Running Head: ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

Analyzing the Role of a Cardiovascular Progressive Manager

Tyler Nickels, Zack Zwiernikowski
Ferris State University

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

Analyzing the Role of a Cardiovascular Progressive Manager

The field of nursing is very broad and has high potential for one to
develop a leadership role or manager. Not everyone is suited to manage
staff; it takes experience, competence and great communication skills. It is
beneficial to have experience in the specialty the nurse is to manage; a
nurse working oncology would not be the best fit to manage the emergency
department. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a nurse managers
responsibilities and role in an organization.
Kristin Sinke is a nurse manager for a cardiovascular progressive floor.
She became a nurse because she loves teaching people and has always
been interested in science. She had plans to teach high school students, but
once she took a physiology class she knew she wanted to go in the medical
field. She went to Michigan State to complete most of her undergraduate
degree, and then transferred to Lansing Community College where she
received her Associates Degree in Nursing and became an RN in 2006. She
started working on the floor she manages now after graduating and has
never left. In 2012, her manager approached her about a day shift supervisor
position, which Sinke was hesitant about taking on the role. After she
accepted the position she realized her passion for education and people
development could be satisfied in nursing leadership. In 2013, she took over
as the interim manager of the floor. She will transition into her official
management position in July 2015 when she completes her MSN.
Role and Responsibilities

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

Sinkes role as a nurse manager is very significant. Not everyone is fit

to fill in the role of a manager or leader. Leaders realize their capacity for
influence, risk taking, and decision making more fully, leadership is much
about character development as it is about education (Yoder-Wise, 2015, p.
341). They have to have certain personality and character to organize and
facilitate staff and facility management. This type of role would relate to the
Trait Theories, when leaders have a certain set of physical and emotional
characteristics that are crucial for inspiring others toward a common goal
(Yoder-Wise, 2015, p. 9). Sinke has many responsibilities, managing budget
on a daily, monthly, annual basis. Interviewing staff, hiring, performance
correction/corrective action, annual reviews, and talent management
(personal interview, June 22, 2015). She is also responsible for staff
meetings, charge meetings, committees and day-to-day management on the
unit. In her perspective of organizational structure and philosophy Sinke feels
that, the organization holds true to our core values and expects excellence
from its employees to ensure optimal care delivery to the patients we serve
(personal interview, June 22, 2015). The organizational structure is
traditional, starting with the president and cascades down to patient care
staff. Bedside staff reports to a supervisor and/or manager, who report to a
nursing director, who reports to the chief nurse executive who is a VP. The VP
reports to the entity president who then reports to the systems president.
Nearly 150 employees report to Sinke as their manager.
Communication and Relationship Building

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

Communication is a necessary skill for nursing practice. It is essential

to develop this especially as a Nurse Manager. Yoder-Wise (2015) describes
communication as being the most important component of daily activities. It
is essential to clinical practice, to building teams, and to leadership (p. 325).
Sinke would agree and mentions that teams must be able to communicate
questions, requests, and care plans to one another to keep on track towards
the patients recovery. Having one patient-centered plan of care ensures that
the patients needs are being met in an efficient way, which Sinke says
communication is key to this (personal interview, June 22, 2015). Sinke also
talks about the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration being essential
to high-quality care delivery. It is important to build relationships with the
floor or team; it develops better communication as we are more accustomed
to one another. Sinke encourages staff to meet outside of work to develop a
better relationship that is not encompassed solely around work.
Knowledge of Health Care Environment
It is important to be aware of the most evidence-based practice and
incorporate this into patients to get the best quality care for needs and
satisfaction of patients. Sinke says that healthcare is continuously improving
and there is opportunity for everyday improvement. According to Kitson
(2011), There has been an increasing interest in the role of leadership in the
knowledge transition process with the focus being on the legitimate role of
the manager-as-leader in supporting clinical staff to use evidence in
everyday practice (p. 543). The nurse manager is responsible for

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

implementing the most recent evidence based care to the floor and
encourages staff to use this. If staff are not informed and enforced to change
their practice patients will not benefit from this better practice. The
manager needs to know the floor, how it is run and what type of patients
being cared for on the floor. Sinke has great experience in this population of
patient as she has worked with them since 2002. She understands how the
floor operates, has empathy for staff and work environment and can assist
staff in any needs, as she knows who to communicate to and what to find.
Staff needs to work in an environment where they feel acknowledged for
their work. Sinke does a great job at this by providing pizza or other food
when there is a busy day. She can recognize when staff is having a rough day
and gives them satisfaction of getting through the day with this. This is part
of the Two-Factor Theory as hygiene factors (working conditions) and
motivator factors is met by the leader (Yoder-Wise, 2015, p. 10). Having a
long time experience on the floor and patient environment has an enormous
impact on the way a leader can manage the floor.
Analyzing Leadership
Leadership may be thought of as going hand-in-hand with managing.
Leadership roles, however, may take a different approach on unit staff by
focusing on staff morale instead of managing the individuals on staff. As a
manager it is important to help staff develop and maintain a healthy work
environment. Sinke (2015) explains that creating a healthy work
environment is one of the most significant actions that a manager can take.

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

She states, [Staff] working in healthy work environments are more likely to
have high job satisfaction and are therefor more likely to deliver care that
leads to positive patient outcomes (personal communication, June 22,
2015). Not only is it important to create an enjoyable, healthy environment
for the satisfaction of staff, but also to indirectly create the most beneficial
environment for patient healing. Lynn Wieck (2005) introduces the idea of
fostering meaningful work. She explains that nurses must find meaning in
their work in order to provide the highest quality care (p. 15). This thought is
congruent with Sinkes thought that leaders have an opportunity to empower
their nursing teams to provide the best care and do the best work. She
states that improving processes, developing internal talent, and continuously
evaluating and improving quality of care help to serve nursing staff both as a
leader and as a manager by empowering staff emotionally while improving
and adjusting care on a skills-based level. The leadership aspect of
managing nursing staff can be related to Transformational Theories. These
theories outline the need to interact with othersin this case nursing staff
by displaying optimism, encourage creativity and enthusiasm, and
encouraging through empowerment (Yoder-Wise, p. 10, 2015).
As a leader it is also important to head up quality improvement
interventions to continually push the staff to practice on the highest level of
acuity as possible, as well as provide the best patient care. Sinke has
managed to implement quality improvement in fall prevention. She has
created a goal to decrease falls by 50 percent. She has developed a fall

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

committee to oversee and improve fall response and has created a graph as
a visual representation of fall prevention status. Finally, Sinke has
implemented education on fall risk patients and proper fall protocols
(personal communication, June 22, 2015).
Professionalism
Professionalism can be linked to an individuals appearance of
perceived competence, explains Sinke. She indicates that professionalism is
important to retain in every aspect of patient care, stating that patients
need to feel as though their caregivers are completely competent, otherwise
they will not be as likely to trust the care delivery plan (personal
communication, June 22, 2015). It is also important to act with
professionalism throughout all other aspects of work as well. Professionalism
as a nurse manager must also include the managers overall philosophy of
thought while working with doctors, other disciplines and other nurses.
Yoder-Wise (2015), identifies professionalism as being ethically and legally
accountable to the standards of practice and the accompanying nursing
actions delegated to others (p. 66). In this way professionalism not only
explains the competency of the nurse for the patient, but also helps to lay
foundation of accountability of the manager for the actions of staff nurses.
Sinke goes on to mention that professionalism is not just a personal goal, but
is also expected by organizations (personal communication, June 22, 2015).
Hospitals and care teams expect all members of the organization to practice

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

with professionalism in order to provide the best outcome to all patients and
staff.
Business Skills
Business skills may help the manager to evaluate and obtain the best
possible staff for the patient population, hold meetings between disciplines,
and develop models for managing the unit. Nurses are not classically trained
in business like most other manager positions within professional companies.
Within a hospital however, it is important for management to fully
understand the needs of the unit on a personal basis, hence the position of
nurse managers. Nurse managers have worked as a nurse, dealing with
patients on the level that their own staff nurses currently operate. Due to
this understanding of nurse-client relationships, nurse managers are able to
manage their units with an in-depth, personal understanding of unit acuity,
while addressing staff issues with empathy. Because of this background in
nursing, as opposed to business, Sinke indicates that these business skills
may be learned over time, stating business skills are important to the
leader, but are often something learned on the job (personal
communication, June 22, 2015). By knowing the clientele on a personal
level, nurse managers are able to assess interviewees for the best care
providers, validating the use of business skills.
Conclusion
Nurse managers hold an important role in the overall functioning of the
hospital. From day-to-day management, to creating long-term change, nurse

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

managers lead staff nurses to provide the best possible care to patients.
Nurse managers must know the acuity of the patients on the floor assess
nurses ability to care for patients with competency and professionalism, all
while keeping an eye on staff morale. A nurse manager is a leader, providing
support and empathy for fellow nurses, heading quality improvement, and
acting as a moderator for interdisciplinary meetings. Nurse managers
adhere to strict professionalism both with patients and with staff, insuring
that new hires are competent, qualified, and professional themselves.
Business skills, while not taught traditionally, are used by nurse managers on
a daily basis to communicate, assess, and improve overall unit function. This
project has served as an in-depth view of a nurse managers role on a
personal level, on a single-unit level, and on an organizational level. This
project has helped to develop and understanding and appreciation for other
nursing positions other than staff nurse.

ANALYZING NURSE MANAGER ROLE

References
K. Sinke, personal communication, June 22, 2015.
Kitson, A., Silverston, H., Wiechula, R., Zeitz, K., Marcoionni, D., Page, T.
(2011). Clinical nursing leaders, team members and service
managers experiences of implementing evidence at a local level.
Journal of Nursing Management, 19 (4), 542-55. http://0dx.doi.org.libcat.ferris.edu/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01258.x
Yoder-Wise, P. (2015). Leading and managing in nursing sixth edition. St.
Louis, MO: Elsevier
Wieck, L. 2005. Nurse manager survival in an age of new healthcare
priorities. Nursing
Database.

that Works, 53(2), 15-8. Retrieved from PubMed

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