Charge Nurse Leaders

Everyday, nurses make tough decisions and manage many tasks at once. Nurses are expected to be knowledgeable, caring and efficient in their practice. Nurse leaders advocate, educate, manage and lead their team. Charge nurses are responsible for their unit. Nurses who work overnights are usually the only nurse on the floor and are in charge of ensuring patient safety is maintained and patient plan of care is followed. They are in charge of the certified nursing assistants(C.N.A’s) on the floor and that their tasks are completed appropriately. Despite that, not all charge nurses are considered nurse leaders. Nurse leaders are expected to not only manage but lead and motivate their team and adhere to the goals of the organization. For my assignment,

I’ve worked in the same facility as her and volunteered in another facility she worked in. I’ve seen her display leadership qualities since I was a child. She was always the last person to leave the unit because she made sure all the tasks and responsibilities were completed for the day. She would sit with residents whenever she had down time. I remember once a nonverbal resident was uninterested in eating. Muliptile C.N.A.’s tried to encourage the resident to eat but had no luck. My mother went into the room and sat with the patient. She asked her about her day and sang an irish lullaby to her. Once the women started eating, my mom encouraged one of the C.NA.’s to take over and convinced her to hum to the resident. When I look back, the leadership qualities she displayed seem natural and perfectly within her character. But, I think that’s what makes good leaders effective is that they lead without being obvious. They bring the best out in others by being the best versions of themselves.

I prepared by making a sheet to organize and jot down the information and data I received throughout the day. And, I had a focus plan on how I would lead my team. The one thing about new opportunities is that having a plan on paper never quite matches up to the real life experience. Fortunately, I have worked with my team members previously and knew some of their strengths and weaknesses. I tried not to micromanage and made sure to check base with them throughout the day. I made myself available as much as possible to help with treatments and any other needs. Most of my day was ensuring each one of my team members had the help they needed when they needed it. Receiving report from the night nurse was very different than what I expected. In my mind, I am so focused on the book-world that I am not as realistic as I should be about the real-world implications. Every nurse is different: the way they chart, communicate, the abbreviations they use and their thought process when an issue arises differs. I may see a situation one way while they see it another. I realized that in my practice, I will be advocating for my patients and their families a lot. One thing I really noticed was that the residents and family members lacked knowledge. It’s not an easy task to educate someone because they all have different learning styles and abilities. This ties into communicating with other specialties like physical