LEARNING KEY SKILLS IN NURSING MANAGEMENT
They may not be employees of the organization but still have considerable power because of their ability to attract patients to the organization, and, finally, the medical staff is in itself di- verse, consisting of physicians who are organizational employees, residents, physicians in pri- vate practice, and consulting physicians.
One program designed to help physicians improve their communication skills is LegacyMd (see http://legacymd.com/). Using improvisational techniques, participants practice interacting in scenes depicting workplace examples, receive feedback, and replay the scene with enhanced skills.
(See the next section on collaborative communication for how to interact more effectively with physicians.)
Other Health Care Personnel The nurse manager has the overwhelming task of coordinating the activities of a number of per- sonnel with varied levels and types of preparation and different kinds of tasks. The patient may receive regular care from a registered nurse, unlicensed assistive personnel, a respiratory thera- pist, a physical therapist, and a dietitian, among others. The nurse manager may supervise all of them. Regardless, the manager needs considerable skill to communicate effectively with diverse personnel, recognize their commonalities, and deal with their differences.
Patients and Families Nurse managers deal with many difficult issues. Patient or family complaints about the delivery of care (e.g., complaints about a staff member, violations of policy) are one example. When dealing with patient or family complaints, keep the following principles in mind: