UNDERSTANDING NURSING MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
T oday, all nurses are managers. Whether you work in a freestanding clinic, an ambula-tory surgical center, a critical unit in an acute care hospital, or in hospice care for a home care agency, you must deal with staff, including other nurses and unlicensed as- sistive personnel, who work with you and for you. At the same time, you must be vigilant about costs. To manage well, you must understand the health care system and the organizations where you work. You need to recognize what external forces affect your work and how to influence those forces. You need to know what motivates people and how you can help create an environ- ment that inspires and sustains the individuals who work in it. You must be able to collaborate with others, as a leader, a follower, and a team member, in order to become confident in your ability to be a leader and a manager.
This book is designed to provide new graduates or novice managers with the information they need to become effective managers and leaders in health care. More than ever before, today’s rapidly changing health care environment demands highly refined management skills and superb leadership.
Changes in Health Care Today’s health care system is continuing to undergo significant changes. Costly lifesaving medi- cines, robotics, virtual care, and innovations in imaging technologies, noninvasive treatments, and surgical procedures have combined to produce the most sophisticated and effective health care ever—and the most expensive. Skyrocketing costs and inaccessibility to health care are ongoing concerns for employers, health care providers, policy makers, and the public at large. A number of factors are forcing change on the health care system.