Paper
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Nursing Managers' Patterns of Practice
Anna Omery, RN, DNSc, Patient Care Services, Kaiser Permanente, Pasadena, CA, USA, Nancy Tankel, RN, MN, Patient Care Services/Woodland Hills Department of Nursing, Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, CA, USA, Lynne Scott, RN, MN, CNS, Nursing Administration, Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, CA, USA, John S. Norris III, RN, MN, Critical Care, Telemetry, Medical-Surgical, Bellflower Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, Bellflower, CA, USA, and Sharon Kent, RN, BSN, Critical Care, Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, Woodland Hills, CA, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: Describe the activities, perceived influence over outcomes, and barriers to practice of nursing managers |
| Learning Objective #2: Identify the impact of selected demographic characteristics on the activities, perceived influence over outcomes, and barriers to practice of nursing managers |
The nurse manager's role has been severely impacted by changes in the United States' (US) health care system. Given the US system and organizational alterations, past knowledge of the manager's role has not been helpful in determining how the role currently impacts health care system outcomes. The purpose of this study was to describe nurse managers' demographics, activities, influence over outcomes, and barriers to practice. This study used a prospective, cross-sectional survey design strategy with three instruments (Managers' Demographics Questionnaire, Nurse Manager Practice Questionnaire, and the Nurse Managers' Outcomes and Barriers Analysis) in order to describe the variables of focus and explore differences in the patterns of practice of a group of practicing nurse managers. The sample of 113 respondents (response rate = 47%) was made up of members of a California-based professional nursing organization who identified themselves as nurse managers. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Managers who responded had a mean age of 50 years and were female (92%). On average, the manager respondents had been a registered nurse for 26 years, a manager for 14 years, and worked 50 hours a week. The most frequent types of activities of managers were communication (86; 0-100 scale) and mentoring (72) activities. The most common activities were attending meetings (4.45 out of 5 scale) and daily staffing decisions (4.25). The types of outcomes perceived as influenced most frequently were retention (72) and quality (62) outcomes. The most common outcome influenced was staff productivity (3.77). Most frequent barriers were lack of time (4.41) and multiple job expectations (4.10). Managers reported more interpersonal barriers if they worked with a unit based educator; more influence over clinical practice, and advocacy outcomes if they worked with a charge nurse; and, more involvement with research activities if they worked with a clinical nurse specialist.