• Anne Miller and Peter I Buerhaus.
• Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies, School of Nurising, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. anne.miller@vanderbilt.edu
• Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2013 Jan 1;39(1):38-47.

BackgroundRecent findings that variations in nursing workload may affect inpatient outcomes now highlight nurse workload management and the need for an updated analysis of the role of the charge nurse (CN).MethodsObservational data for eight CNs, each at one of eight ICUs in a not-for-profit Level 1 Trauma Center, coded to capture interprofessional interactions, decision making, team coordination phases, and support tools. A researcher shadowed each participant for 12 hours. Each shift began and ended with a face-to-face handoff that included summaries of each patient's condition; the current bed census; anticipated admissions, discharges, and transfers; and the number of nurses available to work the current and coming two shifts. The researcher, using a notebook, recorded the substantive content of all work conversations initiated by or directed to the CN from physicians, staff nurses, allied health workers, other employees, and patients/families. The tools used to support conversations were collected as blank forms or computer screen prints and annotated to describe how they were used, when, and for what purpose.FindingsStatistically significant three-way interactions suggest that CNs' conversations with colleagues depend on the team coordination phase and the decision-making level, and that the support tools that CNs use when talking to colleagues depend on the decision-making level and the team coordination phase.ConclusionsThe role of ICU CNs appears to be continuing to evolve, now encompassing unit resource management in addition to supervising care delivery. Effective support tools, together with education that would enhance communication and resource management skills, will be essential to CNs' ability to support unit resilience and adaptability in an increasingly complex environment.

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