5 Critical Roles of Nurse Administrators in Today’s Healthcare Field

In today’s time, the roles and responsibilities of nurses have evolved, given the rapid transformations and developments in the healthcare field. When people try to visualize a nurse, the image of a person garbed in scrubs attending to patients’ needs comes to mind. While this is an essential duty that nurses perform, it’s not the only one. Nurses juggle various responsibilities today, from collaborating with teams to administering treatments and supervising junior staff. Alongside this, nurse administrators perform even more critical healthcare duties, ranging from managing the entire facility to leading the workforce.Like every other organization, healthcare also relies on the expertise of its management department to manage, control, and handle routine operations. In this regard, nurse administrators serve as prominent and authoritative figures.

Roles of Nurse Administrators

As the job title implies, nurse administrators manage nurses and other members within a healthcare facility. Nurse administrators are often known by other job titles, including nurse directors, nurse managers, and chief nursing officers. They play an incredibly essential role in ensuring all nurses fulfill their duties, adhere to workplace policies, and meet other routine requirements.Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations worldwide realized the significance of nurse managers in rescuing the entire system from the clutches of the pandemic. This realization has eventually led to a heightened demand for nurse administrators and managers post-pandemic. Due to this, healthcare aspirants worldwide are considering pursuing online degrees to cement their position in this field.Apart from educational qualifications, one must hone a few essential skills to efficiently perform the duties of a nurse manager. It necessitates making critical decisions, efficiently communicating with team members, solving problems strategically, and displaying emotional intelligence. Once you master these skills, no one can beat you at your craft.Now, let’s discuss some critical roles of nurse administrators.

1.  Managing human resources

From hiring to retaining and laying off, managing human resources is a vital task that nurse administrators shoulder. They’re responsible for hiring the required staff alongside training and developing their skills and competencies. Therefore, you must have an eye for the right talent and excellent coaching skills if you seek to secure an administrator position. Getting periodic feedback on employee performance, productivity, and satisfaction is also the duty of a nurse manager. Based on the feedback, you can develop programs for skills development, counseling for stressed-out nurses, and so forth.Nurse managers also ensure that staff needs are met efficiently. Instead of spending budget on recruiting, repeatedly, it is spent on retaining currently present staff. Nurse managers also manage workplace conflicts by using coaching skills and disciplining ability.

2.  Caring for patients

Along with developing the staff, caring for the patients and their families is also a nurse manager’s duty. They ensure that all the services provided in a hospital are geared towards the convenience of their customers - patients.While nurse administrators don’t directly interact with patients, they influence patient outcomes greatly. Ensuring patient safety and satisfaction is their utmost duty in any healthcare setting. Since the popularity of holistic care, nurse managers have been drafting policies and procedures to address key pillars of holistic health.

3.  Adhering to regulations

Apart from patients and their families, there are other stakeholders that work with healthcare organizations. Therefore, ensuring that their needs are met is also the responsibility of a nurse administrator. These stakeholders are regulatory agencies and organizations, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Joint Commission. The stipulated regulations of these agencies cover all aspects of patient care. For this reason, nurse administrators ensure the care delivery standards available under their supervision meet the standards of these agencies and organizations.Similarly, state and local governments monitor and regulate healthcare operations and procedures. Local governments often have clear guidelines and principles for healthcare organizations to follow. Nurse administrators must see that these guidelines are met, the unit embodies the health goals of the government, and the people receive the highest level of healthcare.

4.  Overseeing fiscal aspects

Alongside other critical responsibilities, nurse managers must ensure that the expenses of their unit do not surpass the budget. Effective budgeting strategies can be developed by discussing financial expectations with other members. To keep the expenses under control, they oversee the staffing costs and ensure that fluctuations in staffing needs are managed within the allocated budget. They also maintain the operating costs and keep them to the minimum while addressing the needs of the whole facility.Finally, they ensure that all the necessary equipment and supplies are present for the nurses to perform their job adequately.

5.  Aligning activities with organizational goals

Working as a nurse manager, you will also shoulder the responsibility of aligning daily work with the overall organizational goals. At the unit level, you’ll act as a decision-maker to reflect and fulfill the broader organizational objectives.Moreover, you’ll have to motivate and inspire your staff to strive towards achieving the ultimate goals. For this purpose, you can utilize the 4Es that say:

• Engage the staff to contribute to the project
• Educate them on the impact of their participation
• Execute a plan of action with other nurses and team members
• Evaluate team progress according to the activities taking place

Conclusion

The nursing profession is fast expanding and transcending boundaries. Today, nurse managers are leading large healthcare organizations with their administrative, leadership, and teamwork abilities. They ensure adherence to guidelines, fulfillment of organizational goals, meeting state and organizational standards of care, and whatnot. Undoubtedly, nurse administrators are revolutionizing the entire healthcare field for the better.