Nursing Leadership and Education, Part II
Two issues must be considered regarding nurse manager and director role preparation. First, given the importance of the role and the competencies required for success, nursing and health care administrators must support the possession or acquisition of a graduate degree as an essential requirement. A corollary to this imperative is the need to educate current and future nurse leaders about the necessity for this requirement.
Information about the business and nursing administration content typically included in graduate programs-particularly finance, clinical operations, human resource management, and legal and risk management-and the relevance of this content to specific responsibilities, may clarify the need for and benefit of graduate education.
The new health care leadership must possess synthesized competence that includes clinical health services and the management of these services from a business perspective. Nursing/health care administration is a discipline that combines the practice and caring aspects of nursing with the theories and methods of administration.
Nurses both provide care and manage the care environment. To maximize the interaction of these two roles, nurses in leadership positions must be as adequately prepared in the management aspects of the role as they are in the practice aspects.
For a review of the many types of advanced education available, see www.allnursingschools.com or www.petersons.com.