Running head: ANALYSIS OF NURSE MANAGER INTERVIEW SUBMISSION

Analysis of Nurse Manager Interview Submission

Tania Machin Triguero

St. Thomas University

Health Care Issues

Professor Merlyne Civil

July 17, 2020

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Abstract

I performed an interview with a nurse manager, Mrs. Patterson, at a healthcare facility to

find out the factors that influence her decision-making process throughout the facility. She is a

nurse manager at Mount Sinai Medical Center. The healthcare facility offers both outpatient and

inpatient services. The interview focused on exploring the roles of Mrs. Patterson as a nurse

manager on the unit, and her views on the impact of regulatory agencies, health policies, and

healthcare financing in the making of health-related decisions. According to the nursing

manager, the supervision of the nursing staff focuses on identifying various aspects. One of the

aspects is holding the nursing staff accountable for delivering high quality patient-centered care

that aligns with medical ethics, patient privacy rules, and other set regulations.

Keywords: manager, finances, healthcare policies

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During the interview, Mrs. Patterson highlighted some of the roles that she was

responsible for within the facility. One of her main roles as the nurse manager involves

supervising the entire nursing staff within the facility which also includes the staff working on

the field while offering outside nursing care such as home health services (Witges & Scanlan,

2017). The nurse manager stated that she aids the nursing staff whenever she realizes that one

may be experiencing challenges during her supervision. Mrs. Patterson’s position goes beyond

solely assessing the nursing staff, it is her responsibility to identify if the present nursing staff is

unable to delegate any of their assigned duties, either due to lack of information and knowledge

or encountering certain psychological hindrances (Witges & Scanlan, 2017).

Mrs. Patterson pointed out another role as the nurse manager which involves overseeing

patient care. According to Mrs. Patterson, overseeing patient care may sound similar to the

supervision of the nursing staff, but the two differ greatly. A major difference between the two is

that the main focus of overseeing patient care concentrates directly on the patients and the

delivery of care which they receive, while the supervision of the nursing staff focuses on the

conduct and daily activities of the employees. In overseeing the patient care, the nurse manager

focuses on various concepts, including the delivery of patient care, provision of the patient-

centered care to every client, timely attendance of patient needs and concerns as well as

administration of the correct prescribed medications and treatment to every patient (Witges &

Scanlan, 2017). According to Mrs. Patterson, overseeing patient care will ensure that all these,

among other concepts, are effectively met. Mrs. Patterson further emphasized during the

interview, that it is critical to meet these standards to result in the provision and existence of

proper and quality patient care within the facility.

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During the interview, Mrs. Patterson further mentioned another role she is responsible for

regarding decision-making. Mrs. Patterson mentioned that, as a nurse manager, it is necessary to

make various decisions within the facility. For example, within Mount Sinai Medical Center,

Mrs. Patterson is responsible for making decisions regarding personnel including hiring, training,

firing, and improving existing personnel within the hospital (Witges & Scanlan, 2017).

Moreover, due to this responsibility, the nurse manager thus becomes engaged in human

resource management. According to Mrs. Patterson, the nurse manager will be involved in

human resource management roles and activities since she is required to be responsible for all

the staffs' actions. Also, the nurse manager is responsible for the professional development and

proper training of the employees. This can be accomplished by the nurse manager organizing or

offering the staff regular professional training workshops and other similar learning sessions.

Mrs. Patterson also mention her duty of overseeing the unit-based operations which is an

administrative role. During the delegation of this role, Mrs. Patterson is required to focus on four

main aspects. These aspects include the hospitals’ finances, human resources, regulation of unit-

based protocols as well as comprehensive focused care delivery. The nurse manager is entitled

to ensure proper and efficient delivery of clinical care within the entire hospital. This can be

done in various ways, through supporting the comprehensive unit-based safety programs within

the hospital by engaging the staff to help involve the team in implementing different cultural

principles within the unit as well as reinforcing peer-to-peer mentoring (Witges & Scanlan,

2017). While overseeing the unit-based operations, the nurse manager is involved in both the

hospital finances and human resources departments. Mrs. Patterson is at the front line of ensuring

the proper and effective operation of every unit throughout the hospital.
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The interview with Mrs. Patterson, revealed the prevalence of both negative and positive

perceptions on the impact of health policy on decision making. The positive perceptions seemed

to outweigh the negative ones because the interview revealed far more positive perceptions as

compared to negative ones. The negative perception relates to the healthcare policies that restrict

the healthcare personnel to make proper and informed healthcare decisions. The interview

revealed that the nurse manager faces challenges with the prevailing healthcare policies which

may hinder proper decision making.

According to Mrs. Patterson, some of the existing healthcare policies pose great

restrictions on healthcare personnel at the administrative level impeding the flexibility of

implementing new strategies or regulations. Mrs. Patterson offered the example where the

healthcare policies provide the boundaries within which the leaders, administrators, and all

healthcare personnel can make decisions. As a result, this limits healthcare administrators while

making decisions which, have may the potential to offer great benefits to the facility. According

to Mrs. Patterson, most of the healthcare policies focus on the general healthcare scenarios, but

not specific ones. This restricts the healthcare personnel in making patient-centered decisions.

Despite such negative perceptions, the interview also revealed the presence of positive

ones towards the impact of healthcare policies in the relative decision-making process. One of

the positive perceptions is that healthcare policies guide healthcare personnel in the decision-

making process. The set regulations and guidelines formulate the route that healthcare personnel

are to follow in making healthcare relative decisions. Other than guiding, healthcare policies

also enable the decision-making process while abiding by medical and health ethics. According

to Mrs. Patterson, almost all healthcare policies are based on various health ethics. The

incorporation of the ethical aspects of healthcare policies enables them to assist in the making of
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ethical healthcare decisions. An excellent example is the Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act (HIPAA), which ensures the protection and privacy of sensitive patient

health information from being disclosed to unauthorized personnel (Tovino, 2016). Therefore,

through guiding and ensuring the making of ethical decisions, the impact of healthcare policies

in the decision-making process has gained positive perceptions.

The interview also revealed the existence of positive perceptions of the impact of

regulatory agencies on the decision-making process. Based on the interview, the regulatory

agencies will ensure the decision-making process follows the set policies, rules, and guidelines.

For instance, any decisions related to patients’ privacy has to follow the Health Insurance

Portability and Accountability Act (Tovino, 2016). Abiding by this Act will ensure the existence

of the making of ethical decisions, which are safe for the patients, their health, and the healthcare

personnel.

Lastly, the interview disclosed the impact of healthcare financing on the relative

decision-making process. According to Mrs. Patterson, healthcare financing has facilitated

effective well-rounded healthcare decision making processes. An example of this is through the

allocated finance resources, which helps nurse managers and administrators sponsor their staffs'

decision-making forums (Santilli & Vogenberg, 2015). In doing so, the nurse manager

encourages most of their staff to be involved in making decisions, especially those directly

affecting their units. This allows for comprehensive decisions to be made that include all

dimensions and incorporates the views of different parties- from the healthcare personnel,

regulatory agencies, and hospital administrators.

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Overall, Mrs. Patterson offered a thorough explanation of the roles and duties required

from a nursing manager. Mount Sinai Medical Center is a national hospital, which offers

healthcare services both outpatient and inpatient with a large staff requiring the need for a

Nurse manager to oversee the daily tasks to ensure high quality patient-centered care to each

client. During the interview, Mrs. Patterson addressed issues relating to the impact of health

policies, regulatory agencies, and healthcare financing in the process making of healthcare-

related decisions. Mrs. Patterson also disclosed her numerous roles as a nurse manager within the

facility.
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References

Santilli, J., & Vogenberg, F. R. (2015). Key strategic trends that impact healthcare decision-

making and stakeholder roles in the new marketplace. American health & drug benefits,

8(1), 15.

Tovino, S. A. (2016). Teaching the HIPAA privacy rule. Louis ULJ, 61, 469.

Witges, K. A., & Scanlan, J. M. (2017). Understanding the role of the nurse manager: The full-

range leadership theory perspective. Nurse Leader, 12(6), 67-70.