A Nurse's Guide to Nursing Management
A Nurse's Guide to Nursing Management
A Nurse's Guide to Nursing Management
The process of management involves achieving organisational goals through the careful planning, organising, directing and controlling of human and physical resources. Thus management in nursing can be regarded as the relationship between all what is done and what is achieved , in which the members of the health care institution/organisation together with physical resources, technology, are brought together to bring about the achievement of the organisation's goals for quality nursing care delivery.
Some management approaches/models will include classical writers, with function of management being to discover the best way to perform manual tasks; bureaucratic model is descriptive, what is done and how it is to be interpreted; human relations/behavioural science approach takes into account human behaviour in organisations. Application of these models may increase the nurse manager's effectiveness as a leader; management science model is application of scientific knowledge in solving problems on a large scale; contingency approach is adaptation based on circumstances in the organisation; ubuntu approach being the development of cooperative and competitive people, perspectives, practices, processes, policies, procedures, values in a humanistic way.
Management principles in guiding the thinking of managers in performing their tasks in an organisational structure are division of labour, authority/responsibility, discipline, oneness in issuing commands and direction, placing general interests above the individual's, personnel reward, well defined chain of command, equity in all judgements, encouragement of initiative/order. There must be a balance of these principles as well as the character of the nurse to achieve managerial objectives.
The effective leader should portray the following characteristics: be self confident, responsible, full of energy, persistence in tasks completion, be able to tolerate delays and work frustrations, make decisions, accept all consequences of decisions and actions made, influence behaviour and have a sense of humour.
Management styles utilised by the nursing manager can be threefold: authoritarian, where there is high concern for completion of tasks but low concern for those who perform these tasks. It is restrictive, defensive, and conservative with constant surveillance. In laissez faire leadership style, there is the lack of central control, indifference and abdication. The democratic style management focuses attention on human aspects and building effective work group. There is supervision, assistance, cooperation. In all, situational management is the best. This is when it is the particular work situation which determines which leadership style to use. Thus the nurse manager assesses each nurse's needs and determines which leadership behaviour will get the job done with the fewest problems.
Four specific management skills needed by all nurses are technical, involving one's ability to use technology to perform organisational tasks; human, which is the ability to select, motivate, work with and lead employees towards goal accomplishment. The ability of the nurse manager to link the work of the nurse with that of other health professionals involved in patient care is known as conceptual skill. When the nurse manager has the ability to determine by analysis and examination the nature and circumstances of a particular condition/situation then diagnostic skill is used. Acquisition of these skills is through educational programmes which can be formal or informal, experience and mentor/preceptor relationships.
Managers in nursing should use the management process of planning, organising, directing and controlling, together with the above mentioned facts to create a supportive and helpful climate for both patients and nurses.
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