Reflective Journal: Nurse Manager Retention

Reflective Journal #1: Nurse Manager Position

Transitioning into a nurse manager role has been a gradual process in my career. Being a nurse for 26 years, I transitioned into a leadership role about three years ago. Emergency room nursing is my background for the past 22 years and about five years ago began to think about leadership. As a resource to the staff, it was difficult to manage a full patient assignment. I was having trouble satisfying my coworkers and patients; I also became very heavily involved with committee work and projects around this same period. I am currently in a clinical flow coordinator role, considered by the director to be an assistant nurse manager. Many nurses feel unsure that they have the skills needed to

The key to success and retention of new nurse managers is the time and support put in at the beginning (Hendren, 2010). Reflecting on the leaders I have worked with, they worked their way up to the title or fallen into the positions. I have not seen many managers or directors being cultivated, supported or trained. Nurse leaders should be part of the training of new managers and make sure it supports the organization's philosophy (Marquis &Huston, 2012). The time to build leaders is not a priority, and now there is a threat to future staffing that there will not be enough. As a leader, I hope to develop vital connections with a network of nurses in similar positions to use as mentors ( Cohen, 2013). I have aligned myself with a few mentors in my hospital and a few that are employed elsewhere. New managers need support from their superior in the form of uninterrupted time they need to be able to speak freely and ask questions without fear of retribution (Hendren, 2010). If nurses had more training as leaders, they would likely have better retention and respect from their peers. There is shown to be a positive correlation between nurse manager leadership abilities and greater involvement in the decision making of staff nurses (Wilson,