Outlook: Providers favor versatile, gifted managers
Trend points toward increasing roles
In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Washington, DC, released a report, "Nursing Staff in Hospitals and Nursing Homes: Is It Adequate?"
The report outlined changes that would significantly affect nurses in the future. Among them, the IOM cited an "increasing need for interdisciplinary teamwork" and "changing care-delivery models with nurses taking leadership roles in [their] design and implementation."
Ironically, nurses pursuing administration degrees are decreasing even while nursing graduate school enrollments are steadily growing.1
Nurse graduate enrollments rise
Nursing administration majors accounted for only 7.1% in the fall of 1997, compared to 13.6% in the same period in 1994. Meanwhile, 57% of enrollees in nursing graduate programs were nurse practitioners in 1997, while enrollment stood at 36.8% in 1994. However, in the workplace, at least one survey reveals different information. The trend toward future hiring in managerial positions is on the upswing, as revealed by the following statistics:1
| Roles present in >50% of sample | Currently filled* | Plan to increase* | Plan to decrease* |
| Supervisor/shift coordinator | 83.3 | 3.4 | 12.6 |
| Unit charge RN | 76.9 | 8.1 | 6.1 |
| Nurse manager (2 units) | 70.9 | 9.1 | 3.0 |
| Nurse manager (1 unit) | 55.1 | 2.7 | 11.8 |
| Nursing director-specialty units | 51.7 | 3.4 | 6.1 |
| Roles projected to decrease by >10% of sample | |||
| Supervisor | 83.4 | 3.4 | 12.3 |
| Nurse manager (1 unit) | 55.1 | 2.7 | 11.8 |
| * Figures reflect percentage of survey respondents in each category. | |||
Reference
1. Krejci JW. Changing roles in nursing: Perceptions of nurse administrators. JONA 1999; 29(3):21-29.
