External Factors Influencing a Nurse Managers Decision Making - Essay Example

External Factors Influencing a Nurse Manager’s Decision Making

• The Role of the Nurse Manager

The interview focused on Mrs. Doell, who was a nurse manager of a cardiology clinic. She started her career as a Registered Nurse at Baptist Hospital before relocating to the UM outpatient cardiology clinic. While at this new workplace, she worked as a nurse before being promoted to the clinic manager position. The position of the clinic manager involved the leadership role significantly. While undertaking her leadership role as the head of the clinic, she was able to demonstrate strong leadership skills. This was through her ability to create and introduce solutions to challenging circumstances, the creation of innovative mechanisms of running the clinic, and the ability to have excellent communication skills within the clinic. These leadership skills were relevant as they enabled her to coordinate the activities undertaken by the clinic personnel. She was titled the Executive Director of the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics. Her role was to oversee clinical operations. This was done in twelve units on the main campus and six other satellites. The overseeing role was with regard to the standards of nursing care, usage of rooms, and primary nursing care model implementation. She was tasked with monitoring the performance of staff nurses. Her role also included ensuring that each nursing operation was in accordance with the standards of fare set under the nursing practice. She was also expected to ensure that the rooms were adequately utilized. The basic rule for room usage was that each session involved a doctor taking care of five patients in one room.

• External Factors Influencing a Nurse Manager’s Decision-making

The interview was able to elaborate on critical external factors that influence a nurse manager's decision-making regarding the running of the clinic. The paper will discuss how accreditation, healthy policy considerations, regulatory requirements, and healthcare financing affect the ability of a nurse manager to make decisions regarding the welfare of the clinic.

Accreditation is one of the external factors that palsy a role in determining the ability of a nurse manager to make decisions. Accreditations can be defined as the process through which a nurse is officially or legally recognized to have the nurse status or qualified to practice nursing. Mrs. Doell was accredited as a registered nurse after attaining her nursing degree from Broward College. For the nursing manager position, she underwent a leadership training, thereby acquiring a certificate for the same. Qualification of the nurse gives them the capacity and relevant skills to handle the issues that may arise during their managing role at the clinic. It also gives other professionals and the general public confidence in the judgment made by the nurse manager. In turn, this improves patient care as the other nurses are able to believe in the decisions reached by their leader to foster coordination and general duty of care towards the patients.

The other external factor that affects the ability of a nurse manager to make a decision is the regulatory requirements. Regulatory requirements for the nursing practice are put in place by Nursing Regulatory Bodies. They achieve this role by setting out the standards for safe nursing care and issuing licenses to practice nursing. The Nurse Practice Act is a statutory provision that is enforced by the NRB. The law described what a nurse is allowed to do as well as the liability of a nurse in the event that they fail to adhere to the provisions of the Act. A license must be issued by the NRB for a nurse to be registered. This goes hand in hand at ensuring only qualified personnel are accredited to practice nursing. The regulation also provides rules on care should be administered to the patients. For instance, Mrs. Doell indicated that her role as the Executive director of the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics monitored the performance of staff nurses. This also involved the nurses operated within the scope of the established standards of care required under the nursing practice.

Regarding room utilization, a room was expected to accommodate at most five patients per session. These patients were to be placed under the care of one doctor. These are examples of setting out regulatory procedures that govern a nurse manager in making decisions relating to patient care and the overall performance of the clinic. A nurse manager should be able to demonstrate her leadership skills by incorporating the required standards of nursing practice in coming up with decisions that influence the performance of other personnel within the clinic. These will, ensure that the clinic is in conformity with rules, regulations, and laws governing the nursing practice. This, in turn, ensures that the procedures done to patients are authorized and lawful, thereby improving the public's confidence in the clinic.

Health policy consideration is the third factor influencing the ability of a nurse manager to make a decision regarding the clinic's performance. Registered nurses who are accorded the role of nurse manager are positioned in a manner that enables them to inspire and influence significant changes to public health policy. While their role in ensuring effective clinical care, they are also tasked with the role of healthcare policy development, advocacy, and implementation. They have a moral and ethical obligation to make health policy decisions to betterment the patients in the clinics. In her interview, Mrs. Doell indicated that she had initiated a Primary Nurse Care Model, as a new project, to improve the quality of care administered to patients to increase their satisfaction. The project emanated from her ability to find creative solutions to challenging situations. The decision to establish the care model was in conformity with health policy. This is because health policy rentals decisions or actions are put in place to achieve specific healthcare goals. The goal of the Nurse Care Model was to improve the quality of care as well as increasing the satisfaction of the patients. Therefore, a nurse manager should be guided by public health policy in making decisions regarding patient welfare in the clinic.

Lastly, healthcare financing capacity is also a factor that influences a nurse manager’s ability to make decisions. This entails the amount of finances channeled to the acquisition, maintenance, and addition of healthcare facilities within the clinic. A nurse manager is likely to make decisions regarding the amount of external funding towards healthcare provision. For example, the commencement of the Primary Care model by Mrs. Doell must have been influenced by the availability of finances to further the project. Decisions by a nurse manager should, therefore, be in cognizant of the financial implications involved. A nurse manager is also required to utilize their leadership skills towards effort of accessing financial support of the clinic in order to improve healthcare and nurse performance.

• Analysis of the Interview

Mrs. Doell’s interview is significant to the extent that it established various factors that control the ability of a nurse manager. These external factors have been discussed as accreditation and qualifications, the impact of regulatory bodies, public health considerations as well as health care financing. The interview also reiterates that the success of a nurse manager is pegged on their ability to exhibit and exercise good leadership skills. Mrs. Doell mentions three key characteristics of an exemplary nursing leader. She states that setting an example for other to follow is the most important element. She also posits that a good leader should be a good listener to the concerns of others. Lastly, a good leader should be able to show compassion towards other nurses. The interview demonstrates that a nurse manger is more than mere positions. It requires the person to be equipped with relevant knowledge, experience and leadership skills. This will enable them to influence the nursing workforce positively. This in turn improves the quality of healthcare accorded to the patients. Good leadership ensures that the concerns and opinions of nurses are given dire consideration during decision making. This creates a sense of teamwork and inclusivity that in turn improves the performance of the nurses. In return, the nurses become enthusiastic in performance of their day to day roles, thereby maintaining and improving the quality of services and healthcare offered to the patients.