(Newswire.net — September 23, 2020) — Strong management is essential in every working environment, it unities the staff to work towards a common goal. Even in high pressured situations, they should be capable of making quick decisions that would solve the problem. And nursing is a category that needs a strong management operator to handle difficult day to day tasks. Nurse managers have an effect on their patients, nurses, and healthcare facilities running. Even though it’s a challenging position, many of the most successful nurses are striving to be a nurse manager. As much as serious and challenging it sounds, this position is not open for everyone unless you have competitive clinical skills, leadership qualities, high emotional intelligence, and the ability to bring out the best in others, you may have what it takes to gain a place in nursing management. Here are some tips for being a successful nurse manager:
Decision Making
This is where you have to bring both sides of your emotional intelligence and IQ. Why? Because you have to handle critical relationships with judgment and empathy leading to a positive outcome. Along with plenty of paper works and administration tasks, you might have to make countless decisions in a day. Believe in yourself and make decisions that others are afraid to make. Whether it’s which candidate you should hire, or one of your patients needs this emergency operation – consider all your options, and finalize your decision. Learn to make decisions in a short span of time – use all available information and resources. If you happen to make a wrong choice, learn from your mistakes, and move on. Great nurse managers are decisive – and also aware of all the underlying options.
Leadership Skills
Leadership skills are vital for nurse managers. Much of a nurse manager’s work is carried out by others, so they might be able to manage and educate other staff without micromanaging. For Nurses to be successful personally and in a group, they need to have great interpersonal skills. Nurture teamwork because proper communication and teamwork are essential to providing quality patient care. To achieve teamwork, allow your staff members to collaborate and help each other willingly. A good nurse manager values and encourages the professional development of their staff so that nurses are more likely to push themselves to try new things and learn more clinical skills.
Encourage your staff to be more productive and enthusiastic when working. Allow them to take decisions in certain situations to build their confidence and decision-making skills. Be honest with your team and their performance, guide them with clear instructions, what goes wrong, how they could improve next time. Most of your day might be puzzled with more paperwork and other administrative level duties. And this should not stop you from interacting with the people you’re managing.
Communication Skills
Communication skills are essential here because you have to unite a group of people, promote operations between various departments, and sometimes your expertise work represents the hospital culture. Communication is one of the key skills of a nurse manager. Because your work involves better communication with patients, their loved ones, nurses, physicians, and other staff to bring out the most feasible outcomes. If you are bilingual, it’s an added advantage to your job. Because you are working in a healthcare facility, sometimes you have to deal with people who don’t know proper English. They might have limited English communication skills, in these situations you might have to express sympathy and should be able to enable clear communication between the patient and the physician.
Show compassion. Treat patients with respect and dignity. Being in a rush hospital environment can be scary. Put yourself in their place. It surely helps you to understand their situation better. And your patients may come from different states, countries, and cultures. Some gestures are not widely accepted by all cultures. Be aware of cultural differences when communicating with a patient.
Create a Healthy Environment
There is so much that goes into creating a healthy work environment in the healthcare field. Nurse managers are responsible for creating a positive healthy environment. Make your employees feel like they’re working in a team, they’re also a vital part of the medical team rather than being competitive. Encourage good communication so that your staff can approach you when in need of guidance or to mentor. This promotes a healthy work environment where your staff can open up to you about their struggles. Be approachable. Because no matter how much you try and all, you can’t change the way a person sees the world. This means, there might be bullying, harassment, nursing burnout, or other issues going on with them. Everyone is different in their own ways. As a nurse manager, you should not support bullying. Take adequate measurements to solve this issue. Conduct a weekly or monthly satisfaction survey to get to know the view of your staff. Surveys are a great way to know what you lack and what you need to improve.
Continuing Education
As a nurse manager, you should keep refining your skills and learn new ones to stay up-to-date with medicine. Effective nurse managers educate themselves and as well as support growth and provide nurses with relevant resources necessary to strengthen their competency. The nursing profession is always changing. Artificial Intelligence, nursing guidelines, digital tools, and other healthcare programs are constantly being introduced into the healthcare field and they are changing the way nurses are working. Some of these developments can change the way you work or some can be useful for your staff. Stay up to date with the change and encourage your staff to be on their top.
Guide them on how they can continue their education, what nursing degree programs they should enroll in to get where they want and be a mentor. Clear their doubts, they might have millions of questions to ask. If they do want to advance their education, give them options to enrolling in an online nursing program. So that they can both focus on their work and education. Be honest and curious about new ideas that can change your organization’s approach to medicine and treatment plans.
Better Patient Satisfaction
Put patient satisfaction as a priority. When patients or their loved ones have concerns about the quality of care they receive, treatment options, or patient care plans, they directly go to nurse managers. They might have questions about treatment plans or they might want to report mistreatment from your staff’s side. No matter how their reaction is, as a nurse manager you have to listen and answer their questions or solve the issues they are facing from your staff or hospitality care. It’s your duty to resolve the issue and ensure they receive quality treatment. Not only just that, when meeting with your patient and their family, ensure you have provided them a clear view of their health information. Also, encourage your staff to do the same.