Charge Nurse, UofL Hospital, Obstetrics Mother Baby, 7p-7a

Charge Nurse

The Charge Nurse plays a pivotal leadership role in supporting the Clinical Manager and/or Nursing Director in the day-to-day operations of the unit. This includes active involvement in staff scheduling, patient and preceptor assignments, resource management, and performance evaluations. The Charge Nurse also champions quality improvement initiatives, ensuring that care delivery aligns with best practices and organizational goals.

As a clinical and professional resource, the Charge Nurse provides guidance, mentorship, and education to nursing staff, fostering a collaborative and informed care environment. This role is instrumental in driving service excellence, engaging in service recovery efforts, and promoting a culture of compassion and responsiveness for both internal and external stakeholders.

Beyond daily operations, the Charge Nurse serves as a visible role model for professional nursing practice. This includes active participation in departmental initiativessuch as the pursuit of Magnet designationand representation on organizational committees. Through their leadership, presence, and advocacy, the Charge Nurse helps shape a high-performing, patient-centered care culture.

Essential Functions:

• Actively contributes to evaluating and efficiently fulfilling staffing and resource needs within the department's budget. Collaborates with unit nursing leadership to make thoughtful preceptor and nurse assignments, ensuring patient care responsibilities are aligned with staff expertise and patient acuity. Takes ownership of unit operations on a shift-by-shift basis to maintain seamless and effective care delivery.
• Serves as a role model for staff regarding customer relations, monitors unit customer service and intervenes as necessary; rounds on internal and external customers based on unit requirements.
• Participates in employee evaluations, counsels and coaches employees when necessary, and implements disciplinary process according to policy including time and attendance issues; remains knowledgeable of regulatory standards and ensures staff are maintaining and adhering to all department and facility policies; maintains anecdotal documentation such as capturing qualitative insights that may not be reflected in formal reports or metrics and supporting performance evaluations, coaching or follow-up discussion with real-life context.
• Participates in the review and investigation of occurrence reports; intervenes and develops action plans for actual events and near misses and shares the results with staff.
• Acts as a clinical resource and may assist with education and may dispense education for staff as needed; may be responsible for interviewing, scheduling, expediting patient flow, promoting efficiency within the unit and management of productivity.

Other Functions:

• Consistently upholds the Code of Ethics for Nurses. This framework provides a principled foundation for ethical nursing practice and sound decision-making in complex care environments.
• Maintains compliance with all company policies, procedures and standards of conduct
• Complies with HIPAA privacy and security requirements to maintain confidentiality at all times.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education:

• Associate Degree in Nursing from an accredited/approved school of nursing (Required)
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited/approved school of nursing (Preferred).

Experience:

• A minimum of 6 months frontline patient care experience (Required)
• One (1) year of frontline patient care experience (Preferred).

Licensure: Active Kentucky Registered Nurse License or compact license with privileges to work in Kentucky (Required).

Certification:

• Basic Life Support (BLS) accredited by the American Heart Association (AHA) (Required)
• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) accredited by the American Heart Association (AHA) (Preferred) unless the role is within a department where it is a mandatory requirement.
• National Nursing Certification in Field of Specialty obtained, if not held at time of hire (Preferred).
• Note: Additional, specialized certifications may be required or preferred based on unit.