Establishing the standards of control in nursing services management

Perhaps it could be claimed that performing task in organization would not be successful, unless the necessary controls have been provided. Management system needs control to be informed about the methods of goal achievement and performing operations, thereby, gaining the ability for tracking, testing and reforming methods. In any specialty, in order to consider these activities equally and scientifically, the responsible establish professional standards in the form of direction and framework and declare them to enforcers. With due attention to the importance of control, especially in health systems management and with view to the fact that there is no standard in this field, the current study was designed with the aim of compiling standards for control accreditation in nursing management in Iran. This is a triangulation research conducted from 2004 to 2006. The sample size was 15 in Delphi stage and total of 50 nursing management experts [from Iranian medical sciences universities] in stage of survey. The sampling was target based. At first, a pilot study was conducted in Isfahan and Shiraz by an open questionnaire, and then the main research was conducted in three phases. In the first stage, international standards of control for nursing services management were collected. In the second stage, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed from perspectives of 15 professional nurse managers. The suggestions were collected and the researchers reached a consensus of 70% in the third stage. Then, the researchers held a national survey among 50 nursing management experts in Iran. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and distribution frequency and eventually control of nursing services management standards in Iran were extracted. Thirty five standards in area of control was established. The results show that these standards had more than 90 percent of acceptability. These standards together with the standard of nursing units can develop quality, so, it is suggested that these standards can be utilized by ministry of health and medical education to control credit rating of nursing units, in order to identify the lacks and shortages

Delegation as experienced by nurse managers

Since it is impossible to carry out organizational activities effectively without trust, managers are recommended to expand trust atmosphere throughout their organizations due to its effect on all human's communication aspects. Delegation of authority leads to the promotion of trust throughout organization and it would be the best tool for managers to prove their trust to their personnel. Therefore, it is the nurse managers' responsibility to have adequate knowledge of delegation and to apply it. Unfortunately, no comprehensive research has been carried out in this field in Iran yet, and there is an informational gap in this field. The goal of this study was to determine the delegation as experienced by nurse mangers. This study was a type of phenomenological qualitative research has been carried out in four selected subordinates of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in March/June 2001. The sample size of this research consisted of 14 managers as the information sources from three different ranks of superior level [matron], mid level [supervisor] and executive level [head nurse]. All participants underwent unstructured interviews as the data collecting technique for this study. The obtained results analyzed using collizie method. Nurse Managers had three forms of experiences on delegation phenomenon that were as the following: Lack of authority for delegation and frustration experiences, delegation in minor affairs and lack of authority with superior's sporadic unessential interference while neither of them was perfectly acquainted with this phenomenon. Managers' experienced benefits were categorized in four dimensions as benefits concerning superiors, subordinates, hospitals and patients. Experienced barriers were barriers pertaining to superiors, subordinates and situation. In order to apply art and skill of delegation much better in nursing management it is necessary not only for all nurse managers to get acquainted with delegation through educational services but also for nursing students as the future nurse managers. Thus, the attitude of delegation can be inserted in nursing management. Obviously a change in the attitude of matrons and superiors seems to be essential in this regard. It also should be mentioned that more qualitative and quantitative researches in this field are needed

Identification of nursing management planning standards in Iran

In recent century, planning is one of the most important care skills for health service development. Nurses should be ready scientifically for managing situations in order to develop and perform appropriate models for patient care. It is necessary for manager to know about the process and standards of planning and how to apply them in real conditions. With regard to importance of health care planning and lack of nursing management planning accreditation in Iran. This triangulating research was carried out between 2004 and 2006. Fifty professional nursing managers in different level of Iran medical universities and central hospitals, having experience in nursing management at least for five years, and an MS or BS degree in nursing management, were included in a study through purposed sampling. At first, a pilot study with an open questionnaire was conducted in Isfahan and Shiraz and then the study went on in 3 phases including searching for international standards in method by 15 professional nursing manager after consensus on 70% and sending the final was used for data analysis. At last standards for nursing management planning were obtained in Iran. 48 standards of nursing management planning were obtained. The findings showed that most of the standards were accepted [90%] and there were not any standards with agreement lower than 70%. These standards, accompanied with the standards of other nursing units, can be used for quality improvement. The researcher suggests the ministry of health to use these findings and other related ones to accredit the nursing system and to identify its deficiencies