Delphine Marchetti Charge Nurse, Medical-Surgical and Telemetry Wichita, 67208, United States [email protected] · (316) 555-1378
11 September 2026
Mr. Desmond Whitlock Nurse Manager, Medical-Surgical Bell Creek Regional Medical Center Wichita, United States
Application for Charge Nurse, Medical-Surgical, Bell Creek Regional Medical Center
Dear Mr. Whitlock,
I am applying for the Charge Nurse post on the medical-surgical unit at Bell Creek Regional Medical Center. I have been in charge on nights at Cottonwood Valley Medical Center for the last three years, on a 36-bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit with an average census of 33, running 3 of 4 shifts a week across a team of 8 registered nurses and 4 patient care technicians.
The thing I would most want to bring is the work we did on the assignment itself. Our night handoff was taking too long and the assignment was being built from the census rather than from the unit, so with the nurse manager I rewrote both: acuity, telemetry and isolation status, continuity, geography and orientation status weighed in a set order, and the next admission held against a nurse who could actually take it. Mean time from bed request to patient on the unit fell from 74 minutes to 49 over two quarters, and the part I was more pleased about was that our orientees stopped ending up with the two heaviest rooms on a short night.
I read that Bell Creek is opening 8 additional medical-surgical beds this year and moving to a new bed management module. Opening beds is a staffing and flow problem before it is anything else, and it is the problem I have spent three years on. I also run our preceptor program, which has matched 26 new graduate nurses with preceptors and carried them through 4-week and 12-week competency checkpoints, and I would be glad to do that work at Bell Creek.
My Kansas registered nurse license is active, and I hold MEDSURG-BC certification along with current ACLS and BLS. I am available on four weeks' notice and can work nights. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Delphine Marchetti, BSN, RN
Summary
A charge nurse cover letter has to prove a leadership role that your job title does not name. It does that with one shift decision written in full: the unit, the assignment, the escalation and what the numbers did afterward. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the openings that work, and how to write about short staffing without sounding bitter.
Charge Nurse cover letter examples by experience level
A charge nurse cover letter is a one-page letter whose job is to prove a role your title does not name.
Most charge nurses are payrolled as registered nurses. The resume fixes some of that with a unit line and a shift command block, but the letter is where you show judgment, and judgment is what a nurse manager is hiring. One shift, written properly, does more than a page of leadership adjectives.
Guide to a charge nurse cover letter
This guide and the corresponding charge nurse cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why one shift decision beats a list of responsibilities
- What to say about short staffing without sounding bitter
- How to write the move from charge into a formal leadership post
- The openings that get a strong file read to the end
How to write a charge nurse cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, your unit line, and how often you are in charge | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One shift decision, or one change you made, with a number | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something specific about their unit, and what you would take on | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | License, certification, availability, thank you | 2 sentences |
Lead with the unit line, then say how often you are in charge
A nurse manager reading applications for a charge post is asking whether your shift looks like their shift. The answer is a unit line: type, bed count, average census, ratio and shift.
"Charge nurse on a 36-bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit, average census 33, nights, across a team of 8 nurses and 4 patient care technicians" does that in one sentence, and it is worth more than any sentence about leadership style.
Then say how often. Relief charge twice a month and permanent night charge are different jobs. Being precise about which one you hold reads as someone who is careful about the truth, which is itself a charge nurse qualification.
A charge nurse cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Mr. Whitlock,
I am applying for the Charge Nurse post on the medical-surgical unit at Bell Creek Regional Medical Center. I have been in charge on nights at Cottonwood Valley Medical Center for the last three years, on a 36-bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit with an average census of 33, running 3 of 4 shifts a week across a team of 8 registered nurses and 4 patient care technicians.
The thing I would most want to bring is the work we did on the assignment itself. Our night handoff was taking too long and the assignment was being built from the census rather than from the unit, so with the nurse manager I rewrote both: acuity, telemetry and isolation status, continuity, geography and orientation status weighed in a set order, and the next admission held against a nurse who could actually take it. Mean time from bed request to patient on the unit fell from 74 minutes to 49 over two quarters, and the part I was more pleased about was that our orientees stopped ending up with the two heaviest rooms on a short night.
I read that Bell Creek is opening 8 additional medical-surgical beds this year and moving to a new bed management module. Opening beds is a staffing and flow problem before it is anything else, and it is the problem I have spent three years on. I also run our preceptor program, which has matched 26 new graduate nurses with preceptors and carried them through 4-week and 12-week competency checkpoints, and I would be glad to do that work at Bell Creek.
My Kansas registered nurse license is active, and I hold MEDSURG-BC certification along with current ACLS and BLS. I am available on four weeks' notice and can work nights. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Delphine Marchetti, BSN, RN
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am an experienced nurse leader with strong communication skills | Charge on nights for three years, 36-bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit, average census 33 |
| I am writing to express my interest in your charge nurse position | I am applying for the charge nurse post on the medical-surgical unit |
| I thrive in fast-paced environments and handle pressure well | Time from bed request to patient on the unit fell from 74 minutes to 49 over two quarters |
| I would be a valuable asset to your leadership team | I read that Bell Creek is opening 8 additional medical-surgical beds this year |
One shift, written properly
The middle paragraph is the whole letter. Pick one decision, not a career. Good candidates:
| The decision | What it shows |
|---|---|
| How you rebuilt the assignment | Judgment, because it is the one thing in the role that cannot be delegated |
| A night you ran two nurses short | Prioritization and escalation under real constraint |
| A bed flow change you made | That you understand the unit as part of a hospital, not as a closed room |
| A rapid response you resourced | That you can run a room while someone else stays with the patient |
| A quality metric you moved | That your shift owns numbers, not just tasks |
| An orientation you restructured | That you are already doing the manager's hardest recurring job |
Whichever you pick, write it the same way: what the situation was, what you weighed, what you decided, what happened, and over what period. Four sentences, one number.
Short staffing, written without bitterness
Every charge nurse has run a shift below matrix, and a letter describing one well is unusually persuasive. Described badly, it sounds like a grievance, and no manager hires a grievance.
Describe the decision, not the injustice. Say what your matrix is, what you did first, what you protected, who you called and at what threshold. Give the outcome plainly, including when it was only adequate. Name what you changed afterward so it happened less often.
Do not describe the employer as unsafe or the administration as indifferent, even when you believe it, because the reader is administration. Do not imply you routinely worked outside your license. Do not blame a named colleague or a named unit. Do not use the letter to argue about ratios; argue about them at interview, where you can hear the answer.
The churn is the job, and the numbers say so
About 180,800 openings for registered nurses are projected each year, on average, over the 2025 to 2035 decade, against employment of about 3.5 million in 2025 and projected growth of 6 percent (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, registered nurses, 2025 to 2035 projections).
Most of those openings are replacements, and they arrive on a unit as orientation load and a thinner skill mix. Hospitals employ 59 percent of registered nurses and paid a median of $100,220 in May 2025, against $97,550 across all registered nurses (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, registered nurses, May 2025).
A charge nurse who can say, in one sentence, that they built assignments around orientees and held the unit's metrics steady while doing it is answering the question the manager actually has.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the hospital portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: delphine-marchetti-charge-nurse-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Unit and service leadership is usually public on a hospital's own site, and "Dear Hiring Manager" on an otherwise specific file reads as a letter sent to twelve units.
Use the same numbers as your resume so the two agree. Our charge nurse resume example uses the figures written here.
Key takeaways
- Open with the unit line: type, beds, census, ratio and shift.
- Say how often you are in charge, precisely.
- Spend the middle paragraph on one decision, with a number and a period.
- Write short staffing as a decision, never as a grievance.
- Name one real thing about their unit, taken from their own pages.
- Offer the recurring work a manager hates losing: precepting, orientation, the practice council.
- Address a named person and keep it to one page.
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Charge nurse cover letter questions, answered
How long should a charge nurse cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Nurse managers read these between meetings and a unit round, and length does not read as effort.
How do I write a charge nurse letter if my title is just Registered Nurse?
Say it in the first sentence: "I have been in charge on nights for three years on a 36-bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit." The letter is the one document where you can describe the role directly, without the title field getting in the way, which is exactly why it is worth attaching even when the portal calls it optional.
What if I have only been relief charge?
Say so, then write the same middle paragraph anyway. A relief charge nurse who can describe how they built an assignment and when they escalated is a better candidate than a permanent charge nurse who writes that they oversaw daily operations.
Should I mention that I want to move into management?
Yes, in one sentence at the end of the third paragraph, if it is true. Assistant nurse manager and supervisor posts are filled almost entirely from charge lines, so managers expect the ambition and would rather know. Keep it to one sentence and keep the rest of the letter about the unit.
Do I need a cover letter if the hospital application is a portal?
Attach one wherever there is a field for it. The portal collects a title, a license number and dates, none of which describe a charge role. The letter is where the shift you actually run becomes visible.