Personal Narrative: Shadowing The Charge Nurse

Shadowing the Charge Nurse and being the Peer Team Leader was an interesting experience. I thought I had some idea of what these two jobs entailed, but there is definitely more that goes into the roles than I knew about. In the morning, I followed the Charge Nurse Kristy. She was great at explaining to me everything she was doing and allowing me to watch and even help with everything she had to do to get the morning started. Rounds start on the unit at 1000, and Kristy had three different lists for each of the teams of doctors. She had to go through and highlight the patients that were on the unit, their code status and prism score, whom their nurse was, and the nurse’s phone number. She likes to have this finished by 0900 because at that time she has to attend the staffing meeting
Leadership style varies upon everyone but I feel as though Kristy had a very approachable style. She treated everyone as an equal and communicated with them in that way, too. Her role requires her to critical think not only with time management, but also keeping the unit organized by deciding in which order new admits should be given which room, if any of the nurses need assistance, and things like that. As the Team Peer Leader, I tried to use the same type of leadership and communication styles as Kristy. I treated everyone as an equal and my peer especially since I only have the same amount of experience as them. I feel as though my communication was successful and receptive with my peers. Throughout the day, I definitely noticed that it was a team effort. It takes a lot of people to make sure everything runs smoothly and yes there is technically one person in charge but everyone works together. I think that is crucial in making sure a unit is a good as it can be. Organization was super important in both roles to make sure everything was done on time and you were prepared for what was to come