Performance appraisal - Essay Example

It was asserted that “among nursing leadership, the nurse manager role has been identified as critical in the provision of high-performing, effective and efficient care in the patient care delivery setting” (Chase, 2010, p. 2). In this regard, the current discourse hereby aims to discuss the role of the contemporary nurse manager in the provision of performance appraisal within one’s particular work context. As such, one has worked in the capacity of a staff nurse in the medical ward for last 10 years and one has been evaluated for the performance of duties and responsibilities on a regular basis.

The paper would hereby present, in addition to the perceived role of the nurse manager in performance appraisal, the kind of performance appraisal system that is currently being implemented in one’s health care setting; the benefits and drawbacks of the system; as well as proposed ways to improve the performance appraisal system to benefit the nurses and the organization, as a whole. Perceived Roles of Staff Nurse and Nurse Managers in Health Care Setting The role and responsibilities of staff nurses in the medical ward are diverse and requires vast competencies in the application of theoretical frameworks in nursing care.

The ability of nurse managers to undertake the required performance evaluation would necessitate comprehensive understanding of these key responsibilities as standards within which the assessment would be based. The standard key responsibilities of staff nurses in medical wards are shown in Table 1, below: Table 1: Key Responsibilities of Staff Nurses in Medical Wards Source: UPMC Beacon Hospital, 2012 Performance management is defined as “the process of assessing and addressing the difference between required performance and actual performance in the workplace” (Shaw & Blewett, 2013, p. 4). In one’s capacity as staff nurse, performance evaluation was noted to have been regularly conducted, as prescribed by the health institution, once a year.

In conjunction with the roles and responsibilities of the nurse manager is the competency in six categories, as presented by the American Hospital Association (AHA), to wit: “management of clinical nursing practice and patient care delivery; management of human, fiscal, and other resources; development of personnel; compliance with regulatory and professional standards; strategic planning; and fostering interdisciplinary, collaborative relationships within a unit(s) or area(s) of responsibility and the institution as a whole” (AHA, 1992; cited in Chase, 2010, p. 6). The performance appraisal or evaluation falls within the management of human resources where nurse managers are expected to closely assess the ability of nursing staff in undertaking their respective tasks in the delivery of health care.

Thus, with the clearly identified key responsibilities, performance evaluation is accurately undertaken by nurse managers following the characteristics and principles for an effective approach (Drach-Zahavy & Dagan, 2002; Contino, 2004; Hudson, 2006). Characteristics and Principles for an Effective Performance Appraisal Approach Shaw & Blewett (2013) have identified principles to adhere to ensure that an effective performance appraisal system is undertaken within the health care environment. The following principles were explicitly noted: (1) it should be regular and timely; (2) the orientation or main objective is for improvement of performance; (3) conformity to