New unit manager who is not a nurse

[VictoriaG]

Hello my friends, I need input on this one. I have been holding the OR together for 6 months without benefit of any management experience whatsoever. Believe me, it has been rough. The hospital finally hired a manager who starts next week. However, and here is the rub, he is not a nurse. His OR experience is scrub tech. What are the implications here? I have met this man and am impressed with him, he is coming from an Indiana hospital where he has been managing an OR much like ours. He has a Master's in administration. He has told me I would continue as charge nurse, but I have yet to hear that from administration.

How can I be managed by a manager who is not a nurse? The RN's I circulate with are all agency nurses; I have been stringent in overseeing their work, especially in light of the fact that our hospital is in deep trouble and is now a State Monitored Institution. I am over my head in my present job as manager and have been awaiting the day that a new manager would arrive. I am eager to get away from the phones and the desk and back into the rooms. But I have grave concerns about the implications here.

[texastwin]

Check with your State Board of Nursing as in TX only another RN or MD can clinically supervise an RN. TX State Board of Nursing told me that ANYONE can supervise you when it comes to attendance, time cards, etc. But, clinically, they must be an RN or an MD to supervise an RN. Just how much clinical duties will this guy have?? Actually, I think I'd be looking for a more stable work environment myself!

[VictoriaG]

I am beginning to agree with you. I am starting to get tired.

[Mijourney]

Hi. Don't know what the hospital funding is like, but wonder if a co-manager structure would work? I've been in situations where there was a clinician or CNS/NP in place to coordinate clinical services and a manager or coordinator for non-clinical activities. For any administrative type concerns, the nursing staff would report to the administrative manager, and for clinical concerns, the nursing staff would report to the clinician or CNS/NP. Even though employers may not require a BSN for clinician status, this is one position in which BSN nurses are frequently hired.