Job Description & Responsibilities of a Head Nurse Nurses are vital to the success of the medical community as a whole.

They perform duties that are essential to the well-being of patients and the working efficiency of doctors. Head nurses are vital to the successful functioning of a medical facility's nursing unit. Head nurses perform a variety of routine and supervisory functions that affect almost every area of a unit's daily operations.

Supervisor

Head nurses act as the supervisors of a facility's nursing staff. They allocate duties and evaluate the performance of other nurses. They also train any newly hired nurses.

Patients

Head nurses also work directly with patients. They ensure that patients' conditions remain stable and that doctors' treatment instructions have been properly carried out.

Inventory Management

Head nurses are responsible for ensuring that adequate quantities of supplies are maintained, and for ordering new supplies when necessary.

Doctors

Doctors are often accompanied by head nurses while making their rounds. The head nurse is responsible for alerting the doctor to any unique concerns or complaints regarding a patient.

Requirements

In order to successfully carry out the duties of a head nurse, an individual must be a good leader, a self-starter, observant, a good communicator and possess good people skills.

A head nurse essentially holds a management position, conducting supervisory duties. A head nurse is placed above staff nurses, responsible for the resources, patient care and personnel aspect of a nursing unit. Needless to say, the job comes with a higher paycheck and equally large responsibilities. Head nurses are also responsible for nursing practice standards implementation and care guidelines. In this article, well take a look at the qualifications, experience and specific qualities that a person should possess in order to become a head nurse. Qualification To become a head nurse, you need at least BSN in nursing, though a masters degree from an accredited school is preferred in most hospitals. The masters degree endows a nurse with skills in the areas of leadership, communication and critical thinking during emergencies.

Experience You should put in three to five years of experience in a care facility before you can apply for the position of a head nurse, or be considered for this position. Nurses with experience in a long term care facility are preferred.

Qualities And Desired Characteristics

The following qualities and characteristics are desired in head nurses in most long term health care facilities. Many of these qualities must be inherent, while some are expected fromnursing experience.

Compassionate Approach Head nurses are required to possess a compassionate approach that does not wane in the face of pressure under critical situations. Coordination A nursing manager or head nurse must be able to facilitate and deliver quality nursing care, while managing the environment. This includes coordinating with other nurses involved in patient care. The ability to perform management duties should be part of a nurses work experience in order to qualify for this post.

Analytical skills The ability to quickly grasp a situation and analyze it is a carefully cultivated skill. Though this skill is inherent in some people, it can be grown. In a head nurse, this skill can prevent emergencies from occurring in a patient care scenario. A head nurse with strong analytical skills will know which nurse to place in care of which patient and how to handle patients families, doctors and their demands and how to defuse situations before they blow out of control.

Negotiation And Conflict Resolution Nursing candidates for a head nurse post must possess effective negotiation and conflict resolution skills. A head nurse or nurse manager is required to smoothly manage the care environment of the nursing unit under him or her. This means that the head nurse has to effectively manage any conflicts that may arise with regard to patient care schedules, or even personal conflicts that can occur among the staff. All issues of bickering, non-cooperation, unethical behavior and noncompliances are first dealt with by the head nurse. The head nurse performs the initial evaluation, primary negotiations, necessary monitoring and disciplining of non-compliant staff. Matters are escalated to HR and hospital management only if they dont get sorted at the head nurses level.

Humanistic Management Philosophy The head nurse is encouraged to practice a humanistic management philosophy that involves considering staff as people first and nurses later. Though this attitude can be taught, some nurses possess this quality inherently. Approaching

any situation from a humanistic perspective allows for greater staff morale and better performance.

Ability to multi-task Head nurses, apart from their management duties also have to be in charge of the overall care a patient receives. This means the head nurse has to supervise patient treatments, progress, reporting to doctors, monitoring nurses, changing routines, managing staff schedules and so on. All these tasks require the head nurse to have excellent multitasking abilities.

Excellent Interpersonal Skills A nurse manager is essentially a manager and in general, managers are not liked in any facility. This makes any head nurses job challenging. Excellent interpersonal skills need to be partly inherent, partly cultivated and carefully grown during nursing experience. Its an effort to ensure that members of the nursing staff remain calm, focused and work as a cooperative group. Great interpersonal skills along with an even tempered, calm attitude can help head nurses manage their staff better.

Excellent Organizational Skills A head nurse cannot manage each individual patient. Thats why its important for the head nurse to structure the nursing units activities and responsibilities, manage the staff rotation calendar, ensure critical medications are obtained in time, and determine effective resource distribution. All of these tasks require considerable organizational skills, similar to those of a corporate manager.

Impartial Advocacy Head nurses should be seen as highly credible, even tempered and innovative people when it comes to advocacy. Its the head nurses job to meet the needs of nurses: clinical, professional, or personal. Helping nurses to resolve their issues and manage advocacy for them with management is a task that requires an unbiased attitude and sincerity.

Responsibility And Leadership Some people have inherent leadership skills while others have to cultivate them. Its important for a head nurse to have a strong self esteem, sense of responsibility and belief in himself or herself as the group leader. Without this, the head nurse has no hope of getting anyone to listen to him or her. Understanding that the post comes with grave responsibilities is the first step to

developing a certain level of believable authority, which lends assurance and confidence. If the head nurse does not trust himself or herself, then the staff nurses wont trust the person either! The nurse manager should demonstrate the ability to foster sound relationships with staff, management and other specialty departments, in order to create a patient-centered environment. Last but not the least, a friendly, open attitude is always a winner.

Job Description of a Staff Nurse

A staff nurse provides professional nursing care in accordance with physicians' orders. Nursing is defined as the protection and promotion of health; the prevention of illness and injury; alleviation of suffering; and advocacy in the care of individuals and communities.

Essential Tasks

Staff nurses are responsible for the treatment of patients, administration of medication and injections, health education, assistance during diagnostic testing, and follow-up.

Specialization

Staff nurses can specialize by work setting (such as ambulatory care), specific health condition (diabetes), organ or body system (orthopedic), or population (geriatric).

Education

The position requires a bachelor's degree in nursing, an associate's degree in nursing or graduation from a diploma school of nursing.

Licensure

State licensure as a registered nurse is required. This is obtained after graduation from an approved nursing program and passing a national licensing exam.

Work Environment

Staff nurses usually work in a health-care facility such as a hospital or physician's office. Some are home health nurses or public health nurses, who travel to homes or community sites.

Staff Nurse Responsibilities

He is responsible for helping the physician within the hospital and clinics. His responsibility is to give proper advice to the patients in order to keep them fit from many health related issues. He is responsible for making the patients aware with the factors that can harm him or her regarding their health issues. He is responsible for coping up with the problems related to the departments of ICU and ambulance care.

Staff Nurse Job Responsibilities

He is responsible for taking care of new born babies within the hospital and to check out the emergency ward in different period of time. They are responsible for dealing with the patients who are suffering from cancer, typhoid, blood pressure and so on. A Staff nurse is responsible for maintaining the detailed report and charts that are required for the health related issues of patients. He is responsible for checking out the changes in the condition of patient. If any of the condition changes then he must inform to the doctor immediately. He is responsible for monitoring the health condition of patients and updating the changes I his health condition to the doctor. They are also responsible for helping the patients in their treatments.