Role of Head Nurse PDF

Field of Nursing Nursing Administration Department Lecture : Role of Head Nurse Dr : Doaa Fawzi El-boudy Date : / 10 /2023 Introduction Head nurses are concerned with their specific unit's work flow. They deal with immediate problems in the unit's daily operations, with organizational needs,...

Field of Nursing Nursing Administration Department Lecture : Role of Head Nurse Dr : Doaa Fawzi El-boudy Date : / 10 /2023 Introduction Head nurses are concerned with their specific unit's work flow. They deal with immediate problems in the unit's daily operations, with organizational needs, and with personal needs of employees. The effectiveness of first-level managers tremendously affects the organization. Definition of Head Nurse A nurse administratively responsible for a designated hospital unit on a 24 hours basis. The head nurse is a professional nurse who is responsible for one hospital unit, where nursing care is provided  Criteria for selection of head nurse: Selection of the head nurse to fill the first-level nursing position in the nursing service department affects both the effectiveness and efficiency of the nursing services, and the healthcare organization. The selection of the head nurse should be based on the following:  Criteria for selection of head nurse: I. Educational qualifications: − Hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.Sc.N.) degree with advanced preparation in management technique and skills.  Criteria for selection of head nurse: II.Professional qualifications: − Currently licensed to practice as a professional nurse. − Two to five years of experience in an area of clinical nursing, with at least one year experience as nurse in charge in nursing unit. − Attended continuing education courses in both nursing management and administration.  Criteria for selection of head nurse: II.Professional qualifications: − Possess professional qualities essential for leadership role such as: Sound decision making and communicative skills. Able to recognize and understand the common individuals’ needs. A member in a professional nursing organization (nursing indicate, nursing association, ……).  Criteria for selection of head nurse: III.Personal qualifications: -Healthy (physically and emotionally). -Accept responsibility for continuous self- improvement and professional progress through maintaining up-to-date nursing knowledge and skills development. Different roles of head nurse: 1. Patient care Management. 2. Staff management. 3. Unit management. Different roles of head nurse: 1. Patient care Management: Head nurse must have a body of scientific knowledge and proper competencies to be able to use the five steps of nursing process and ensure that each staff nurse is able to use nursing process to provide patient care Different roles of head nurse: 1.Assessment of individual patient’s needs: −Assessment is a continuous process of collecting, validating, analyzing and interpreting information about the patient in order to correctly identify his problem Different roles of head nurse: Sources and methods of collecting information: a.Patient’s health record b.Shift report c.Nursing interview d.Observation Different roles of head nurse: 2. Identifying nursing diagnosis: After collecting data, the head nurse should categorize them in order to identify patient’s needs, and arrive at nursing diagnosis.  Different roles of head nurse: 3. Planning nursing intervention: The purpose of nursing care plan is to outline in advance prescriptions and guidelines for nursing interventions. The head nurse is responsible for the development of a systematically planned individualized nursing care to each patient in the unit. The nursing care plan should identify both the immediate and the long range problems  Different roles of head nurse: 4. Implementation of the nursing care plan: In which the head nurse: - Discuss with the nursing staff the purpose of the plan of care. − Promote cooperation among staff and workers. − Give report about each patient’s condition and problem before distribution of assignments and at the end of the shift (on-duty and off-duty conference). − Ensure continuity of care throughout the 24 hours. − Use nursing care plan as a basis for supervision and evaluation of patient  Different roles of head nurse: 5. Evaluation of nursing care: − The head nurse must be sure that the pre-established standards are used to evaluate quality and quantity of patient’s care. − The head nurse should involve her staff in the evaluation process which leads to the improvement in patient’s care and staff development.  Different roles of head nurse: II. Staff management: The second areas of the head nurse’s role is to manage her staff through: A.Staff utilization B.Staff supervision C.Staff development D.Staff evaluation (performance appraisal):  Different roles of head nurse: A. Staff utilization: The head nurse can utilize the nursing staff members as follows: 1. Begin day on time and put things in order. 2. Maintains effective means of communication 3. Assigns the tasks to staff members with proper authority. 4. Ensures that every member knows: − To whom he/she is responsible? − For whom he/she is responsible? − To whom he/she may go for counseling? 5. Plans time schedule for staff in advance, taking into account personnel request (staff moral).  Different roles of head nurse: A. Staff utilization: 6. Maintains effective working conditions; e.g. prevent with staff through planned conferences, written reports, nursing notes, discussions and informal teaching. 7. Ensures that each staff nurse is competent in utilizing the nursing process. 8. Provides opportunities for staff nurses to learn, and through practice, gain skills in the application of the nursing process. 9. Holds staff nurses accountable for implementing the nursing process. 10. Develops routine for frequently performed activities; e.g. ordering supplies, carrying out physician’s orders, and assignments of new patients.  Different roles of head nurse: B. Staff supervision: 1. Supervises the quality of nursing activities during: giving report, making assignments, rounds, conducting conferences, and demonstrations. 2. Establishes harmonious relationship with staff and encourages expression of opinions and ideas. 3. Utilizes various supervisory methods, such as: guidance and motivation. 4. Educates nursing students and nursing staff through conferences, rounds and procedural demonstrations. 5. Cooperates with clinical instructors to teach nursing students. 6. Discovers the leadership and creative abilities among nursing staff.  Different roles of head nurse: A. Staff development: The head nurse can develop the nursing staff's knowledge and skills through: 1. Setting and utilizing high standards for nursing staff performance which leads to their professional growth. 2. Encouraging nursing staff: - to participate in planning for the improvement of nursing care. - to apply findings of nursing researches into practice. 3. Providing the opportunities to seek clinical advancement and conducting advanced studies. 4. Sharing in planning, conducting, and participating in training programs.  Different roles of head nurse: A. Staff evaluation (performance appraisal): It is a periodic formal evaluation that attempts to evaluate the extent to which the individual staff nurse's performance meet the pre-determined standards of performance. The head nurse can evaluate the nurses’ performance through: 1. Evaluating nursing staff performance objectively by maintaining a routine system for their continuous evaluation to ensure the attainment of objectives. 2. Encouraging staff to use self-evaluation to determine progress and/or drawbacks. 3. Evaluating the nurses’ performance with the purpose of staff development rather than punishment. 4. Conducting an appraisal interview and investigating any complaints of the nursing staff.  Different roles of head nurse: III. Unit management: There are two organizational patterns through which unit management activities (services) can be achieved: the traditional organizational pattern, and progressive organizational patterns.  Different roles of head nurse: III. Unit management: There are two organizational patterns through which unit management activities (services) can be achieved: the traditional organizational pattern, and progressive organizational patterns.  Different roles of head nurse: A: The traditional organizational pattern The head nurse in this pattern is responsible for the most of the unit activities: - Coordinates activities of many individuals who perform tasks on the patient’s units. - Makes sure that records are kept and reports are made. - Makes sure that supplies and equipment are provided. - Coordinates unit and hospital administration with patient care.  Different roles of head nurse: But there are two main problems aroused from the traditional organizational pattern: a.It increases the volume of management functions performed by the head nurse in the unit. b.It decreases the time spent by the head nurse for the in-patient care management.  Different roles of head nurse: B: Progressive organizational relationship: In this system, the hospitals began to reorganization of the patient care unit by appointing a unit manager to relieve the head nurse from the management activities and to be responsible for: a. Managing the unit activities. b. Maintaining of supplies and equipment. c. Dietary and housekeeping services d. Coordinating the patient care services. e. Plant maintenance