New nurse manager resources

dudette10, MSN, RN · Jul 4, 2012

I am taking off my nursing hat and putting on the hat of my previous career: project management.

You already have the resources: the information about processes and structure that you had at your other job. Don't reinvent the wheel. If something works, use it.

Plus, your best resources for improvement and development are front-line staff.

1) Idea/new process

2) Communication of idea to all stakeholders and obtain buy-in! Don't forget to include those who will have to work with the new processes--the staff. I can't tell you how many times this part of the communication strategy is missed and a good idea fails miserably. Management freakin' 101!! Getting buy-in does not mean that everyone agrees it's the best idea EVER; it just means that everyone is willing to try it out.

3) Piloting new process. Another management 101 principle that so many don't do, and they wonder why something failed. Piloting allows for tweaks and improvements before facility-wide rollout. You, as the manager, will invite continuous feedback from the front-line staff on how the new process is working out during the pilot phase. It makes them involved--which you absolutely need--plus it creates a team atmosphere. Rather than being handed a new mandate on high that no one is willing to speak up about when it doesn't work, they are involved in creating the final process. Tools necessary to comply with the process will be revealed. This team atmosphere also has another effect: the pilot unit will speak more favorably about the new process, so that buy-in for front-line staff during a wider roll-out becomes much, much easier.

4) Rollout. Communicate and educate. The staff needs to understand the importance of the new process, whether it be to meet regulatory requirements (we don't get paid if we don't do this!) or increase positive patient outcomes, etc. The staff also needs the tools to comply with the process. If they don't have the equipment, supplies, or forms to comply, it will not happen!

Many times in my first year of nursing something new has come down the pike and we all sit around and go, "What is this? Why?" or, even worse, "We can't do this. We don't have this and this and this to do it!" It creates a bad taste in our mouths from the get-go because the basic principles of implementating a new process are not followed.

Management is a skill separate from nursing skills. Many here will say that all managers should have been bedside at one time. I agree to a point, but the more important point is that all managers listen to their front-line staff when trying to implement a new idea. So many don't and it creates an us vs. them mentality that engrains itself into the culture and is difficult to change.