Selecting, Development and Evaluating Staff

Selecting, Development and Evaluating Staff

            The main reason behind healthcare delivery systems is the provision of high quality care, be it in outpatient of inpatient at a reasonable price. The management of the healthcare delivery systems is bestowed on the nurse manager who should ensure that that the organizations expectations and mission are spelt clearly to the employees (Twedell, 2007). To succeed in this role, the nurse manager has to make certain that the employees conferred with specific duties are selected according to the qualifications essential for executing those duties. In this case, all employee roles have to be defined by the nurse manager to eradicate ambiguity. This will definitely culminate into a strong patient care unit that is characterized by effective leadership and superior professional teamwork in which the professional team members are aware of their definite roles which are geared towards enhancing quality patient care.

Professional nurses assume multiple roles which are complex and if not defined, they will adversely affect the individual interactions in the organization as a result of role ambiguity. For this reason, the nurse manager should adopt evaluation standards as well as a clear position description to augment role clarity, role performance and role acquisition (Twedell, 2007). This is because role acquisition is dependent on time and it varies on the basis of value systems and individual skills. In this case, position description should contain the competency-based requirements in addition to the current guidelines for the practice. The nurses should also be aware of the position descriptions of the paraprofessionals in whose hands care is handed over to. After the definition of the roles then comes the selection of the effective staff.

Though clinical skills are required of the staff selected, their nursing ability should also be considered in avoidance of selecting good clinicians instead of good nurses. When selecting nurses, the nurse manager should make sure that the candidates who posses both professional and people values are selected as these will enhance the acquisition of the organization’s vision as well as elevating the organization’s values (Twedell, 2007). It is wise for the nurse manager to include existing employees in the screening and interviewing process as they can manage to identify those candidates whose values are inline with the organizations values at a faster rate. After the selection process, comes the development process in which the nurse manager is bestowed with the role of developing her employees.

The first step taken in the development stage is orientation which spans over a specified period. After this period due to the expenses linked to the orientation process the new nurses should have gained enough information about the functioning of the organization to enhance the carrying out of their defined roles (Twedell, 2007). The organization should therefore, benefit majorly from the orientation process. The nurse manager should authorize the provision of a favorable social environment for the nurses to enhance the execution of their duties. The nurse manager should therefore involve them in the decision making process as they are more aware of the ramifications of some decisions made by the administration of the organization. The nurse manager should also respect the nurses’ contributions as a means of their retention after recruitment.

The nurse manager should not await the annual performance appraisal in order to support the implementation of the innovative ideas shown by the nurses which encompasses empowerment. The employees should be provided with feedback on their performance as a form of encouraging them to work even harder (Twedell, 2007). In cases of underperformance the nurse manager should adopt coaching which encompasses daily interactions with the employees to enhance the improvement of their role executions. The success of the appraisal tools utilized depends on how they are applied. The tools used include the structures and fixed appraisal tools. The nurse manager should therefore evaluate the potential of the nurses before he or she applies the evaluation tools.

The success of healthcare delivery systems depends on the nurse manager and the professional nurses that make up the organization. The nurse manager has to ensure that the employees he or she has in board are effective to enhance the acquisition of the economic value of the organization at the same time providing quality care to the patients at a low and affordable price. In this case, the nurse manager has to be careful during the selection, development and evaluation of the staff available (Twedell, 2007). All nurse roles should be defined to avoid ambiguity and due to the expensive nature of the orientation process, the new nurses selected should be provided with the entire organization information thus enhancing their functionality. In conclusion the role of the nurse manager is fundamental in the organization but this does not rule out the role of the other team players.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Twedell, Dianne. Selecting, Developing and Evaluating Staff. 2007. New York: Oxford University Press. Print.