The first thing I've learned while being in charge is that the best laid plans can be shattered in a mere instant. You can have all your staffing numbers planned out and jivin', life is good, and then it can all go to hell the next time the phone rings (RN sick calls, calls from ER telling me they have a patient for us, ER calling back to tell us that aforementioned patient is REALLY sick, supervisor calling back to tell me that said patient is SO sick that they have decided to chuck all the heroic efforts, make him comfy and send him to the medical floor, O.R. calling at 7pm to tell me that the patient they have for us won't be back until midnight, then O.R. calling an hour later to tell me that the patient will be here in 20 minutes.) All of those scenarios involved me making a decision about the number of nurses I needed. When OR told me that the patient wouldn't be back until midnight, I sent a nurse home. When they called an hour later to tell me they were coming in 20 minutes, I had to rearrange the assignments, which is fun for, oh, NO ONE! It was all well and good yesterday because I was still being precepted, which means that I always had someone right next to me telling me whether I made a good decision or not.

I've also learned that you have to hold an unbelievable amount of information in your head. I'm good at that, though. My short term memory is excellent, and thank goodness.

I've learned that when your coworkers find out that you are training to be in charge, they will tease you mercilessly, right down to my stupid new shoes becoming my new "charge shoes." (Never mind that the old ones are in tatters.)

Lastly, I've learned that I may actually be capable of being competent at it. We'll see. In about a year :-)