WHAT DOES A CLINICAL NURSE MANAGER DO?

Published: July 17, 2024 - The Clinical Nurse Manager leads the department by providing a strategic vision, facilitating staff development, and managing daily operations to achieve departmental goals. This position's responsibilities include overseeing quality patient outcomes, managing the hiring process, counseling, scheduling associates, and controlling financial and physical resources within hospital guidelines. This role also involves ensuring confidentiality, maintaining professional and clinical standards, and providing mandatory training for nursing and para-nursing staff to meet organizational learning needs.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Clinical Nurse Manager

1. Clinical Nurse Manager Duties

  • Protocol Enforcement and Quality Assurance: Ensure that the staff performs activities within established protocol, implements procedures, and maintains quality assurance standards for the studies.
  • Staff Management and Operations Improvement: Develop, oversee, and manage study staff, and recommend solutions to improve overall operations.
  • Policy and Procedure Design: Design and develop activities, policies, and procedures to improve the day-to-day efficiency of studies and research activities.
  • Clinical Research Management: Manage, implement, and evaluate clinical research trials, studies, and projects.
  • Professional Nursing Care: Provide professional nursing care for patients.
  • Comprehensive Nursing Care: Provide nursing care to patients of all ages, genders, cultures, and backgrounds.
  • Patient Support and Care: Provide physical and psycho-social support to patients and their significant others.
  • Inclusive Care Environment: Create an inclusive environment for LGBTQ patients.
  • Clinical Team Support: Support and guide members of the clinical team.
  • Nursing Department Development: Participate in the planning and development of the Nursing Department and work collaboratively with medical providers and all other members of the multidisciplinary team in managing care for a population of patients.

2. Clinical Nurse Manager Details

  • Deputy Management: Deputising for home manager in their absence
  • Clinical Coordination: Working with the MDT to ensure that care provided is appropriate and relevant to the individual's care package, managing clinical governance within the home
  • Care Assessment: Participating in pre-admission assessments, assessing client care requirements
  • Drug Management: Providing safe and effective processes for the ordering, handling, storage, administration, recording, and disposal of drugs
  • Care Planning: Formulation and review of support plans
  • Home Promotion: Positively promoting the home and engaging with potential funders
  • On-call Support: Participating in an on-call system to support the nurse in charge
  • Staff Management: Participating in recruitment and supervision of staff
  • Client Advocacy: Promoting choice, independence, dignity, and respect
  • Quality Assurance: Ensuring that modern standards of clinical nursing care are in operation and that regular monitoring of nursing and para-nursing care is undertaken through audit, using the outcomes of audit to develop action plans and support their implementation.

3. Clinical Nurse Manager Responsibilities

  • Nursing Standards Management: Ensure the delivery of the highest standards of nursing and social care which meets the needs of each resident.
  • Nursing Support and Mentorship: Supporting the nurses and providing direction, mentorship, and guidance in terms of their role.
  • Nursing Training and Development: Ensure appropriate training, education, development, and induction are delivered to all nursing staff and healthcare assistants.
  • Resident Care Planning and Management: Care planning and provision of care to residents, medication management, infection prevention, and control.
  • Clinical Practice Auditing: Auditing clinical practice, development of and participation in quality improvement plans.
  • Audit Management and Review: Undertaking regular audits and ensuring effective feedback and action plans are undertaken and reviewed.
  • Care Improvement Implementation: Implementing and reviewing improvements to care and practice.
  • Complaints Handling: Ensures that complaints are appropriately documented and followed up.
  • Nursing Care Leadership: Use critical thinking skills, professional judgment, leadership, and the attributes of Careful Nursing to anticipate, plan, direct, and evaluate the care of the patients provided by a team of registered professional nurses and ancillary personnel.
  • Patient Flow Management: Direct the flow of patients to optimize timely care.
  • Care Coordination Monitoring: Monitor the planning, delivery, and outcomes of care. Collaborate with other health team members to provide coordinated, safe, timely, and compassionate care for patients.

4. Clinical Nurse Manager Job Summary

  • Visionary Leadership: Leads the department in providing a vision for its direction and embraces the change process to achieve the vision.
  • Employee Development: Coaches and facilitates the growth and development of employees within the department.
  • Operational Management: Manages daily operations to achieve goals for the department.
  • Patient Care Quality: Achieves quality patient outcomes, directs the hiring, counseling, and scheduling of associates within specified areas.
  • Resource Management: Manages financial and physical resources of the specified areas within the fiscal and productivity guidelines of the hospital.
  • Clinical Leadership: Provides a high level of professional and clinical leadership in all aspects of nursing care.
  • Role Modeling: Acts as a positive and accountable role model in providing direct patient care.
  • Interpersonal Relationships: Establishes and maintains caring and therapeutic interpersonal relationships with individuals, clients, groups, and communities.
  • Confidentiality Assurance: Ensures confidentiality on all matters.
  • Staff Development: Ensures that appropriate mandatory training and professional development programs are provided for Nursing and Para-nursing staff to meet the learning needs of the organization, including staff training needs analysis and situation-specific service needs.

5. Clinical Nurse Manager Accountabilities

  • Critical Thinking: Use critical thinking skills, professional judgment, leadership, and the attributes of Careful Nursing to anticipate, plan, direct, and evaluate the care of the patients provided by a team of registered professional nurses and ancillary personnel.
  • Patient Flow Management: Direct the flow of patients to optimize timely care.
  • Care Monitoring: Monitor the planning, delivery, and outcomes of care.
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Collaborate with other health team members to provide coordinated, safe, timely, and compassionate care for patients.
  • Physician Coordination: Ensure rounds with physicians to provide coordinated care.
  • Clinical Leadership: Function as an expert clinical practitioner and role model for staff according to unit needs.
  • Patient-Centered Care: Cultivate an atmosphere of patient-centered care, ensures assessments with documentation occur at a minimum of every 4 hours to support the plan of care along with frequent communication to MD and case management.
  • Case Management Liaison: Work closely with case management and utilization management to provide the best possible patient outcomes.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Ensure ongoing compliance with accreditation, regulatory, and professional standards.
  • Quality Improvement: Demonstrate improvement in the quality and safety of patient care.
  • Shared Decision-Making Promotion: Promote shared decision-making.
  • Clinical Competency Assurance: Ensure clinical competency.