FNP-C is a nurse practitioner, nurse coach, yoga teacher, and nurse writer who specializes in articles, blogging, and copy. She has been in nursing since 2014, working in intensive care, women’s health, and primary care as a registered nurse and family nurse practitioner. She has written for a variety of publications including Rncareers.org, Moxie Scrubs, Aspen University, and more. She is also the winner of the 2020 Shift Report writing contest for Next Level Nursing. Her specialty topics include mental health, health and wellness, yoga philosophy and practice, and community health. She also serves as a mental health coach primarily to other nurses and healthcare workers concerning healthy lifestyles and mental health.
