Vacancy: Nurse manager roles hard to fill (626 hits)
Who's the boss?
Nursing leaders and researchers say there's no question it's tough to find and keep nurse managers. No one wants to be a nurse manager," said Tanya Osborne McKenzie, RN, MSN, MBA, director of the five-unit critical care service line at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, in Salinas, Calif. "It's extremely difficult to find nurse manager talent or to hire anyone."
Why are nurses so reluctant to step into these leadership positions?
McKenzie said people find the responsibility and stress aren't worth the title.
"One person left, wanting to go back to the clinical role. He said the job was just way too hard," she said. Staff members who are strong clinicians and would do well in management just won't take on the responsibility, she said.
Nursing leaders and researchers say there's no question it's tough to find and keep nurse managers. Yet hard data on these turnover rates is seemingly nonexistent.
Peter Buerhaus, RN, PhD, FAAN, Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he hears about the issue frequently — from staff nurses, mid-level nurses and executives — but no one has tracked turnover rates among nurse managers.
Researchers predict the situation only will get worse as the job challenges continue to magnify in the years...
