Section 1. Introduction

Today, nurse administrators are playing an increasingly important role in a wide range of health care settings, and there has been a corresponding increase in interest in understanding the relevant competencies, scope and standards of practice for this profession in recent years. To this end, this paper reviews the relevant literature to identify the scope and standards for nursing administrators, followed by a description of the profession’s general characteristics. Finally, a summary of the research together with two insights that were learned from this assignment concludes the paper

Section 2. Identification of the scope and standards of a nurse administrator

Although every nurse administrator position is unique in some way with respect to scope, they all typically follow the 17 competency-based standards of practice set forth in the American Nursing Association’s (ANA’s) text, Nursing Administration: Scope and Standards of Practice (2nd ed.) as well as relevant standards promulgated by nursing administrator certifying boards and accrediting organizations such as the Joint Commission. Although the 17 competency-based standards of practice are extensive, they are not exhaustive and there are other sources that nurse administrator draw upon as well.

Based on these and other nursing resources together with empirical observations and discussions with experienced nursing administrators, one of the overarching themes that emerges from these different sources is the need for nurse administrators to apply evidence-based standards of practice. Likewise, this point is also made by Kalb and O’Connor-Von (2015) who note, “Standards from other professional organizations stress the use of evidence... These include the ANA's Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice; Quality and Safety Education for Nurses from the QSEN Institute; and the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice” (p. 213).
With respect to the scope of practice, nurse administrators serve in a variety of capacities in health care settings, including most especially management, education and administration. As a result, although nurse administrators are completely training and educated in patient care, they typically are not directly involved in this aspect of nursing since their responsibilities are generally focused on the foregoing capacities. Beyond these similarities, effective nurse administrators tend to share some common characteristics as well, including those discussed below.

Section 3. Characteristics of an effective nurse administrator

A telephonic (NA #1) and face-to-face interview (NA #2) with two full-time nurse administrators provided some valuable insights concerning the different factors made them effective at their jobs. For example, NA #1 indicated that he was most effective at using the “people skills” that are required to forge strong professional relationships in ways that facilitated his ability to perform his administrative duties while NA #2 cited her task orientation as being responsible for her effectiveness as a nursing educator.

Although these are essentially diametrically opposite management strategies, they are not mutually exclusive, especially since both NA #1 and #2 stressed the need to incorporate evidence-based methods in their day-to-day practice. Indeed, these specific characteristics of an effective nurse administrator are largely consistent with the results of a…