UNDERSTANDING NURSING MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
● Statistical—built from a scientific approach ● Case study—an in-depth analysis used to translate to other clinical situations ● Nonexperimental design research—gathering factors related to a clinical condition ● Quasi-experimental design research—a study limited to one group of subjects ● Randomized control trial—uses both experimental and control groups to determine the
effectiveness of an intervention
While all forms of evidence are useful for clinical decision making, a randomized control design and statistical evidence are the most rigorous (Hader, 2010).
Magnet® Certification The Magnet Recognition Program® designates organizations that “recognize health care orga- nizations that provide nursing excellence” (ANCC, 2011). To qualify for recognition as a mag- net hospital the organization must demonstrate that they are:
● Promoting quality in a setting that supports professional practice ● Identifying excellence in the delivery of nursing services to patients/residents ● Disseminating “best practices” in nursing services.
Becoming a magnet hospital requires a significant investment of time and financial resources. Research shows, however, that patient safety is improved when nurse staffing meets Magnet standards (Lake et al., 2010).
Systems involving participatory management and shared governance create organizational environments that reward decision making, creativity, independence, and autonomy. These orga- nizations retain and recruit independent, accountable professionals. Organizations that empower nurses to make decisions will better meet consumer requests. As the health care environment continues to evolve, more and more organizations are adopting consumer-sensitive cultures that require accountability and decision making from nurses.
Magnet hospitals are those institutions that have met the stringent guidelines for nurses and are credentialed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Characteristics common in mag-
net hospitals include:
● Higher ratios of nurses to patients ● Flexible schedules ● Decentralized administration ● Participatory management ● Autonomy in decision making ● Recognition ● Advancement opportunities
To retain the current workforce and attract other nurses, health care organizations can take from the magnet program characteristics to improve work-life conditions for nurses. Encourag- ing nurses to be full participants and to share a vested interest in the success of the organization can help alleviate the nursing shortage in those organizations and in the profession.
See Chapter 6 , Managing and Improving Quality, to learn more about improving quality in health care.
Evolving Technology Rapid changes in technology seem, at times, to overwhelm us. Hospital information systems (HIS); electronic health records (EHR); point-of-care data entry (POC); provider order entry; bar-code medication administration; dashboards to manage, report, and compare data across plat- forms; virtual care provided from a distance; and robotics—to name a few of the many evolving technologies—both fascinate and frighten us simultaneously. At the same time, communication