As a registered nurse (RN), you know the difference strong leadership can make in the nursing profession. Leaders who are excellent communicators and who can inspire and motivate their teams can have a tremendous impact on setting the tone in a work environment. These leaders can make or break a workplace and make it one where nurses anticipate coming to work daily to provide the best care possible and problem-solve alongside colleagues. Nurse managers and charge nurses are among the leadership positions that play essential roles in nursing workplaces, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics.
You may be asking yourself whether you should pursue a career as a nurse manager and what the role of a charge nurse in a hospital is. In this blog post, we’ll go into detail about the differences between nurse managers and charge nurses so you can decide if you’d like to pursue either of these nursing leadership roles in the future, especially if you’d like to be among the top leaders in healthcare, many of whom are women leaders in healthcare. Keep reading to learn more about these roles, how you can pursue nurse management and charge nursing positions, and what nursing leaders have to say about these positions.
What Is a Charge Nurse?
A charge nurse is a registered nurse in a leadership position overseeing a nursing unit or department. Their responsibilities include both nursing and administrative tasks, which entail coordinating nurse schedules, delegating assignments and tasks to nurses, managing supplies such as medications, and keeping track of patient admissions and discharges. Generally, a charge nurse will work to ensure their department is functioning smoothly.
Additional responsibilities of charge nurses include overseeing shift transition, liaising between doctors and nurses, enforcing protocols and procedures in the unit, and managing their own patients, as these leaders also provide patient care in addition to their management, leadership, and administrative duties.
Charge nurses should have excellent communication skills, be well organized, remain calm under pressure, be able to make quick decisions, and know how to balance multiple demands, projects, and responsibilities. This nursing leadership role involves mentorship and may be filled by a baby boomer who is a practicing nurse and wants to share their decades of nursing experience and proven skillset with a younger generation who will need to fill in the gaps due to the nursing shortage, which is creating challenges for hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
While charge nurse salaries vary depending on several factors, such as location and experience level, the average salary of a charge nurse is $82,980 per year with an average bonus of $1,550. The city where charge nurses earn the most is San Francisco, California, where charge nurses earn an average of $117,041, substantially higher than the national average.
What Is a Nurse Manager?
Nurse managers are registered nurses in managerial and administrative positions who link nurses and upper management. Their responsibilities include supervising nurses, monitoring and training nursing personnel, organizing meetings, making budget and HR decisions, creating work schedules, managing staffing issues, and ensuring effective operations.
According to RN Dawn Beemer, nurse managers’ roles also include the following: “Nurse managers duties in a hospital setting involve managing their respective areas, floors or units. It would include the things you would expect such as the hiring of staff, budget of the unit, scheduling, conflict resolution, and patient satisfaction.”
Nurse managers can work various roles in various settings, such as nursing faculty in a nursing school, consultants in the private sector, clinical administrators for a specific facility department, and more.
If you’re unclear about the difference between a charge nurse and a nurse manager, Jay Hanig, a retired RN from Topsail Beach, NC, describes it this way: “The head nurse/nurse manager is the permanent link to upper management for the unit. The charge nurse is whoever happens to be in charge at any particular moment.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay in 2022 for a medical and health services manager, which would be the approximate nurse manager's salary, was $104,830 annually or $50.40 hourly. Salaries vary based on factors such as location and experience, with nurse managers who have more experience earning significantly higher salaries than those who are more junior in these roles. For example, nurse managers in their first year in this role can expect an hourly rate of around $28.11, whereas nurse managers with a decade or more of experience earn approximately $49.26 per hour or higher.
How Do You Become a Charge Nurse?
To become a charge nurse, you must also demonstrate leadership qualities that set you apart from other nurses. Leadership qualities include empathy, organization, problem-solving, communication, and multitasking skills.
According to Nurse David, customer service is an underrated quality that nurses in this role need. “The first thing that I believe all charge nurses should have is good customer service. Some of the strongest nurses in this role I know are cool, calm and knowledgeable,” he says. “Being able to apply good customer service, remaining calm in stressful situations, having knowledge that you can spread to your fellow nurses and just acting as a resource [is key].”
Charge nurses, like many other professionals in leadership positions, also need to be prepared to serve those around them through their roles. “By becoming a charge nurse you are actually becoming a servant on several levels. You serve the facility that your unit is in. You serve the nurses, CNAs, and other personnel that you are leading. You also serve the physicians that are responsible for the patients in your unit,” says James Burdine, an RN.
How Do You Become a Nurse Manager?
To become a nurse manager, you usually must have attended a college or university and graduate with a BSN before passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) to receive a nursing license.
RNs need to gain hands-on clinical experience for at least five years (although this qualification depends on various factors, such as supply and demand where you are looking to secure a job) and—in some cases—complete advanced educational programs, which may include Masters of Science in Nursing (MSNs), Doctorates of Nursing Practice (DNPs), or Masters of Business Administration (MBAs). While advanced degrees may be required for some nurse management roles, they may be optional and considered assets in others.
To be successful as a nurse manager, it’s important to demonstrate the following leadership skills and qualities:
- Strong communication
- Time management
- Critical thinking
- Flexibility
- Organization
- Problem-solving
Nurse managers such as Mia Shein speak about other important leadership qualities, given the tension which can arise in this management role. “There are many skills that nurse leaders need to be successful, but one that might not be spoken of as often is the ability to manage and resolve conflict,” she says.
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