You're charge tonight. Now what?
Leading on the Floor
A Practical Guide to Leading the Shift, Managing Your Team, and Handling the Stuff Nobody Teaches You
One minute you're a solid bedside nurse. The next, you're holding the phone, the board, the assignments, the medics lining up in the hallway, and the room that's about to go bad. Leading on the Floor is the short, straight-talking, darkly funny guide for nurses who got put in charge without formal leadership training, and it reads like a coworker talking you through the shift, not a textbook.
What's inside
The First Fifteen Minutes
Build the shift before the shift builds you. Read the board, check the staff list, and set up your team before things get busy.
The Three-Bucket Rule
Needs Me Now. Needs Me Soon. Can Wait. A fast way to sort the chaos when everything lands at once.
In Charge, Not the Boss
Delegate, set boundaries, and say no when yes would bury your nurses.
Talking Up the Chain
Call the supervisor, push for a patient who's getting worse, and take it up the chain.
Latest from X
From @survivormangrn. Static copies, no tracking widgets.
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Short staffing from the charge desk: You build the assignment twice before shift starts. You take patients yourself. You decide who skips lunch, and it's usually you. Then someone asks why the waiting room is full. The board was never the problem. The math was.
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A good shift usually doesn't happen by accident. You build it. How I set up a department as ED charge 🧵
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"How's it look?"
"Honestly? Not bad. Waiting room's light."
Never say that to a black cloud. Never.
"Light" is not a description. It's a dare. -
The paperback is here. 🌩️
For the charge nurse who wants something to throw across the break room, or the new charge nurse you're trying to help survive.
Paperback: amazon.com/dp/B0HMXK2N48 Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B0HMXG573B -
You're charge tonight. Now what? 🌩️
Leading on the Floor: a practical, darkly funny guide for new charge nurses. Assignments, the Three-Bucket Rule, escalation scripts, making sure people eat.
Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B0HMXG573B Paperback: amazon.com/dp/B0HMXK2N48 -
Every nurse has a superstition. Mine was a greeting:
“Welcome to your shift. I promise that today you will utilize the full scope of your clinical skills.”
It was always said in jest.
Mostly. #NurseTwitter
From the blog
- Everybody Eats a Slice of the Pain Cake: Fair Assignments Without a Mutiny
Every department has the assignment nobody wants. Here's how a charge nurse spreads it out fairly, handles pushback, and keeps the team on their side. - The Three-Bucket Rule: How to Triage Your Own Brain at the Charge Desk
Everything feels urgent when you're charge. It isn't. Sort every problem into Needs Me Now, Needs Me Soon, or Can Wait. - The First Fifteen Minutes: Build the Charge Shift Before It Builds You
Your first fifteen minutes as charge decide the next twelve hours. Board first, staff second, then build. Here's how to use them.
About the author
Survivor Mang RN has spent ten years in the emergency department as a nurse and charge nurse. Along the way, he learned the hard way that charge isn't about doing everything yourself. His advice hasn't changed: see the whole board, take one problem at a time, and make sure people eat. He was known as a black cloud. He'd like you to know that isn't contagious. This is his first book.
Review copies
Reviewers, podcasters, and nurse educators: want a free ebook review copy? Email survivormangrn@gmail.com.
Email list coming soon
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