What Do Nurse Administrators Do?

A Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) will help you grow your nursing career from a licensed registered nurse to a more advanced position. It’s up to you to decide if you want to use your MSN to work in a hands-on capacity, or in a managerial role where your focus is to improve patient care. Goodwin University’s MSN program offers the training and skills to impact today’s public health landscape, whether bedside with patients or behind-the-scenes as a nurse administrator.

Registered nurses administer treatment, procedures, education, and emotional support to patients. But what do nurse administrators do, and why would you need an MSN to achieve this title? Learn why becoming a nurse administrator is an exciting career prospect for passionate and leadership-minded nurses who want to support the work of their fellow nurses.

What do nursing administrators do?

Nurse administrators handle the organizational management required of any high-achieving nursing department. Efficiency in the health care setting comes in many forms, yet the most central to this industry is a commitment to safety. According to a 2022 article in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, nurse leaders who instill a culture of safety, risk mitigation, teamwork, and positivity (amongst other environmental factors) benefit from increased patient safety and outcomes.

Yet, with the daily drama of life and death in healthcare, it’s easy to overlook that it’s someone’s job to ensure that the doctors, anesthesiologists, triage nurses, nurse assistants, and orderlies, are scheduled in harmony, offering a complete care team at every hour when health services are available. When new equipment arrives and nurses need to be taught how to use it, most will not consider that these tools had to be budgeted for, approved, ordered, and a training plan devised. When the government issues a new policy regarding patient health records-keeping, the publishers don’t typically provide a how-to guide for developing in-house processes for compliance; though they may threaten repercussions. Nurse administrators take the reins in managing far-reaching responsibilities and vital projects such as these, which involve health care personnel, governance, and resource management.

A master’s degree level understanding of the health care system, and the needs and protections of the people providing patient care, is required for nurse administrators to disseminate improvements to their departments, units, or facilities. At Goodwin University, curricula like the following classes prepare aspiring nurse administrators for these leadership tasks and more:

• Healthcare Quality: Communication and Informatics – Learn about technology in healthcare settings and how information exchange systems can be leveraged to provide quality care for diverse populations.
• Policy, Politics, and Organization of Healthcare – Through an advocacy lens, investigate examples of how healthcare policies are made and impacted by politics.
• Theoretical Foundations in Population Health – Study population health from the apex of where public health policy, cost, and quality provision of care intersect.

 

Learn how an MSN education, combined with nursing experience, is a perfect blend for successful nurse administrators!  

 

What makes a great nursing administrator?

The following professional and personal traits can help nurse administrators excel at their job:

1. Be mentor-worthy: It can be easier to initiate change and motivate employees to accomplish challenges when nurse administrators are respected, trusted, and admired mentors. It is helpful if nurse administrators are both personable and organized, which encourages their voices to be heard.
2. Communication is everything: Listening and choosing the right tone for the audience and the message through oral, written, and non-verbal communication are all advanced techniques that nurse administrators must master.
3. Get good at decision-making: Quick, confident, and fair decisions can make an enormous difference in the organization of a nursing unit, impacting every employee’s day (and those of patients, too!).
4. Study up: Leading and teaching begins with knowing. Nurse administrators should be well-versed in any technology or policy the health care facility intends to implement.

What are some nurse administrator responsibilities?

Nurse administrators handle operational duties that have to do with finance, personnel, and policies. Their job responsibilities might include:

• Acting as mentors and leaders
• Budgeting for their departments
• Contributing to conversations with leadership, such as boards, trustee members, or benefactors
• Coordinating care teams
• Hiring clinical nursing and administrative staff
• Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations
• Evaluating staff
• Planning training sessions
• Reviewing and approving supply orders
• Scheduling staff
• Studying patient outcomes
• Supervising staff
• Training staff
• Working to improve patient experiences

Nurse administrators are rewarded for the responsibilities they shoulder with a median salary in the U.S. of $104,830 annually. Nurse administrators and managers who work in hospitals are poised to earn even more: $125,280 annually. Those who work in outpatient care centers make $101,890 annually, offices of physicians pay $99,440 annually, and nursing and residential care facilities offer their nurse managers $93,610 annually.

What is the job outlook for nurse administrators?

Becoming a nurse administrator is an intelligent choice in today’s healthcare industry. With an employment growth rate of 28% between 2022 and 2032, medical and health service manager careers are growing 25% faster than the average 3% rate of all other occupations in the U.S.

To learn more about the benefits of achieving a nurse administrator career, request more information from Goodwin University today, or call 800-889-3282 to have your questions answered!