Nurse administrators

The purpose of the research was to explore the social process of trust between the
chief nursing officer and the nurse manager in the hospital setting. The researcher used
the grounded theory method to analyze the nurse manager-chief nursing officer
relationship from the perspective of the nurse manager.
A total of 12 participants were interviewed by the researcher. The sample
consisted of nurse managers employed in hospitals in the southeastern United States.
Data analysis consisted of open coding and constant comparative analysis. Resulting
categories consisted of preparing to trust, co-creating trust and co-creating the trusting
environment. The basic social process of the nurse manager-chief nursing officer trusting
relationship in healthcare was the substantive theory of Striving to Live the Golden Rule
which refers to living the nurse manager-chief nursing officer ethical relationship in a nursing environment where trust may be difficult to establish. The formal theory
generated was the essential link between Striving to Live the Golden Rule to Living the
Golden Rule as Unveiling the Mystery of Covenantal Trust. The overall results of this
research demonstrated the process of trust between the nurse manager and chief nursing
officer as essential to the overall relationship and to the success of both.

The highly complex role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) requires the refinement of a multitude of competencies and leadership skills in this unprecedented time of healthcare reform. As the senior most patient advocate in our medical centers the CNO is responsible for translating research into practice, policy development and implementation creating value based patient-centric strategies to transform health care.
The ability to sustain and thrive in this role is essential in repositioning nursing as a
knowledgeable discipline actively contributing to the redesign of healthcare. This exploratory descriptive phenomenological study was designed to explore and
describe the elements that contribute to the sustainment of CNOs in their practice of
nurse executive leadership. Ray’s (1989) Theory of Bureaucratic Caring, Authentic
Leadership Theory (Wong & Cummings, 2009), and Resiliency Theory (Earvolino-
Ramirez (2007) provided the theoretical lens through which this study was grounded. Semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with twenty CNOs all with
two consecutive years experience in their current role. Six themes emerged after thorough content analysis which describes the lived experience of sustainment. Each theme was supported by several subthemes. Themes emerged as: Loving the Profession, Having a Broader Impact Reflecting on One’s Own Work, Learning to Manage Conflict, Maintaining Work/Life Balance Working with Supportive Leaders.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore public health nurse managers' perception of Total Quality Management (TQM) Initiatives in the practice setting. Data sources included interviews with six public health nurse managers. A conceptual model was developed and subsequently analyzed in relationship to Watson's (1988) Human Theory of Caring and Total Quality Management Theory. It was discovered that public health nurse managers described favorable experiences working with TQM implementation and the team process. Although the study's findings did not support a direct relationship between Watson's Theory and congruence with public health nursing practice and TQM initiatives there is an implied relationship to the universal nursing theories of caring with a strong emphasis on advocacy in guiding public health nursing practice. Recommendations for nursing administration, practice, education and research are presented.

The purpose of this phenomenological-hermeneutic study was to increase understanding of the caring experiences of the contemporary nurse executive practicing in four different types of health care systems. Nurse executives were asked to address the meaning of caring to them as a nurse executive. Five descriptive themes emerged from the participants: seeing things from a global perspective, advocating for the patient, providing an environment supportive of professional patient care, participating in the integration of services, and promoting a shared governance with the staff nurse or front line provider. An overall Interrelational Model of Health Care Delivery, derived from complexity science and chaos theory emerged from these descriptive themes.

This study explores the ways in which female nurses in management negotiate their roles within the male dominated institutions of medicine and administration. Our culture provides to this highly gendered profession a dominant construction of unambiguous identities for both management and nursing. The principles of semiology and feminist media criticism are used to show that negotiation with dominant messages takes place in lived reality in ways that are very similar to the negotiation in which consumers of media texts engage. Nine interview transcripts of nurses in management positions were analyzed for evidence of negotiated decodings of dominant meanings. The analysis reveals the presence of preferred readings, oppositional readings and resistive readings of the dominant construction of identities with an emphasis on the oppositional reading.

A descriptive study of caring in nurse managers as described by staff nurses is presented. Five participants provided data from semi-structured, open ended, audiotape recorded interviews. The transcribed interview data were coded, concepts were identified, and the conceptual unit of meaning emerged. A conceptual model was developed and subsequently was analyzed in relation to Boykin's and Schoenhofer's (1993) Nursing as Caring Theory. It was discovered that staff nurses respect a nurse manager when she participates in direct nursing care, provides for the overall needs of the unit by negotiating with administrators, and nurtures nurses through listening to, encouraging, supporting and role modeling. Recommendations for nursing administration, practice, education and research are presented.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the work life of the nurse manager during the transition from primary care to patient-focused care. The sample population includes nurse managers who were in administrative roles at the time of transition from primary care to patient-focused care delivery model. Exploratory descriptive data were collected by an open-interview, semi-structured format utilizing focused questions with three nurse managers who participated in the study. The study adds significantly to the current debate on caring, nursing, nursing administration, patient-focused care, and nursing care delivery systems.

An exploratory-descriptive study of the processes involved in ethical evaluations by nephrology nurse administrators is presented. Five participants provided data from open interviews. Category coding involved Ray's (1989) Theory of Bureaucratic Caring, and Husted & Husted's (1995) definitions of ethical principles. It was discovered that the nurses most frequently utilized the principle of beneficence, and were often affected by the contextual factors of past experiences. It was determined that the nurses engaged in a common process of ethical evaluation, identified in the Common Ethical Ground Conceptual Model. The common nursing goal was the well-being of patients, and the creation of environments which enhanced patient well-being. Patient education was identified as a method to reach this goal during an era of economic constraint.

The purpose of this study was to describe the values identified by nurses in middle management positions at a Florida for profit hospital. Latent content analysis was the method used to describe values identified by ten nurses in middle management positions. The analysis revealed a total of eight value themes. Two themes emerged as overarching: the value of economics and the value of caring. Six other value themes were interwoven into the overarching themes and consisted of commitment, compassion, competence, patience, respect for the other and technology.