The Existing Gaps in the Leadership and Management of the Facilities - Essay Example

Executive Summary This paper stems to request to the senior management of healthcare facilities to re-examine the existing gaps in the leadership and management of the facilities. This request having been triggered by the increasing need to manage clutter and also spurred by new leadership development programs. In the past, extensive research has been done on leadership roles in healthcare, and when certain internal issues emerged and there was increased investment in leadership development, it became ideal to suggest a contemporary look at the matter and the need to formulate solutions. A survey conducted on the matter and additional field interviews reveal how healthcare organisations adapt to changes to achieve their strategic requirements and as such identified possible capability gaps the executive team need to address. Experience in management and population health management was observed to be the most common capability gap, followed by a myriad of factors like data analytics, advanced financial expertise and changes in relevant management experience. Sixty percent of health care leadership teams have grown and have expanded as compared to years ago. With Physicians and Nurses being groomed more often for leadership roles to address strategic areas. An extensive review of the existing literature on leadership in healthcare and related services industries identified critical attributes like the need to focus on improving system performance. Overview of the current situation Too often, nurses and other health officers get promoted to managerial positions in the institute because they are excellent clinicians, and additionally, critical thinkers and communicators. However, in their new position, they suddenly have to deal with some administrative tasks like finance, budgeting, quality improvement, patient safety concerns, etc. just to name a few of the tough topics. Moreover, they are expected to perform exceptionally well and achieve clinical plus corporate administration with less to no training. The current management situation lacks a nurse manager, and it is clear that this nurse manager role is critical. As a straight connection amid the corporate undertaking and visualization, and the direct attention provider. Furthermore, the nurse boss responsibility is to offer not simply managerial and clinical headship they also accounts for the patients’ activities on the unit round the clock (Beuchlin-Telutki, et al., 1993; Thrall, 2006). Healthcare professionals are now being trained in managerial duties, for instance, in England, nursing staff who are promoted into senior administrative positions are offered a short crash course on administration and subsequently get awarded a certification at the end. In addition, clinical governance has also helped to identify chief officers who undertake the responsibility of training and certifying these nurses within a given time-scales to help achieve specific objectives for healthcare management (McSherry et al., 2011). Description of the implications of the current situation Most healthcare providers face an uphill task having to deal with all the myriad of issues that can comfortably be taken care of by a nurse manager. Organisations, whether huge or small, find themselves bundled up in administrative duties leaving no room for offering quality services to patients. This becomes a challenge in maintaining the Organisation and also patients feel neglected. The role of the nursing manager in healthcare institutes came about due to transition in healthcare provision, the requisite to make sure excellence care that is value-effective and also, it has been proved that the nurse boss plays a crucial role in maintaining the health care system and ensuring it is more operative (McGinnis & Donner, 1997). Work review from the 1990s by McGinnis and Donner (1997) on the responsibilities of nurse leaders have impacted on four major areas: the composite and improved intricacy of the nurse leader responsibility (Baxter, 1993; Duchemin et al., 1994; Duffield, 1994; Mark, 1994; Mintzberg, 1994; Porter-O’Grady, 1995); the impact the nurse leader employs on the hospital surrounding (Evans, 1994; Horvath et al., 1994; Nakata & Saylor, 1994); the particular knowledge of the nurse leader responsibilities(Carroll & Adams, 1994; Chase, 1994, Dreisbach, 1994; Duffield et al., 1994); and , finally , administration training (Evans, 1994; Henninger et al., 1994). Moreover, in the last decade, similar trends have continued emerging about the nurse’s manager impact on healthcare settings. (Shortell, et al., 1994; Ten Haaf, 2007). Early studies on nurse manager duties identified key areas of responsibilities in areas of patient care activities, operational management, and communication skills. Recently, these studies indicate and identify current and predicted role functions. Currently, the nurse manager role is the hardest, and densely complex in health facilities (Thrall, 2006). Sanders, Davidson, and Price (1996) elaborated that the nurse leader is accountable for changing deliberate objectives and ideas framed into practice; therefore, this role necessitates a capability to understand overall notions and additionally assimilate them into particular medical and organization performance, and at the same time, determine and monitor outcomes. The importance of a nurse manager can be further observed in them being the crucial link as noted above. Moreover, the nurse boss offers not just managerial and clinical headship but then they are accountable for all patient care activities (Beuchlin-Telutki, et al., 1993; Thrall, 2006). Remarkably, the roles of a nurse manager became increasingly involved as a result of shifting health care delivery environment, majorly because of evolution in the healthcare industry at the nursing unit-level. Additionally, modifications in health services economics, technical improvements, and important processes in delivery structures have impacted to very important changes in the organisational structures in healthcare institutions impacting nurse managers. Review of possible solutions The essential precursor, transformational headship, has been perceived to be the critical antecedent to attaining security in a various organizations (Carnino, undated). Transformational governance is important feature in the realization of key objectives (Baldridge National Quality Program, 2003; Davenport et al., 1998; Heifetz and Laurie, 2001), and significant towards economical value situation of an organisation. Therefore, the idea of having nurses/physicians assume leadership roles has been beneficial to the healthcare industry. Healthcare administration is the key role of a nurse leader/administrator in any health care set up, mostly in treatment places. Nurse leaders are main workforces in role demonstrating and also established prospects for other nurse’s employees. They make sure that high class, open and patient-focused care service is given to those in need. Furthermore, their important role in communication between top management and other employees cannot fail to be mentioned; they ensure all communication channels are top notch and set the culture for the organisation. It’s prudent that in successful healthcare organisations today, the importance of this role isn’t be underestimated. For a healthcare organisation to work efficiently, a reliable link to the management scene and the employees has to be developed, and the nurse manager is this link. As seen above, the importance of this role cannot be stressed enough. Recommendation for the Role of Nurse Manager As described above, Nurse leaders can have majort impact on the achievement of health services in a firm due to the position of top management, mostly at the department level. In the last periods, the role of nurse leaders has changed to the level of higher position and accountability. The responsibility of a nurse leader is very important especially in providing effective and quality services in any healthcare set up. Preferably, the nurse leader is the boss of that particular sector and oversees. They ensure the patient is secure,answerable and best quality healthcare is offered. In addition, it involves the entire nurse delicate pointers is recognized by governing and authorizing entities,patient fulfilment and better perfomance in terms of finances.They also signifies the caregiver ability to speak at nursing decision making level in organization. The individual has to back up top leaders for nurses and other employees ,and to interpret and administer the corporate decisions that are within the department. Moreover, wide-ranging of the entire opportunities that may come with the responsbility,there isneed to ensure there is enough resources to facilitate and support them towards accomplishment of their task outside the old leadership orientation. Certain firms offer a unique on-site teaching; and others connect nurses with counsellors and assistance groups (Hudson-Thrall, 2006). These efforts promote the composite responsibility of the nurse leader and the crucial role of industries in establishing strong managers for intermediate management. 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Medical Care, 32, 508-525. Ten Haaf, P. L. (2007). Nurse manager competency and the relationship to staff satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and patient care outcomes. Dissertations Abstracts International, 1-139. (UMI No. 3289483) Thrall, T. (2006). Nurturing your nurse managers. H&HN: Hospitals and Health Networks, 80(4), 71-74. APPENDIX Appendix I: Job Description Nurse Manager: Duties and Responsibilities Nurse Managers are accountable to upper-level administration for implementation of the philosophy, goals, and standards of the hospital organisation at the unit-level. These pivotal individuals are responsible for overseeing units of people handling the daily operations of a unit or service line. They serve as the conduits between nurses and executive management, representing and advocating for their staff. The Nurse Manager will also provide professional consultation. Additional responsibilities include: Maintains friendly, efficient, positive attitude toward patients and co-workers. Develop and implement workforce planning, and forecasting capabilities. Ensures unit complies with all federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines concerning public health In conjunction with regional human resource staff, may respond to charges of discrimination in his/her unit. All other duties assigned Appendix II: Proposed budget outline for the position Personnel: Provided are names for each identified position of the applicant, including in-kind costs for those positions. Position Annual Salary/Rate Level of Effort Cost Nurse Manager (1 position) $72,890 60% $6,489 Equipment: an article of tangible, nonexpendable, personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit. Supplies: materials costing less than $5,000 per unit and often having one-time use. Item(s) Rate Cost General office supplies $50/mo. x 12 mo. $600 Postage $37/mo. x 8 mo. $296 Laptop Computer $900 $900 Printer $300 $300 Projector $900 $900 Copies 8000 copies x .10/copy $800 TOTAL $3,796 JUSTIFICATIONS (1) Office supplies, copies and postage are needed for general operation. (2) The laptop computer and printer are needed for both work and presentations. (3) The projector is needed for presentations and workshops. All costs were based on retail values at the time the application was written. Read More