Med/Surgical experience required to become Manager?

Euskadi1946 · Oct 14, 2004

Calling all managers. I'm going to graduate with my BSN in 6 months and I know I do not want to go in to med/surge. My goal is unit manager/DON and I like OR nursing, my question is: Is it imperative to to have experience in med/surge to become manager, or does any nursing experience suffice?

I'm no where near a manager but when I graduated from nursing school I wanted to go into L/D. Was encouraged to get at least one year of med/surg under my belt which I did and I'm sure glad I did. I was able to put lots of experience down on my resume and alot of nursing jobs require at least some med/surg experience. You will have a broader outlook of nursing with some med/surg experience. I loved med/surg but burned out quickly due to staffing.

SarasotaRN2b · Oct 15, 2004

Calling all managers. I'm going to graduate with my BSN in 6 months and I know I do not want to go in to med/surge. My goal is unit manager/DON and I like OR nursing, my question is: Is it imperative to to have experience in med/surge to become manager, or does any nursing experience suffice?

I'm not a manager, but like you want to go into management. However, I do feel that if you want to become a manager/DON, you should put in a year or two in an area that you want to manage. I would think that it would give you a better view of what staff nurses go through. That education would be invaluable, don't you think?

debRN0417 · Oct 15, 2004

In my experience, I have found that it is much better if you have had experience actually doing the hands on in the area for which you would be managing. This way, you have "been in the field". You know exactly what the responsibilities are and the time management/staff/clinical problems that can occur with that particular area. Also, it is much easier to gain the respect of your peers and team if you "know what it's like". This way one can never say to you "You don't understand, because you have never done it before." Also you have the solid clinical experience to back up any decisions you make or questions that may arise. I always felt that whatever experience I could get in any area was a plus! I have worked as a CNA, a staff nurse, charge nurse, supervisor, and DON. Everytime I got the chance I "floated" to an area so that I could gain clinical knowledge from actual hands on. I have worked, peds, ER, ICU, med/surg, ortho, L&D, nursery, skilled, Long term care, psych, home health, oncology and so on....I think the only places I haven't worked has been OR and PACU, that was only because I never got the chance. I'm not saying that this is required, but I feel I am a better manager for it. My motto is..."If you get the chance....do it!"

ceecel.dee, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2004

I, too, think it's a good idea.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Oct 16, 2004

I think it is a matter of credibility! I have worked on a number of units where the manager had limited practical experience as a nurse and virtually no experience as a manager. The staff simply did not hold much respect for the manager. In addition, many times units do not have strong clinical practice policies in place. As a manager, it is your responsibility to identify these clinical practice issues and put together policy to protect the patient and the nurses. If you have not functioned as a nurse on the floor, how are you even going to know what practices are good and what are not.

I would always advise new graduates to take a year in clinical practice and then work your way up to a nurse manager role. A new nurse should function as staff for a year, then move to a charge nurse position, possiblity an assistant nurse manager role and then finally manager. This growth helps one understand the workings of the position, the politics and gives a road map of what to do and what not to do.

I really believe that a nurse manager is a middle management person. You are generally caught in the middle between executive management on one side and the nurses on the other. As a nurse manager, you MUST learn to balance the priorities of both groups. For me, as a nurse and a nurse manager, I need to be able to advocate for my nurses, but at the same time, I want my nurses to know that they need to give a little too! Finally, I always let executive management know what I think is possible and what I think is not possible for the nurses. This balance creates some level of harmoney between the two groups (please note I said SOME level). A nurse manager without any experience might struggle to provide this type of balance, which I think is essential to be successful in the role.

My advice would be to bide your time, pay your dues and then go for it. Better to learn more and have the experience for success then to move quickly and set yourself up for failure.