Nurse Manager Interview Paper

I interviewed Gina A. Alvarez, RN, BSN; Nurse Manager for the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology floor. Gina’s description of the nursing role in the healthcare delivery system is 1.) have a solution to better patient outcomes 2.) educate patients on disease prevention to help reduce costs 3.) improve patient satisfaction and quality of care and 4.) become more efficient in our daily work while delivering even better patient care. What are your responsibilities as a Nurse Manager? Gina states these are just a few of the many responsibilities as a Nurse Manager: developing an annual budget for her unit; assist with updating and writing policies and procedures; recruiting, mentoring, orienting and training nurses; scheduling and assigning nursing staff; provide information and answer questions from patients and staff; attending educational

When asking Gina about her role’s accountability, her answer was: “At the end of the day, I am responsible for everything that happened that day, I take ownership of my actions”. Gina shares that she makes sure to clarifying the expectations she has of her staff by reviewing with them the job expectations of each job description and when needed, reviewing the employee handbook with her staff. There are three crucial elements that must be present in order for accountability to exist—clarity, commitment, and consequences (Rachel 2012) Gina’s thoughts on cost containment are that nurses play a big role is assisting to contain costs to help make healthcare more affordable. An example Gina gives on cost containment is using different manufactures for all the different chemotherapy medications that are used on her floor or switching to a different medication whenever possible but at the same time making sure that the patients never suffer from any