Administrators that work in the hospital environment play a key role in overseeing the safe and cost-effective delivery of patient care. Chief Nurse Executives (CNE) or Chief Nursing Officers (CNO) focus on the clinical operations, financial profitability, quality improvement, and overall patient management within an entire organization or healthcare system. Nursing directors may oversee several nursing units or specialty areas within a hospital or a medical facility such as a nursing home or rehabilitation center. Nurse managers have 24-hour accountability for the staff and patient care within a nursing unit or division. Charge nurses, or nurse shift leaders/supervisors, are generally responsible for the nursing care that is delivered during their assigned shift. Clinical nurse leaders hold an advanced degree and may care for patients and support other clinical team members and implement best practices.

Administrators that work in the hospital environment play a key role in overseeing the safe and cost-effective delivery of patient care. General managerial duties for nurses in leadership positions include:

• Hiring, training, scheduling, evaluating and supervising the nursing staff
• Managing budgets and financials
• Implementing quality programs to improve patient care and mitigate risk
• Acting as a liaison between staff, department leaders and governing boards
• Responding to patient and family complaints
• Writing policies and procedures
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory standards

Nurse administrators and managers must be strategic thinkers, problem solvers, strong decision makers, effective leaders, mentors, team builders and skillful communicators.

• Nursing Pocket Cards, including engagement and retention strategies, and workplace incivility
• Guideline Summaries, including nursing delegation and privacy of healthcare information
• Blog posts, with infographics, mnemonics, tips, and more
• Journals
  • Health Care Management Review
  • JONA: Journal of Nursing Administration
  • Nursing Administration Quarterly
  • Nursing Management
  • Quality Management in Health Care
  • The Health Care Manager
• Articles and nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) activities
• Headlines and news stories
• Society partners