What skills do Registered Nurses bring to health service management roles?

BACKGROUND Registered nurses in the health system in New Zealand are able to follow a career pathway into management roles that also usually require a clinical focus. This means there are different skill sets required for such roles, which are commonly referred to as clinical nurse manager or clinical charge nurse. The discussion on the skills of registered nurses transferable to management roles has become more topical with the resurgence of clinical governance and a ministerial drive to implement clinical governance throughout the District Health Boards (DHBs) of New Zealand. RESEARCH AIM The aim of this research was to understand the skills nurses use in clinical practice and how they might transition into management. Nurses who move into these roles are usually experienced nurses, but little is known about what skills they have that may be transferable to the context of a management role. The research question therefore asked “what skills do registered nurses bring to health service management roles?” METHODOLOGY The most appropriate way to obtain this information was determined to be through a descriptive survey design, using an e-survey questionnaire as the data collection instrument. Survey Monkey™ was used to develop a web based questionnaire distributed through a web link attached to an email, providing potential respondents access to the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic questions, with literature review findings used to formulate the remaining quantitative questions. Free text responses to some questions provided the opportunity to include qualitative data. Respondents were recruited from across four District health boards and an Aged Care Facility. Ethical considerations ensured privacy and anonymity of respondents. The Survey Monkey™ tool generated results as percentages and frequencies for each question and these are presented in pie graphs. Thematic descriptive data analysis was used to develop themes from respondents’ free text comments. RESULTS The results of the survey reflected national and international trends within nursing with the thematic analysis of feedback clearly identifying a range of skills that registered nurses have that could transition into management roles, and the priorities the registered nurses assigned to these skills. The findings demonstrated a lack of clarity of the clinical nurse manager roles, expectations of both the manager and the registered nurse transitioning into the role without adequate preparation. Recommendations from the findings are presented across three spectrums: education, nursing practice and research.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Health Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Eastern Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Robertshawe, Sally

• New Zealand
• registered nurses
• transferable skills
• management
• role transition
• health services
• surveys

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6394

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10652/6394