Nurse Administrator: What It Does and How to Become One?
If you're interested in leadership positions in the healthcare industry and thinking of advancing your nursing career, many opportunities are ahead of you. Numerous managerial positions await, and nurse administrator is one of them.
As a fast-growing field, nursing administration will give you the chance to be a leader to other nurses and manage the daily operations of nursing departments. Read this article to learn more about the nurse administration job description, duties and responsibilities, workplace, education requirements, and more.
What Is a Nurse Administrator?
Nurse administrators are professional RNs (registered nurses) responsible for managing the nursing staff in a healthcare facility. They combine their nursing expertise with business and administrative skills to ensure that healthcare facilities operate efficiently.
Nurses working in this position possess strong leadership and communication skills. You can typically find them working in offices, having little to no direct contact with patients. Their job revolves around providing high-quality patient care. It includes making decisions about operations, budgets, staffing, policies, and offering strategic direction. In addition, with specialized training in leadership and management, nurse administrators supervise and manage other nurses and staff members.
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Duties and Responsibilities
Nurse administrators are an essential part of a healthcare facility's executive team. Besides leading and supervising the nursing staff as a primary responsibility, they also complete several administrative tasks, such as creating schedules, preparing reports, and conducting performance reviews.
The duties of nurse administrators also include making high-level decisions concerning budgeting and various staff matters. They communicate with the nursing staff to coordinate and represent the department in meetings with healthcare executives. Furthermore, they help develop facility policies and procedures and ensure compliance for effective patient care.
In general, nurse administrator responsibilities involve many aspects, such as operational management, strategic leadership, and financial management. While day-to-day duties may vary depending on the setting, patient type, and facility needs, we compiled a list of responsibilities and tasks you may deal with in a nurse administrator position.
Typical nurse administrator duties and responsibilities include:
Recruiting, hiring, and training nursing staff;
Conducting performance evaluations;
Budgeting and financial reporting;
Helping decide equipment purchases;
Helping develop policies and procedures and ensuring compliance;
Verifying licensure, certification, and nursing staff credentials;
Designing nursing schedules;
Attending managerial meetings;
Addressing patient and staff complaints;
Planning staff meetings;
Overseeing projects;
Overseeing nurses' educational opportunities;
Taking disciplinary action when needed.
Where Do Nurse Administrators Work?
You can find nurse administrators in any healthcare setting, including doctor’s offices, government facilities, and everywhere in between. However, their most common employment facility is hospitals, where they work in offices and have minimal patient interaction. Sometimes they manage more than one hospital within a system and move from one hospital to another. In addition, they are often found in urgent care clinics, long-term care facilities, private practices, etc.
Nurse administrators provide their services to nursing departments in:
Hospitals,
Rehabilitation centers,
Skilled nursing facilities,
Physicians’ offices,
Specialists’ offices,
Nursing homes,
Outpatient clinics,
Mental health facilities,
Government facilities,
Community health organizations.
How to Become a Nurse Administrator
If you want to become a nurse administrator, work experience and specific qualifications are needed. The position requires advanced degrees, official licensure, and various skills. Read on to learn more about the nurse administrator requirements.
Education
Nurse administrators are advanced-practice registered nurses (APRNs), so to become one, you need to pursue a postgraduate nursing degree—typically a master of science in nursing (MSN) or a doctoral degree (DNP).
To be eligible for entering an MSN program, you need to have completed a bachelor of science in nursing degree and have an RN license. After earning a BSN degree, the next step is becoming a registered nurse by passing the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) and obtaining your license. Then, after gaining a minimum of one year of experience and pursuing a master's degree, you can become an administrative nurse.
While as an administrative nurse degree, the MSN is the most common advanced degree to pursue; you can also complete a master's degree in health administration (MHA) or even a master of business administration (MBA) dual degree program. Some nurses also choose to pursue doctorate degrees in nursing.
Certification
It is generally known that employers prefer credentials. Although certification is not a requirement for nurse administrators, it is highly recommended. Earning certifications will give you a competitive edge and help land jobs with higher salaries.
So, if you're interested in standing out as a nurse administrator and showing your dedication towards career advancement, consider getting certified. The most common organizations to obtain nurse administration credentials are the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE).
The ANCC offers Nurse Executive Certification (NE-BC) and Nurse Executive Advanced Certification (NEA-BC). Meanwhile, through the American Organization of Nurse Executives, you can become a Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML) and Certified in Executive Nursing Practice (CENP). Eligibility requirements can vary, but, in general, you need a graduate degree, a valid RN license, work experience, and a specific number of continuing education credits.
Skills
Firstly, because nurse administrators manage staff and have high-level responsibilities, they must have extensive experience in nursing and impeccable leadership and management skills. Furthermore, due to the nature of the profession, they must also have strong critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and a thorough understanding of patient-centered care.
To be a successful nurse administrator and the skills mentioned above, you must be good at handling pressure and stressful situations and be self-motivated and coordinated. Then, to handle the administrative side of your responsibilities, you must have business sense, good judgment, negotiation skills, and quality marketing skills.
A great way to ensure that you are well equipped with such skills is the degrees you pursue. Since a bachelor's degree is more general, it might not help you develop your skills at an expert level. On the other hand, master's degrees, both MBA and MHA, will help you become a master of nursing administration.
Job Outlook and Salary
Nurse administrators are among the most sought-after professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of medical and health services managers--including nurse administrators-- is projected to grow by 32% in this decade. To understand this percentage's high, we have to compare it to the 9% projected growth rate of other management occupations and the 8% rise in employment for all other fields. The promising job outlook will add around 51,800 new jobs across the country.
In addition to the excellent job outlook, the profession of nurse administrator is also accompanied by high salaries. Reports based on collected salaries show that the average salary for nurse administrators in the United States is $72,073 per year. The average wage represents the midpoint of the values representing the salary range within the 25th and 75th percentile. As such, as a nurse administrator, you can expect to earn a salary anywhere between $30,000 and $192,000, depending on your experience, location, or facility.
Wrapping up
A nurse administrator is a leader in healthcare facilities, leading and supervising other nurses. The position comes with a wide range of duties and responsibilities, including dealing with administrative tasks, making high-level decisions, and attending executive meetings. You can find this type of nurse in almost every healthcare setting.
Since this is a complex managerial role, nurse administrators possess advanced degrees, work experience, and certification. If you're interested in becoming a nurse administrator, the most common path is pursuing an MSN degree.
Lastly, the job comes with a great job outlook and a high salary. If this profession interests you, go ahead and start your administrative nursing journey!