Introduction
Nurse Managers play an essential role especially in nursing care by facilitating the delivery of quality as well as safe nursing care. Essentially, the key goal of nurse managers is mainly to facilitate effective delivery of quality care especially in nursing and manage as well as coordinate various activities carried out in the care delivery environment (Huber, 2013). As such, nurse managers usually directs and guide the nursing using the relevant nursing knowledge and adopting new and innovative ideas to addressing various health problems and emerging trends aimed at realizing the key goal of providing quality, excellent and efficient care in nursing practice.
In addition, nurse managers provide support and relevant information especially to the nursing staff whereby this helps them to provide optimal care and effectively handle the various problems encountered in practice. Moreover, nurse manager are involved in advocacy for the staff and patients and usually encourage professional as well as personal growth mainly among the nursing staff (Huber, 2013). Nurse Managers also develop and control budgetary processes and foster the implementation of guidelines in the delivery of nursing care. Thus, in order for the nurse managers to effectively carry out their duties they should have adequate knowledge in regard to the procedures, regulations as well as policies that relate to nursing programs. Additionally, they should be knowledgeable about the personnel policies and the supervisory techniques (Yoder-Wise, 2014).
As such, I interviewed Tammy Carrington a nurse manager, in order to gain insights and understand the responsibilities of nurse managers, the leadership styles used by nurse managers and the essential leadership skills required in this role.
Manager’s location and span of control
Tammy is a nurse manager and currently works at a Public Health Department Women’s Health Clinic in Wake County. The institution that she works for is a public institution, but it is not a magnet facility. When I inquired about the description of the department/unit that is under her control. She informed me that the unit provides contraception in order to help women in preventing unintended pregnancies as well as minimize incidences of abortion. In addition, she told me that the unit usually provides pregnancy as well as counselling services, provides screening for STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) as well as treatment services and offers preconception health services to women. In regard to the description of the type and number of employees that she manages, she informed me that the employees she manages includes; 4 front desk staff members, 2 Certified Nursing Assistants, 8 Registered Nurses, 1 Nurse Practitioner, 1 physician Assistant and 1 Medical doctor.
In relation to her responsibilities, Tammy informed me that her responsibilities included; providing administrative supervision as well as managing all the nursing assistants as well as nurses working in the Family Planning unit, attending nurse manager meetings that are relevant to nursing concerns and issues as the representative of the clinic and supervising the clinic’s daily operations. In addition, she told me that she provides yearly evaluation and periodic reviews for all the nursing employees, maintains their licensure records and ensures that the members of staff complete the annual training on OSHA and Cultural diversity. Moreover, she is involved in structuring the work schedules of the nursing staff in order to improve as well as ensure efficient clinic flow and assists with various practices relating to Quality Assurance such as conducting surveys on patient satisfaction, chart audits and various initiatives that are meant to enhance the overall functioning of the clinic. More importantly, she actively participates in leadership meetings with the other clinic managers as required, initiates various intradepartmental meetings when needs arise particularly in relation to nursing issues and assigns some additional duties to the members of staff when necessary. Among her other responsibilities include; initiating the hiring of new staff-posting, conducting interviews and offering and coordinating orientation of the new staff.
Description of manager and style
In regard to preparation for leadership, she informed me that she is a Registered Nurse and has a BSN Degree in nursing. Tammy emphasized that it is recommendable for a nurse manager to have a BSN Degree in nursing mainly due to the various leadership courses entrenched in the BSN program that one completes during the program. However, she told me that one can become a nurse manager based on their years of experience, if they did not obtain a BSN Degree and that various courses are usually available mainly through the human services that assist nurses with leadership positions. When I inquired about the her leadership style and the delegation methods that she uses, Tammy informed me that she exercises a democratic style of leadership whereby she encourages and fosters open communication among the staff members and encourages their active participation especially in decision making processes. Moreover, she told me that she usually shares various responsibilities with the other members of staff and collaborates with them to find solutions to various problems encountered during practice.
However, she informed me that she usually in control in regard to making the final decision whereby her decisions are guided by the input offered by the staff members. In regard to this, she stressed that democratic leadership is an effective style of leadership that promotes effective decision making and enables nurses as well as other members of staff to come up with effective and appropriate solutions to the prevailing problems since decision making is usually shared among the employees. Additionally, she emphasized that this leadership style fosters a healthy working environment since the employees feel valued and appreciated in their work, thus they are motivated to channel more energy in their work and come up with innovative ideas to enhance care delivery. More importantly, this style of leadership minimizes rates especially among the nurses since they feel appreciated and valued by the organization whereby this enhances care delivery thereby resulting to optimal outcomes. On the other hand, she informed me that she usually consults with the other members of staff in all crucial decisions and usually delegates various responsibilities to the members of staff whereby this allows the members of staff to be in control and accountable for their actions in their assigned roles. Notably, she stressed that delegation is an essential aspect in nursing that enhances efficiency of the organization, increases the effectiveness of the employees and develops employees whereby this minimizes mismatch of skills (Yoder-Wise, 2014). Thus, she asserted that effective delegation should be guided by the skills, education and experience of the employees (McCabe & Timmins, 2013).
Nonetheless, she informed me that she faces various challenges that limit her from carrying out her duties effectively. According to her, one of the key challenge is inadequate staffing levels among the nurses as well as other professionals. This limits effective delegation and efficient delivery of the relevant healthcare services to the population. In relation to this, she said that she plans to lobby for the recruitment of more employees in order to address this challenge. Furthermore, she stated that overbooking as well as high rates of “no shows” was another challenge limited efficient delivery of services to the clients, but she stated that she plans to introduce booking fees in order to limit the number of bookings and avoid incidences of “no shows”
In regard to the communication style she uses especially in communication new information and conflicts with the employees. Tammy told me that she uses face-to-face and verbal communication in communicating new information as well as conflicts with the employees. However, she informed me that she uses the appropriate language that suits the target audience in order to minimize misunderstandings. After inquiring about her overall vision for the unit, she said that she desires to see patients in the most effective way possible and desires that all patients should get the birth control of their choice upon their visit to the clinic. However, she stated that this goal was somewhat hard to achieve while working in the public health sector due to overbooking and high rates of “no shows”.
Analysis of the effectiveness
Building on the interview, it is apparent that Tammy is an effective nurse manager who has a sound education background, efficient leadership skills and is well knowledgeable about the nursing issues and the various aspects involved especially in nursing leadership. In the light of this, she exercises an effective leadership style and promote collaboration, sharing of ideas and open communication among the members of staff whereby this fosters effective decision making, innovativeness and optimal delivery of the pertinent care services to the population they serve (Huber, 2013).
I believe that Tammy has various strengths that enable her to effective coordinate the various operations of the institution as well as efficiently manage the employees she serves. One of the key strength is that she has excellent communication skills that enable her to effectively handle conflicts and communicate new information to the employees thereby promoting optimal delivery of the pertinent services employees (McCabe & Timmins, 2013). More importantly, Tammy has a sound understanding in regard to the various aspects involved in nursing care and exercises an appropriate leadership style that fosters open communication, collaboration and sharing of ideas and information whereby this helps in improving service delivery to clients and fosters better outcomes as well (Asamani, Naab & Ofei, 2016).
References
Asamani, J. A., Naab, F., & Ofei, A. M. A. (2016). Leadership styles in nursing management: implications for staff outcomes. Journal of Health Sciences.
Huber, D. (2013). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences
McCabe, C., & Timmins, F. (2013). Communication skills for nursing practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2014). Leading and managing in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
