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After becoming a registered nurse (RN), you can pursue several leadership roles to advance your career. An RN with clinical experience, advanced education, and a passion for leadership may qualify for a position as a charge nurse. The role comes with greater leadership opportunities and typically a higher salary.

If you’re interested in this path, explore what a charge nurse does, including the daily duties, work environment, salary expectations, and required qualifications for this leadership role.

What’s a Charge Nurse?

Charge nurses supervise a unit or department within a health care facility, while also providing direct patient care alongside other RNs. They oversee nursing staff, assigning duties to other nurses within the unit, and ensure that care is delivered effectively and collaboratively. Their responsibilities often include coordinating schedules and delegating tasks to keep the unit running smoothly.

Unlike unit managers, however, charge nurses are typically assigned to specific shifts within a nursing unit, rather than overseeing broader administrative and leadership functions. As a result, they generally don’t handle the higher-level operational responsibilities that nursing unit managers often take on.

What a Charge Nurse Does: Daily Responsibilities

A charge nurse’s day-to-day duties encompass a wide range of responsibilities, requiring patience and strong multitasking skills. While specific duties can vary, charge nurses typically perform the following:

• Provide bedside care to patients

• Work closely with physicians to coordinate patient care

• Prepare and maintain schedules for RNs in the nursing unit, ensuring appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios

• Supervise staff

• Assign nurses to specific cases

• Manage supply inventory

• Oversee admissions and discharges

• Ensure compliance with policies and procedures

The exact duties a charge nurse performs depend on the facility, the nursing unit, and the day-to-day needs. Many RNs who become charge nurses continue to provide direct patient care, while others may spend more of their time overseeing nursing staff, communicating with physicians, and reporting to other leaders.

Work Environment

An experienced RN will easily recognize the work environment of a charge nurse. These professionals often work side by side with RNs but have supervisory responsibilities in addition to their typical day-to-day duties. Many charge nurses work in hospitals and other medical settings, including the following:

• Urgent care clinics

• Physicians’ offices

• Medical clinics

• Nursing homes

Charge nurses divide their time between supervisory, administrative, and clinical duties. While many tasks are performed on the clinic or hospital floor, some require extended periods in an office setting.

Charge Nurse Career Outlook and Salary Expectations

Charge nurses typically earn more than staff RNs due to their expanded leadership responsibilities. According to Payscale, charge nurses earned a median annual salary of about $87,000 as of October 2025.

RNs, however, earned a median annual salary of about $77,000 as of November 2025, according to Payscale.

Salaries can vary widely based on factors such as level of experience, education, and geographic location. Charge nurses in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for example, earn a bit less than the national median. However, the cost of living in those cities is substantially lower than the national average, according to Payscale.

City	Charge Nurse Hourly Wage	Charge Nurse Annual Salary	Cost of Living Compared to National Average
Tulsa	$37/hour	~$77,000	7% lower
Oklahoma City	$29.50/hour	~$61,000	18% lower

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t publish career outlook data specifically for charge nurses, but it projects the number of RNs to increase by 5% between 2024 and 2034, a growth rate that’s faster than the national average. The expansion of the RN workforce will create about 166,000 new jobs, presenting abundant job opportunities for new and existing nurses.

Employment growth for nurses in Oklahoma will be on par with the national average for RNs, expanding at a nearly 5% rate between 2022 and 2032, creating roughly 1,800 new jobs in the state, according to Projections Central.

How to Become a Charge Nurse

In addition to understanding what a charge nurse does, nursing professionals should take time to explore the steps required to advance to this leadership role:

1. Earn an undergraduate degree in nursing. Charge nurses usually have either a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). Many employers prefer a BSN.

2. Gain clinical experience. The required years of clinical experience can vary from three to 10 years, so nurses should review specific positions to see if they have the necessary experience to become a charge nurse.

3. Pursue an advanced nursing degree. While not always required, a graduate nursing education can help nurses advance into leadership roles. RNs with BSNs should consider enrolling in a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program to improve their chances of advancing into this leadership role.

Skills Needed to Become a Charge Nurse

Stepping into a leadership position requires a specific set of skills. To succeed as a charge nurse, reflecting on ways to improve these skills through hands-on experience or a degree program is important:

• Soft skills: Charge nurses need to continue to communicate empathetically, work as team players, and network to be successful in their roles.

• Decision-making skills: Scheduling a nursing unit and supervising patient care require fast and effective decision-making skills.

• Clinical skills: While handling additional administrative tasks, charge nurses need to continue to deliver exceptional patient care.

• Leadership skills: Charge nurses must perform all their daily tasks with a commitment to leading by example to provide mentorship and guidance to other nurses in the unit.

Advancement Opportunities for Charge Nurses

Charge nurses looking to advance their careers can choose from many different paths. Depending on the type of role they want to pursue, taking the next step may entail additional education or training. Some common career paths for charge nurses include the following:

• Nurse manager: Nurse managers generally have broader administrative and supervisory responsibilities than charge nurses. They often handle staffing, budgeting, policy compliance, and overall operations for an entire unit or department, with less focus on direct patient care.

• Director of nursing: A director of nursing oversees nursing staff and operations for an entire facility. In addition to managing staffing and budgeting, they set policy and serve as a liaison between nursing staff and executive leadership.

• Chief nursing officer: A CNO is the most senior nursing role in a health care organization, responsible for the overall strategic direction of nursing services, setting standards of care, financial forecasting, and serving on the executive leadership team.

Explore the MSN Program at The University of Tulsa

Becoming a charge nurse is a significant step in your leadership journey. Whether you’re working to become a unit manager, a director of nursing, or a charge nurse, preparing with the right degree program is important. Through The University of Tulsa’s online MSN program, you can earn your MSN in a flexible environment.

Learn more about this degree option to see how you can gain the qualifications and leadership skills you need to pursue a career as a nurse leader.

Recommended Readings

How an MSN Can Improve Nurse Retention

Rural vs. Urban Health in OK: The Role of Nurse Leaders

Your Guide to Nursing Leadership Certifications

Sources:

American Nurses Association, Charge Nurse vs. Nurse Manager: What’s the Difference?

American Nurses Association, How to Become a Director of Nursing

American Nurses Association, What Is a Chief Nursing Officer/Chief Nurse Executive?

Payscale, Average Charge Nurse (RN) Hourly Pay in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Payscale, Average Charge Nurse (RN) Hourly Pay in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Payscale, Cost of Living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Payscale, Cost of Living in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Projections Central, Long-Term Occupational Projections (2022-2032)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Registered Nurses