I'm a UCN for a 120 bed SNF. Half the building is mine, the other half is split between two BSNs. I negotiated to be hourly, not salaried like they are so I have pressure to complete my job in 40 hours.
The floor nurses that work for me constantly complain about their workload. So, I spend a lot of time doing parts of their jobs for them to ease their stress. I do some of their charting, put in orders, make their phone calls when somebody falls or has a change in condition, etc etc. I don't take an office like the others. Instead I have a small desk (that's always a mess) right at the nurse's station so I'm available for everyone on my unit. I never pass a call light on a hall, so I can often be found changing pts or bedpans, getting someone some hot tea, or whatever. The CNAs love this. None of them can start an IV to save their lives so I do them all. I caught one of my nurses desperately trying to use her phone's calculator to figure out how to change an IV order. I told her "I used a dial-a-flow when I started it so you can just adjust it" to which she replied "What's that?"
Sometimes I take a cart when we have a call off that can't be covered. I love that because I find all kinds of stuff. Meds that people have been checking off as administered that we don't actually have. Dressings that haven't been changed, or that some nurse slapped on with no date and no name with no orders put in for it. I always educate extensively before writing anyone up. I cover for them with management above myself.
I tell everyone where I'm going for every meeting so they know where to find me if they need me and tell them don't hesitate to interrupt. I run our restorative nursing program for the entire building for anyone that doesn't qualify for therapy but can still be worked on with a team of four restorative aides. I coordinate this with the therapy director and dietary manager and do all the documentation for the program. I also attend every care plan meeting with family and patients with MDS, something the other UCNs don't do as it's not required.
There isn't a single patient or family member that I'm not on a first name basis with and they all have my personal cell phone number in case they ever need me for any reason day or night.
My first order of business in the morning is to scrub the 24 hour report and fix anything they fucked up. I once found an enteral feed order for a pt with no tube that had the indication listed as "Psychosis." No joke.
In return for all this I hear that management doesn't actually do anything. Constant rumors that I have my job because I'm sleeping with someone above me. That "we" don't care about anyone below us despite the fact that I've entirely restructured staffing based on complaints. One of my halls is down to 12 pts with three CNAs and they're still complaining. That ratio is nuts. One of my nurses even told me that she was going to get her RN and take my job. I told her she'd give it back in a week and that I wasn't worried.
The fact is, it doesn't much matter what you do as a manager. People are still going to hate you. But if your manager is just coasting along and not doing anything then they need to find another job. I'm not there to judge my nurses for what they do and don't know, or for their mistakes. The way I see I'm there to pick up their slack and teach them when they need it.
As for the patients, I have a famous artist, war veterans, and even a guy that used to play football in the NFL. Now they have to turn a light on because they shit themselves and they need a stranger to come clean them up. That sucks.
At the end of the day we're all nurses and we're in this shit together. Maybe it's because I'm male but I think all this bickering shit is ridiculous. I'm sorry you have a shitty charge nurse.