Profile of an Excellent Nurse Manager

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this research was to identify the profile of an excellent nurse manager who can lead effective health care teams.

METHODOLOGY
Twenty-five chief nurse executives (CNE) representing 29 hospitals in 18 states, responsible for acute care units and emergency centers, identified 233 nurse managers to participate. CNEs assessed 105 of them as “excellent” and 128 as “competent.” Nurse managers with scores for the subscales Nurse Manager Ability Leadership, and Support of Nurses (NDNQI-RN survey with Practice Environment Scale) or Supportive Nursing Management (NDNQI-RN Survey with Job Satisfaction Scale) at or above the 75th percentile of the NDNQI database were identified as excellent (N=52), those with scores between the 50th and 74th percentile were ranked as competent (N=64), and the rest (N=117) considered “in development.” A third comparison, using the scores of both the CNE and NDNQI-RN survey, assessed 30 nurse managers as excellent and 203 were competent or in development. Nurse managers completed the LPI-Self. The typical respondent was female, aged 50 years or older, and very experienced (in years) as an RN.

KEY FINDINGS
Nurse managers rated by CNEs as excellent reported significantly higher scores on all five leadership practices than those nurses rated as competent. No statistically significant relationships were found on any of the leadership practices on the basis of assessments by the NDNQI-RN Survey (excellent, competent, in development). The nurse managers rated as excellent by CNE and the NDNQI-RN Survey reported engaging significantly more often in Model, Challenge, Enable, and Encourage, with Inspire almost statistically significant (p < .10). Across all nurse managers Enable was the most frequently used leadership practice, followed by Model and Encourage, and then Challenge and Inspire.

The author notes: “It is recommended that the LPI-Self be used, with permission, to identify, recruit, select, hire, develop, and retain nurse managers. The LPI-Self is effective and relatively easy to use” (p. 267). “The LPI-Self now has been shown to distinguish those nurse managers who are excellent and should be recruited and developed in the role” (p. 268).