My manager pulled me aside today and asked if I'd take a permanent charge role on our oncology unit. I've been relief charge for about a year so I know what I'm walking into. The differential is $1.50 an hour.
I keep doing the math and it's like $36 a shift to be the one who gets called about every staffing hole, every family complaint, every pharmacy delay, every time someone doesn't show. I'd still take a patient assignment some nights. My coworkers say I'd be good at it. I think I would be too, honestly. But I also really like just having my 4 patients and going home.
For those of you who are permanent charge, is it worth it for the career stuff down the line, or did you wish you'd stayed on the floor? What's charge diff where you are?
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Post replyWanting your 4 patients and going home is not a lack of ambition. Some of the best nurses I know have never wanted charge and the unit runs better because they're on it.
Ours is $2.25 and we still can't keep anyone in the role. Every time someone steps down management acts shocked. Maybe if the person fielding every callout and every angry family made more than a pharmacy tech we'd have some continuity.
Before you say yes, ask what happens to your assignment on nights you're charge. If the answer is "it depends on census," that means you'll have patients every time it's busy, which is exactly when you can't.
Did permanent charge on a med-surg floor for almost four years. It absolutely helped when I interviewed for my educator role because I had real examples of conflict resolution and staffing decisions. But the last year I dreaded every shift, and I didn't realize how much until I stepped down and slept through the night again.
Small thing but $1.50 on a 12 is $18 a shift, not $36. Unless you're doing 24s, in which case you have bigger problems than charge diff.