Nurses who plan to transition from management role require skills that combine clinical expertise and leadership. Nurse managers are responsible for supervising nursing staff in a hospital or clinical setting. They oversee patient care, make management and budgetary decisions, set work schedules, coordinate meetings, and make decision about personnel.The Nurse manager is responsible for creating safe, healthy environment that support the work of the health care team and contribute to patient engagement. The role is influential in creating a professional environment and fostering a culture where interdisciplinary team members are able to contribute to optimal patient outcomes and grow professionally. The nursing profession must consider a deliberate programme aimed at transitioning nurses into managers. The nurse manager has duties and responsibility to the profession and nurse managers must be held accountable for this role in order to advance the course of the profession, and by extension improved health system. Nurses who serve in management positions are expected to not only make vital decisions to assist in patient care but also expected to carry out defined duties that include but not limited to the following:

•Staff Management 

•Case Management

•Treatment  planning

•Recruitment and deployment

•Budgeting

•Discharge planning

•Mentorship and executive coaching

•Staff welfare policy Developing 

•Educational and professional development Planning

 •Conflict management

• Policy & Policy Advocacy

           Nurse managers need strong communication and leadership skills in order to be successful. They should be adept in coordinating resources and personnel and meeting goals and objectives. They must be effective leaders who can strike a balance between working with nursing staff and health care facility administrators and directors for an expanded benefit both for the nurse and the patient. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a branch of U.S Department of Health and Human Services, said nurse managers are change agents. They work with staff to find and implement useful changes to improve patient wellness and safety outcomes. Nurse managers also implement regulatory guidelines for patient safety. They have to make sure the staff are  educated on care standards and can implement them as needed. Nurse managers lead their staff in preventing patient harm by empowering nurses to be the first line of defence against patients harm. Working as a nurse manager require skills beyond clinical care. The job of the nurse manager requires strong management skills, budgeting skills, control and coordination skills, planning skills, leadership acumen. Communication and interpersonal skills are also vital. Successful nurse managers exhibit: Effective communication skills -  Part of being a leader is listening to staff and patient concern and communicating needs. Nurse managers must be able to build a solid rapport with all staff members, from the junior rank to the highest rank in the health facility, as well as patients to create a strong cohesiveness that fosters teamwork and team spirit.

Advocacy – In some cases, nurse managers and leaders might have to advocate for staff to ensure a safe and reasonable practice environment. In other cases, they have to advocate for patient safety and access to quality healthcare. Nurse managers should not be afraid of using their voice and position to advance the course of the profession and the safety of patients. 

Participation – With so much administrative demands, it is important that nurse managers balance administrative duty with patient care. Nurse mangers must have superior clinical skills to ensure patient safety and wellbeing through supportive supervision.

Maturity – Nurse managers do not immediately take sides in squabbles or apportion blame before knowing all the facts. They do not let simmering emotions boil over, instead, they meet conflict and resolve it amicably.

Professionalism – Nurse managers follow their moral compass to ensure that all aspect of the profession are met with honesty and integrity. They address people with respect and do not bully them.

Supportive – They do not set the bar of expectation unreasonably high. Instead, they use supportive encouragement to challenge staff to success. They coach and mentor, intentionally develop others to become better managers and leaders and take professional steps for the good of the organization and corporate world.As the current nursing workforces ages and retires, the anticipated shortage of nurses will create opportunities for new nurse managers. Researchers have found that nurse managers are vital to overall nurse retention, they influence the quality of work and stability of a working environment. "Strong leadership qualities in the nursing unit manager have been associated with great job satisfaction, reduced turnover intention among nursing staff, and improved patient outcomes. Nurse leaders need to be supported in an effort to retain nurses giving ongoing workforce issues and to ensure high-quality patient care, researchers said in 2014, "Leadership skills for nursing unit managers to decrease intention to leave", study.

Researchers found there must be cohesive relationship among staff members and better communications with staff for nurse managers to do a better job in the future.  Continual change in the healthcare industry and a focus on costs are among the many things that make the role of the nurse manager challenging.            

            This demands meticulous and pragmatic measure for leadership management capacity building for all nurses so that they can function in the office of management and leadership should they find themselves there . Growing future nurse leaders and managers is a long-term quest that requires both planning and action. Leadership succession planning is one of the recommended intervention that will ensure that the nursing profession will have leaders and managers with the needed competencies and skill to fill in the leadership gap. The time has come for nurses to rise and build leadership and management acumen in order to shape the future of the profession. Complains, anger, conflict, destructive disagreement would not do it; nurses and nurse managers need to collaborate, leverage on the skills and abilities of staff for greater advantage, take advantage of technology and expand the candidness of the nursing workforce across board,  inspire the next generational leaders and managers to adopt new concepts and standards of leadership that is in sync with the 21st century demands. You are the hope of your staff, inspire and help them to do better as a nurse manager. 

Rev.JAK is challenging all nurses to start developing their leadership - management skills now: the best time to learn and build capacity is when you are not in the positional Leadership, do not wait to be appointed before, else you would disappoint yourself and your subordinates as well, invest in your leadership management development now. This generation can not tolerate incompetence, the time is now, the tools and resources and nearwe than you think.

  

 Rev. Jefferson Kwasi Agbotro

MSC OD

LEADERSHIP CONSULTANT

ODCC/ ODCP