Role of Nurse Administrator and CEO of Healthcare Organization - Term Paper Example

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Introduction

Health care facilities have numerous staffs that ensure operations within the facility runs smoothly day-in-day-out. One among these staffs is the Nursing Administrator. A nurse administrator is an individual who has advance knowledge in the nursing field through experience and skills and thus manages other nursing staffs in a health facility. For one to serve a nurse administrator, they have to be verified before being registered to practice by the relevant nursing authority. The academic minimum requirement for one to be allowed to practice as a nursing administrator is Masters of Science in nursing. One needs to possess a valid license to practice professional nursing, and certificates for advanced professional courses in nursing. In addition, one needs to have recorded an excellent reputation with an average experience of five years in the field of nursing. Age is considered because this position demands a mature person who can give directions and make fast decisions, and the age recommended is twenty-eight years. American Nursing Association does registration for Nurse Administrator. This agency was founded back in 1897 with its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland; however, it has opened its offices in several states in the United States. This paper will try to analyze the roles played by both nursing administrators and CEO at a given healthcare facility.

Nurse Administrator’s role/responsibilities in relation to Standards of Practice

A Nurse Administrator hired in a healthcare organization is expected to perform numerous tasks to ensure the patients receive better healthcare service while at the facility. An oversight/managerial role played by a Nurse Administrator is intended to ensure the nurses perform their tasks diligently. American Nursing Association developed standards of nursing practice that guide nurses on how to provide quality nursing care. Standard one of American Nursing Association requires nurses to assess patients and collect vital information that will aid in diagnosing the patient. Standard one still emphasizes that nurse should gather information from the patient that is related to the health condition (Harrington, 2015). Therefore, the collection of irrelevant information needs to be discouraged. The Nursing Administrator has the responsibility of ensuring the nurses employed or hired in a health facility adhere to standard one of American Nursing Association. Successful adherence of standard one will facilitate diagnosis of the patient which is the second standard. Therefore, as a nurse administrator having the nursing team that is keen as expected by their profession will result in the right diagnosis of a patient as well as outcome identification.

Planning is one of the standards of nursing practice, therefore, as a Nurse Administrator; one is expected to draft a plan. The plan acts as a model that guides the nurse on what is expected of them either I short term or long term. (Bradbury, & Lifvergren, 2016), argued that a Failure to plan might lead to the clash of nursing activities which is a threat to the patients’ health. A plan on the change of shift, record keeping of events needed to be established by the Nurse Administrator. This does not mean nurse do not know how to perform such tasks, but for a system to run efficiently, there must be a plan that each team adheres too and works towards achieving specific goals. The fifth standard of American Nursing Association expects a nurse to transform the plan into actions (Harrington, 2015). Therefore, it is the duty of the Nurse Administrator to ensure the plan is implemented and all key aspects adhered by the nursing team. In addition, the plan needs to enhance service delivery of the nurses for the benefits of the patients.

Nurse Administrator’s responsibilities in relation to Standards of Professional Performance

Nursing is a respectable profession, and thus American Nursing Association ensures nurses conduct their roles professionally. To guide nurses on how to conduct themselves professionally and behave in a well-known manner, American Nurses Association has developed standards for nursing professional performance. A Nurse Administrator is a leader of the nurses at a given healthcare facility. Therefore, nurses expect directions from various issues to be communicated to them from the Nursing Administrator. The twelfth standard of American Nursing Association elaborates the qualities expected from a leader in the nursing field (Harrington, 2015). Therefore, a Nursing Administrator has to demonstrate the qualities of leadership when managing the nurses and nursing operation within a healthcare organization. Collaboration or consultation is among the standards for professional performance in nursing. Thus it will be unfortunate if a Nurse Administrator decides to become authoritative in decision making. The fact that Nurse Administrators is a leader does not create them supernatural beings; therefore, consultations with other parties will aid in making sound decisions.

As a Nurse Administrator carries out their responsibility of ensuring nursing care is of quality and sufficiently offered to the patients, they should adhere to the seventh standard of American Nursing Standards. The standard emphasizes that nurse needs to observe nursing ethics when executing their roles (Harrington, 2015). A Nursing Administrator can access the files of patients, the content of this files are regarded as confidential and, therefore, one cannot share the information. It is against the ethical standard for a Nursing Administrator to abuse their position by leaking information concerning a patient in a given health facility.

Nurse Administrator’s role/responsibilities in the Health Care organization

Roles conducted by a Nursing Administrator are key factors in providing quality healthcare to patients. The experience and skills possessed by a Nursing Administrator ensure the nursing department runs efficiently and the nurses are effective in dispensing their respective roles. Planning and budgeting for the nursing department in a healthcare facility are the roles of a Nursing Administrator. This role is vital in ensuring the hospital runs out of nursing resources. Also, through planning resources are maximum utilized. Resources include the nurses who are programmed to work in a shift so that at no point in time the healthcare will have excess or less nursing staffs (Bradbury, & Lifvergren, 2016). Decisions regarding the nursing department are made by the Nursing Administrator. Such decisions are important in healthcare provision of the patient. It should be noted that patients are the source of income for hospitals and, therefore, how nursing care is provided will determine their compliment and recommendation. It is thus prudent for a Nursing Administrator such functions with expertise.

A healthcare facility is made of various departments that work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the hospital. Each department has its specific employees, and in the case of nursing department nurses are the staffs with the Nursing Administrator as the head of the department. Therefore, (Brosseau, & Verma, 2011), considers a Nurse Administrator as a representative of the nurses and has the role of presenting the concerns of the nurses to the top management. This is critical because the concerns can be dissected by the top management and decision on the concerns can be made before the nurses start to sabotage operations at the healthcare center. Nursing Administrator has the responsibility of supervising the provision of nursing care to determine any challenges. During the supervision weakness and strength of a nurse will be identified; thus the administrator can offer advice and recommendation to the respective nurse on how to enhance nursing capability.

Current issues influencing the Nursing Administrator role

Technology has been incorporated in the provision of healthcare and has improved the quality of nursing care. However, the advancement in technology is faster, and the rate of a technology of becoming is fast, actually when a new technology is launched the existing technology is on its way to become obsolete (Mastrian, 2011). Therefore, as a Nursing Administrator, one has to be abreast with technology advancement in the healthcare provision. The fact that a Nursing Administrator heads the Nursing department knowledge on technology advancement will help them to propose changes in the healthcare to enhance service delivery to the patient.

The growing concern about lifestyle diseases has hit the healthcare industry. Change in lifestyle has led to the massive diagnosis of lifestyle diseases such diabetes, cancer, et cetera. These diseases were not prevalent among patients, and the old were the one who suffered from those kinds of ailments. However, nowadays young adults and even children are diagnosed with such diseases due to the adoption of a new lifestyle. Therefore, as a Nursing Administrator, one has to be concerned with the increased cases of lifestyle diseases. This will help in delivering quality healthcare to patients suffering from such diseases. (Lee, et al. 2016), advises Nursing Administrators to advance their skills by enrolling in professional nursing courses that are short-term. This will improve their nursing capability and since a Nursing Administrator is a leader in the nursing department the skills can be transferred to other nurses within the healthcare facility.

The role and responsibilitiesof CEO and Nurse Administrator

Both Nursing Administrator and a CEO of a healthcare facility play a vital role in delivering quality nursing care to the patient in a respective healthcare facility. However, the scope of responsibilities for those people holding the two positions is different. For instance, a Nursing Administrator with issues affecting the nursing department. The CEO, on the other hand, is concerned with the operations of the entire healthcare facilities. Therefore, it is the duty of the CEO to ensure the healthcare system of a hospital is efficient. A CEO is expected to be a leader full of vision, therefore, responsible for drafting a strategic plan for the hospitals which indicates the deliverables the hospital expects to achieve at different periods (Walshe, & Smith, 2011). The Nursing Administrator is responsible for developing short term plan for the nursing department and ensuring systems within the nursing department run efficiently.

A CEO is not directly involved in the provision of healthcare to the patient; however, the CEO is answerable to queries concerning a breakdown in the provision of nursing care to patients. This indicates that a Nursing Administrator reports to the CEO on the progress in the nursing department. It is thus the responsibility of the CEO to compare the actual performance from the nursing department and other departments to the drafted plan for the healthcare facilities. It is from this comparison that the CEO can determine whether the strategic plan is on course. If a deviation is identified, it is the responsibility of the CEO to ensure corrective measures are taken to ensure the hospital is back in course.

Power of CEO and Nurse Administrators

The CEO and Nursing Administrator operate at different positions in a healthcare facility; therefore, the powers possessed by each one are of different magnitude. A CEO possess several powers, one of the powers is the legitimate power since one holds the highest position in a healthcare organization. Therefore, the CEO can use this position to influence negotiation process between various departments with the healthcare organizations. The position a CEO holds gives one a rewarding power that can empower the staffs of the organization by increasing salaries or benefits. An individual who holds the position of a CEO in a healthcare organization has adequate experience in managing healthcare. This grants the CEO with an expert power, and this power can be used to influence decisions being made in a consultation. In addition, the CEO will use the exploit the expert power when the healthcare organization collaborates with other organizations.

A Nursing Administrator possesses legitimate power within the nursing department and can use this position to influence negotiation between nurses. The power can also be used negatively, for instance, compromise certain values in the provision of nursing care within the healthcare organization. The significant power Nursing Administrator possesses is the informational power. A Nursing Administrator heads the nursing department, thus have access to updated nursing care information within the healthcare organization (Walshe, & Smith, 2011). However, this power is short lived once the information is shared it is no longer a power anymore. This power can be used to influence decision-making process during a consultation. The expertise in nursing, grants a Nursing Administrator an expert power that can also influence the decision-making process.

Conclusion

It is indisputable that the Nursing Administrator performs critical roles in any given healthcare facility. The study indicates the importance of that position in a healthcare organization that is determined to provide quality healthcare to its patients. In addition, the presence of a CEO in healthcare organization cannot be disregarded, as the study indicates their role in ensuring systems run and developing strategies to meet the set goals and objectives. Though both CEO and Nursing Administrator hold different positions in the management hierarchy, the roles played by each one of them is vital in the provision of healthcare services.