Running head: NURSE MANAGER

Analysis of a Nurse Manager

Ferris State University
Catherine Heykoop
Ashleigh Windel

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Analysis of a Nurse Manager

There are many leadership roles in the nursing realm of healthcare and nurse manager is
just one example. To gain insight on the roles and responsibilities of a nurse manager an
interview with Spectrum Health nurse manager Amanda Bourdon was conducted. Amanda has
held her position on 2South at Butterworth Hospital since October of 2014. She has been on this
floor for approximately thirteen years; starting out as a volunteer then moving into a nurse tech
position and finally becoming a registered nurse. She graduated from Grand Valley State
Universitys nursing program with a bachelors degree and worked on the floor for five years
before obtaining her current job title as nurse manager. Additional qualifications that Amanda
obtained along the way included training and receiving a certification in orthopedics. Her present
position requires a bachelors or a masters in nursing, as well as, experience as a floor nurse and
charge nurse. There are many aspects of the nurse manager position to review that go beyond the
typical floor nurse role.
Roles of the Nurse Manager
All nurses are in a position of leadership through their responsibility to practice by the
professional standards of nursing. However, the nurse manager role takes on even more
responsibility that include duties outside of the typical nursing field. Amandas position requires
her to take on many roles. She acts as a mentor, scheduler, educator, conflict resolver, manager
and a nurse. Within each role she has specific responsibilities to fulfill.
Responsibilities of a Mentor
At some point during their careers nurse managers were in the role of a mentee. That
experience can be used to aid in a mentor role. According to Yoder-Wise (2015), mentoring is an

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interactive, multifaceted role that helps staff establish goals, as well as, work towards achieving
them. Some of Amandas responsibilities as a nurse manager in the role of mentor is to keep an
open door so that staff can easily approach with questions, comments or concerns. Other
important duties include communication of clear expectations for mentees, assistance in setting
attainable goals, offering constructive feedback on job performance, leading by example,
evaluating progress, advising on what you know and admitting to what you do not know.
Responsibilities of a Scheduler
Amanda has many considerations when it comes to scheduling and staffing her unit.
Managers must take into account the units staffing budget, staff vacation time and preferences;
and patient census and acuity when making up the schedule. Staffing can go to two extremes; not
enough staff or too many. It is the responsibility of the nurse manager to create a schedule that
utilizes the right amount of workers to keep up the quality of patient care while staying within
the budget.
Responsibilities of an Educator
As a nurse manager it is part of the job to keep up with continuing education and
evaluations of the nursing staff. This is done to assure that all nurses are up to date on their
practice and competent in their nursing skills. Amanda works with hospital administrators to
implement regular trainings for nurses to attend. Consist evaluations are also completed on
nurses to acknowledge their strong areas and any weak points they should work on. All of this is
a part of keeping up the high expectations of having nursing staff that provides the best quality
nursing care to their patients.
Responsibilities of a Conflict Resolver

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Amanda follows a conflict resolution protocol whenever there is an issue on her floor,
whether between staff or staff and patients. The first step is to identify the trigger of the conflict
and find out the historical context for each person involved. Then she must assess whether the
context is relevant before establishing goals to work towards in resolving the conflict (YoderWise, 2015). Communication skills are very important in order to implement any change and
solve disputes on the unit. Amanda regularly deals with any staff or patient concerns that arise on
2South.
Responsibilities of a Manager
The nurse manager is a leader for the health care team on the unit. Since the manager is
the closet direct link with the nursing staff it is important to promote a pleasant environment for
workers and patients (Yoder-Wise, 2015). Amanda leads through setting an example of
professionalism by modeling behaviors for staff to follow (Yoder-Wise, 2015). This role is the
largest and all of the other roles (conflict resolver, scheduler, and educator) fall underneath its
umbrella. The overall goal of nurse manager is to uphold the organizations mission by working
through others and acting as a change agent (Yoder-Wise, 2015). Another responsibility of a
manger is the hiring and firing of employees. Amanda interviews candidates for nurse, nurse tech
and secretary positions for 2South. A not so fun aspect is the firing portion of her job. Whenever
there are budget cuts for the unit or an employee is consistently not performing up to the
expectations of the unit she lets them go. Performance corrections is a 3 step write up process
that includes a first notice, final notice and ends with termination of employment. Amanda
documents every incident that occurs with an employee causing them to receive a write up.
Responsibilities of a Nurse

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Amandas role as a nurse is still a large part of her position. She has the opportunity
almost daily to utilize her skills and knowledge as a registered nurse when staff comes to her for
assistance or advice. She is also the frontline for implementing change within practice on 2South,
for example, a process improvement that will reduce the number of complications with total joint
or hip patients on the floor that Amanda was a part of implementing was the no pass zone for call
lights. Her responsibilities in this role include practicing with the professional nursing standards
of practice as her guidelines to providing safe and quality patient care. Some of these guidelines
include; keeping up to date on evidence based practice, practicing in an ethical manner, and
communicating and collaborating with other health care staff members to provide quality care to
patients (ANA, 2010). As a nurse manager it is expected that you are competent in the nursing
skills and are capable of utilizing those skills when called upon.
Organizational Structure
At the bottom or the organizational structure are the nurse techs who report directly to the
nurses on the unit. The nurses report to the charge nurse or immediate nurse supervisor who then
reports to the nurse manager. Amanda is responsible for approximately 80 people that work on
2South. Her direct supervisor is Linda Schultz, director of orthopedic and neurologic services.
Linda is responsible for 8 different units through Spectrum Health. Lindas direct supervisor is
the vice president of nursing who reports directly to the president. Laterally on the organizational
structure with Amanda are other nurse managers. Each unit in the hospital has its own nurse
manager. Having the organizational structure formed in this manner is appropriate for the
number of people employed through Spectrum Health. If there was a considerably lesser amount
of employees then there would not be a need for so many levels in the organizational structure.

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This structure is important because it breaks up the responsibilities so that one particular position
is not overloaded.
Communication and Relationship Building
A nurse manager, as well as, a leader requires the use of effective communication in
order to build relationships with employees and patients. In the workplace, particularly on
Amandas unit 2South, the key to success is through teamwork. The idea behind teamwork is
that individuals come together in a group to accomplish goals and keep patients safe (YoderWise, 2015). Forming a team-oriented work environment takes some effort from all individuals.
The nurse manager is the forefront of the team building effort through using effective
communication skills to establish relationships with staff members. Being personable and
approachable; actively listening, maintaining professionalism, showing compassion, being
truthful and flexible; committing to resolution and showing respect are all techniques used in
effective relationship-building (Yoder-Wise, 2015).
Positive relationships between the employees on a hospital unit makes it a much easier
environment to work in and a more healing environment for patients. This all starts with the
leaders in the healthcare organization. If workers are able to learn to communicate and work
together effectively as a health care team then it will reflect in their patient care. Not only will it
be easier for staff to communicate therapeutically with patients but it will also allow them to
form trusting nursing- patient relationships. These effective relationships in the healthcare
organization lead to better delivery of healthcare within communities.
Knowledge of the Health Care Environment

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Nurse Managers are well rounded and experienced individuals. Not only are they able to
lead but they also possess the knowledge to work as a floor nurse. The manager may not necessarily
be a clinically expert nurse but he or she should be competent in the nursing skills that are required
of their employees. In the clinical setting one important aspect of a leader is being able to admit
when you do not know the answer to something and having the knowledge to utilize resources to
find out the answer. Knowledge of the healthcare environment includes many aspects; nursing
skills, budget and finance, collaboration with other healthcare team members, establishing
relationships and problem solving skills. Possessing all of these types of knowledge leads to a
more organized and efficiently run hospital unit. If a unit is chaotic and run inconsistently then the
ability of the nurses to deliver quality patient care will be poor. This leads to a lack of patient trust
in the healthcare organization. A nurse manager is someone who is capable of successfully
motivating team-based healthcare on the unit through the possession of qualities similar to those
of a good leader (Yoder-Wise, 2015). Examples of these qualities include; knowledge, integrity,
ambition, good judgment, courage, stamina, enthusiasm, communication skills, planning skills and
administrative abilities (Yoder-Wise, 2015).
Leadership
According to Yoder-Wise, leadership can be defined as the use of personal traits to
constructively and ethically influence patients, families, and staff through a process in which
clinical and organizational outcomes are achieved though collective efforts (2015). Nurses can
be leaders without being in a managerial role. As a manager, Amanda stated that she has always
felt that peers would look to her for guidance and stepping into her current role accentuated that
feeling. There are certain tasks associated with being a leader which include; envisioning goals,

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affirming values, motivating, managing, achieving workable unity, developing trust, explaining,
serving as a symbol, representing the group, and renewing (Yoder-Wise, 2015). Amanda said
that her presence in patient rooms makes them feel important as well as a better feeling about
their overall care.
Professionalism
Professionalism is a term used to describe many factors that contribute to an individual
being a professional. Included in this would be all aspects of appearance such as hair, scrubs, and
badge, as well as other factors like communication, showing up to work on time, and treating
everyone with respect. On 2South, it is expected that every staff member looks and acts
professionally while at work and, to an extent, while not at work. Amanda is in charge of
ensuring that her staff are being professional and correcting them if there is a problem.
Business Skills
Part of being a nurse manager is the business side of things. Nurse Managers must have
nursing skills as well as certain business ones such as budgeting, financing, and scheduling.
Although communication is a nursing skill, it can also be used in the business aspect. An
example would be when a nurse manager was made aware of a patient on their floor who was
unhappy with the care they were receiving. Amanda has been in one of these situations and had
to communicate with the patient to discover what the issue was then communicate with the nurse
to solve the problem.
Conclusion
The role of a nurse manager is quite complex. Nurses in this position must act not only as
a nurse but as a mentor, scheduler, educator, conflict resolver, and manager. Along with the

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responsibilities associated with those roles, the nurse manager must be efficient in many skills
the most important being communication. Communication is pivotal to establishing therapeutic
relationships with not only patients but staff as well. Overall, this assignment has created an
insight to a day in the life of a nurse manager.

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References

Mentor & mentee roles and responsibilities (2015). In American Massage Therapy Association.
Retrieved July 23, 2015, from https://www.amtamassage.org/mentor/Mentor---Mentee-Rolesand-Responsibilities.html
American Nurses Association (2nd ed.). (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice. Silver
City, MD: Nursebooks.org
Yoder-Wise, . Leading and managing in nursing. 6th ed. St. Louis: Elsevier, 2015. Print