Would you respect a nurse manager whose bedside experience...

[klone]

Was in a different area of nursing? Managers, do you think you can be an effective leader if your "in the trench" knowledge for that particularly area of nursing is limited?

[brownbook]

Yes to all the advice. A good manager of any activity does not need to be the best in that field. A good sports team manager is probably not a great or even good athlete, they know how to get the best performance out of the people they manage. They know who is smart, good, proficient, etc., and and support them so they can perform their job.

Many of the smartest, technically excellent, most experienced, nurses I have worked with have made, or would make, terrible managers.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Agreed. Good managers understand people. They support their staff, listen to concerns and ideas, and help on the floor. They are proactive, not reactive, and role model positive behaviors. The same rules of conduct apply to the manager that apply to the staff.

As long as you have good people skills and solid nursing experience, you should be fine in med surg.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Was in a different area of nursing? Managers, do you think you can be an effective leader if your "in the trench" knowledge for that particularly area of nursing is limited?

Management is a different job than bedside nursing; it requires different skill sets. A good manager is a rare jewel. I'd base my respect (or lack thereof) on her management skills, not her skill in working with the patient populations.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I've had mixed experiences in pediatrics with leadership that lacked pediatric experience... though the problem was more their lack of leadership/managerial skills than their lack of pediatric experience. I am a firm believer that the Peter Principle is alive and well in Nursing.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Is that where a person is promoted until they've reached their level of incompetence?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Is that where a person is promoted until they've reached their level of incompetence?

Yes. And that people are promoted based on their performance in their current role and not their qualifications for the new role.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

The fact that they may have come from a different nursing specialty doesn't mean they're not bringing something valuable to the table. There's something to be learned from everyone. And as long as they're willing to learn about where they are now, what's not to respect about them?

However, if they start acting like they know everything about, say, psych without ever actually worked in psych, and are not listening to the concerns of those of us who actually HAVE...well, that's not going to go very well, is it?

[SororAKS, ADN, RN]

I don't think they necessarily have to have a lot of experience in the particular area, but have enough experience at the bedside to have worked through issues that effect bedside nurses of most specialties. They need to have good leadership and managerial skills, diplomacy, be able to support their staff and deal with the higher ups effectively.

Klone, I think you'd be terrific. Go for it!

[AJJKRN]

The best manager we've ever had hands down had never even worked as a nurse inside the hospital ever, only in the clinic. She did manage the clinic float pool but managing the inpatient float pool was apples to oranges. Man I miss her.