| Course | NURS 6221 Managing Human Resources |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 4 |
| Paper type | Position description |
| Length | About 510 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6221 Week 4
Position Description: Charge Nurse, Progressive Care Unit (No Patient Assignment)
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6221: Managing Human Resources
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Position Description: Charge Nurse, Progressive Care Unit (No Patient Assignment)
Position Details
Title: Charge Nurse, Progressive Care. Department: Nursing, Progressive Care Unit. Reports to: Nurse Manager, Progressive Care Unit. Shift: 12-hour day or night shifts, including weekends and holidays in rotation.
Position summary: The charge nurse coordinates patient flow, staffing and care on the progressive care unit for a full shift without carrying a patient assignment. The role exists so that one registered nurse is always free to support staff, respond to deterioration and manage admissions and transfers.
Essential Functions
1. Makes patient assignments at the start of each shift and as census changes, using the unit acuity tool and staff competencies (about 15% of the shift).
2. Coordinates admissions, transfers and discharges with the house supervisor, emergency department and intensive care unit (about 25%).
3. Responds to changes in patient condition, supports nurses during rapid responses and codes, and escalates to providers when needed (about 20%).
4. Supervises delegation within teams and provides clinical guidance to registered nurses, practical nurses and patient care technicians (about 15%).
5. Monitors staffing against the grid for the next shift, identifies gaps and arranges coverage (about 10%).
6. Leads a start-of-shift huddle and communicates safety concerns to the nurse manager (about 10%).
7. Documents staffing decisions, incidents and patient flow events in the required systems (about 5%).
Other Duties (Marginal)
Restocks supplies when support staff are unavailable. Assists with unit projects and audits as assigned. Precepts new charge nurses in the second half of their orientation. Participates in unit meetings.
Qualifications
Required: current registered nurse license in the state; at least two years of experience as a registered nurse in progressive care, intermediate care or critical care; current BLS and ACLS certification. Preferred: bachelor's degree in nursing; progressive care certification; prior charge nurse experience.
Competencies, Tied to Functions
Acuity-based assignment (Function 1): matches patient needs to nurses' skills rather than balancing patient counts, consistent with the principle that appropriate staffing aligns competencies with patient needs (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses [AACN], 2016).
Rapid assessment and escalation (Function 3): recognizes early deterioration on cardiac monitoring and clinical assessment.
Delegation and supervision (Function 4): applies national delegation guidelines, including assessing whether the delegatee is competent for a task and following up on its completion (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2016).
Negotiation (Functions 2 and 5): negotiates bed placement and staff coverage with other departments under time pressure.
Physical and Environmental Demands
Standing and walking for most of a 12-hour shift. Lifting or moving patients with assistance during emergencies, including during chest compressions. Sustained attention and rapid decision-making under pressure, with frequent interruptions. Exposure to bloodborne pathogens and infectious disease. These demands are spelled out because the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) gives a job's essential functions a central place whenever an employee asks for an accommodation, and a vague description makes that conversation harder for everyone.
Classification
Pay grade, exemption status and wage classification are determined by Human Resources and are not set in this description.
References
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (2016). AACN standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments: A journey to excellence (2nd ed.).
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (1990).
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2016). National guidelines for nursing delegation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(1), 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(16)31035-3
NURS 6221 Week 4 instructions, in plain terms
The fourth NURS 6221 week commonly asks for a position description for a nursing role. You write position details, essential and marginal functions, qualifications, competencies, physical demands and classification in a working document format. Faculty mark it as a working document, so an essay about the role misses the genre. Cite competency frameworks and relevant law in APA 7. A position description differs from a job posting by defining the role for evaluation and legal purposes. Showing the share of time per function helps ADA analysis. Naming specific laws is appropriate where they apply. A practical format uses short headings in the order a recruiter reads them: position details, summary, essential functions with time shares, marginal duties, qualifications, competencies, physical demands and classification. Each essential function line starts with an action verb and states what the charge nurse does and how often.
How the NURS 6221 Week 4 example is put together
The document follows the format a hospital human resources office would recognize: title, department, reporting line, position summary, essential functions, other duties, qualifications, competencies, physical and environmental demands, and a classification line. The summary runs two sentences. Essential functions are written as actions with objects, such as making assignments at the start of each shift using the acuity measure, and each is followed by the approximate share of a shift it takes. Marginal duties sit in a separate list. Competencies are tied to named functions rather than listed as virtues. The demands section describes what the work requires, standing, lifting in emergencies and sustained attention, because the ADA gives essential functions a central place whenever accommodation is discussed.
Reading the NURS 6221 Week 4 rubric
Position descriptions are marked as working documents, so a submission reading like an essay about the charge nurse role has misread the genre before its content is weighed. Credit gathers mostly around the essential functions, which have to be specific actions tied to the work rather than responsibilities phrased as qualities. Separating essential from marginal duties is credited separately almost everywhere, since the distinction carries weight in later hiring and accommodation decisions. Competencies with no function behind them read as a wish list. Legal content is read for restraint: the laws that shape a position description may be named, but forecasting how any of them would play out for a particular employee reads as overreach. Format consistency takes the remainder.
Common NURS 6221 Week 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Position descriptions drop points when written as prose paragraphs. Use headings and short lines. Another common gap is mixing essential and marginal duties. Separate them. Writers also list competencies unconnected to functions. Tie each one. Avoid vague verbs such as handle. Use specific actions. Include physical demands. Note FLSA classification. Close with the reporting relationship. Time shares across essential functions should add to roughly the full shift. Check that each qualification is truly required rather than preferred, and label preferred items separately.
Get a NURS 6221 Week 4 example written to your instructions
Name the role the assignment covers and attach the prompt, the rubric and whatever template the classroom uses; a position description for that role follows. Free for your first custom request, with 24 to 48 hour turnaround. Because the charge nurse role here belongs to a fictional unit, job descriptions your employer wrote are never involved.
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NURS 6221 Week 4 questions, answered
How is a position description different from a job posting?
A posting advertises; a position description defines. The posting is written to attract candidates and may leave details out, while the description records what the role actually requires and is consulted later, when someone asks whether a hiring or performance decision was fair. The sample is written for that second reader, which is why its functions and demands are so precise.
Why include the share of the shift each function takes?
Because it shows what the role actually is. A charge nurse description listing ten functions without proportions could describe very different jobs. Approximate time shares also help separate essential from marginal duties, since a task filling a large part of every shift is hard to call marginal. If your template has no place for them, they can be dropped.
Should the description name specific laws?
It can name them where they shape the document, and the sample does so briefly: the ADA beside essential functions and physical demands, and the Fair Labor Standards Act in the classification line. It stops there. A nursing course reads for managerial judgment, and a description that interprets how a law would apply to one employee has gone beyond its purpose.
Where can I find a free NURS 6221 Week 4 sample paper?
The charge nurse position description is reproduced here with details, essential and marginal functions, qualifications, tied competencies, demands and classification.
Which role is described in NURS 6221 Week 4?
A charge nurse on a progressive care unit who carries no patient assignment.