Running head: NURSE MANAGER

Nurse Manager Interview and Analysis

April Greene, Katherine Helms, and Andrea Vanportfliet
Ferris State University

NURSE MANAGER

Nurse Manager Interview and Analysis

JW is the Nurse Manager of the Adult Critical Care at Spectrum Health, Blodgett
Hospital. She has been in this position for 11 years now. She received her Bachelor's degree
from Calvin College. Before acquiring this role, she worked as an RN on a medical/surgical unit
before landing a job in critical care. She worked there for 7 years when she was approached and
offered a manager position. She worked part time for a year and a half before taking over full
time (Wilks, 2016).
JW enjoys the financial side of her job. She pushes to work smarter and be financially
fiscal, (Wilks, 2016). She enjoys creating committees to make a difference and likes the
teamwork aspect of her job. She also finds it rewarding to speak for those who do not have a
voice. JW describes the hardest part of her job as dealing with healthcare costs and how to give
proper care to all patients with what they are given. Another challenge is keeping nurses. The
newer nurses on the floor do not stay for long, and staff is not consistent. The purpose of this
paper is to explore and analyze the role and requirements that it takes in order to be a successful
nurse manager.
Job Description and Duties
As the manager of a nursing unit, JW acts as a role model to the staff. She creates
committees and promotes teamwork among all staff members. JW describes herself as a
visionary; she likes to set goals for her team, get them engaged, create autonomy, and allows
them to make mistakes in order to facilitate learning. If the floor is busy and/or understaffed, she
assists with patient care tasks. A big portion of her position is responsible for financial planning
and budgeting for everything. She must determine staff scheduling and nurse to nurse technician
ratio. JW has 65 staff members that work beneath her. All staff reports to both the night

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supervisor and the nurse manager. They are encouraged to talk to both if an issue arises. JW
then reports to the director of all critical care units at both Butterworth and Blodgett. The
director then reports to the Vice President of nursing at Spectrum (Wilks, 2016).
Communication and Influence
Effective communication on a nursing unit is defined as oral and written material for a
diverse audience, facilitating group discussions, and demonstrating strong communication skills
(American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2011). JW believes that communication is key in
running a successful nursing unit. She uses multiple methods, which include email, flyers, faceto-face discussion, and staff meetings. Consistent communication and repetition, JW believes, is
necessary for quality care. Empathy, as well as an authoritative leadership style, is needed for
effective communication. JW has an open door policy and encourages all staff to have a
relationship with her. She knows her staff well and she promotes relationship building among
them. Every new staff member that joins her team is encouraged to make a small biography so
that all other staff can learn about them. There is also a social committee on the floor and special
events are celebrated among them. Conflict among staff members is rare, but JW facilitates
minor conflict management if necessary (Wilks, 2016).
Leadership
JW described herself as being a transformational leader which Yoder-Wise defines
as based on an inspiring vision that changes the framework of the organization for employees
(Yoder-Wise, 2014, p.42). JW uses this leadership style in handling various issues on the units
with patients, staff, leadership and ethics. In dealing with issues with the patient, she says that
she actively listens, says Im sorry often, and does what she personally can to help deescalate
the situation. In dealing with staff and leadership issues, she uses the term manage-up meaning

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step up and do what you can to help and always lead by example (Wilks, 2016). JW also makes
sure to always be careful of what she says and whom she says it to. She says when dealing with
ethics, she always refers and obtains help from the ethics committee at the hospital as they are
experts in dealing with these types of situations.
Quality Improvement and Risk Management
Quality improvement is defined as an ongoing process of innovation, prevention of error,
and staff development that is used by institutions that adopt the quality management philosophy
(Yoder-Wise, 2014, p. 390). JW described that in order to drive quality improvement on her
critical care unit everything revolved around what was best for the patient, have patients be able
to move to a step down unit from the ICU, and to push her staff to be the best that they can be
(Wilks, 2016). To facilitate these goals she pushes her staff to be competitive, join committees
such as the quality committee, and holds her staff to the highest of expectations. JW also create a
board in the staff conference room that points of quality improvement techniques and what the
staff can do in order to reach the unit goals.
The purpose of risk management is to achieve quality outcome standards, and prevent
and patient-care problems (Yoder-Wise, 2014, p. 403). JW has already shown that she has
reached this goal in a number of ways, and is always searching to find new ways in which she
can decrease errors in order to provide higher a higher patient-care standard. JW described that
one way in which she has achieved this goal is by decreasing the use of restraints in the critical
care until from a total of 50% down to only 10-20% of patients needing the use of restraints. She
accomplished this by researching and using various hospital resources to find that the use of
restraints is not always necessary for patient care in the critical care setting. Just recently JW has
been given permission to carry out a trial plan to remove the answering of phone calls while at

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the bedside. She describes this action as being a distraction to direct patient care that could
potentially increase the rate of errors, (Wilks, 2016). In doing so she found that there are
alternatives ways in which the staff can receive important messages, such as texting the staff
from their work phones so they can read them after leaving the bedside. JW said that if the
message was that urgent they would find a different communication method to get the message
where it needed to be, (Wilks, 2016). In conclusion, the reasons that JW is implementing these
changes is to decrease staff error and increase the quality of care the patient is receiving.
Professionalism
Professionalism is how you present yourself to others through attitude, appearance,
willingness to help others, and can also include knowledge and skills (Bunkenborg, Samuelson,
Akeson, & Poulson, 2013). JW expects the nurses on her floor to act in a professional manner in
every situation, whether they are with a patient or not. She described professionalism as the way
one presents themselves, their attitude towards a given situation, and whether they continue to
seek knowledge in their profession. (Wilks, 2016). JW also believes that accountability and
advocacy are very important to the nursing profession. She promotes accountability and
advocacy on her floor by allowing her staff to come to her with any mistakes or concerns so the
best care can be provided for the patient. Advocacy includes the nurse speaking up on behalf of
the patient in situations when safety issues arise, (Battie & Steelman, 2014). By having an open
door policy and promoting her staff to feel comfortable coming to her with any issues, she is
creating a safer environment for not only the patients, but for the staff as well.
Business Skills
Developing and managing an annual operating budget and long-term plan and managing
financial resources are very important skills for a nurse manager to have (American Organization

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of Nurse Executives, 2011). JW discussed some ways she is able to budget her finances for the
year, which must involve budgeting for any equipment needed, hours per patient day, RN and
nurse technician ratio, and payroll. She typically sets a budget by looking back to the prior year
and using that for the next year, which can change very quickly (Wilks, 2016). Staff management
is also very important, which can involve staff ratios, staff satisfaction and quality of work, and
staff retention strategies. By ensuring the floor is adequately staffed and has high satisfaction
ratings, it is more likely they will continue to work on the floor, which will lead to better a team.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to be a successful nurse manager it is important to incorporate
professionalism, effective communication, leadership and business skills, and tools to implement
quality improvement and risk management. JW is successful in her role as a nurse leader because
she integrates these characteristics into her daily routine. Upon completion of this interview, we
have gained insight on what it means to be a leader in the nursing field. We can use this
knowledge as we move forward in our nursing career to demonstrate exceptional leadership
skills.

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References
American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2011). The AONE Nurse Executive Competencies.
Retrieved from https://fsulearn.ferris.edu/bbcwebdav/pid-805459-dt-content-rid5081718_1/courses/11124.201510/AONE_NEC%281%29.pdf
Battie, Renae, and Victoria Steelman. "Accountability in Nursing Practice: Why It Is Important
for Patient Safety." AORN Journal 100.5 (2014): 537-41.
Bunkenborg G., Samuelson K., Akeson J. & Poulsen I. (2013) Impact of professionalism in
nursing on in-hospital bedside monitoring practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing 69(7),
14661477. doi: 10.1111/jan.12003
Wilks, Janet. Personal interview by April Greene, Katherine Helms, & Andrea VanPortfliet, 22
Mar. 2016.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2015). Leading and managing in nursing (6 ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders.
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