{{Short description|Profession}} {{About||the academic journal|Nursing Management (journal)}} {{Redirect|Chief nursing officer|the senior British civil servants|Chief Nursing Officer (United Kingdom)}} {{multiple issues| {{Globalize|date=December 2010}} {{inline|date=July 2025}}}} '''Nursing management''' consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. It is common for registered nurses to seek additional education to earn a Master of Science in Nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice to prepare for leadership roles within nursing. Management positions increasingly require candidates to hold an advanced degree in nursing.
==Roles== ===Head of the nursing staff=== {{For|information about the DON position at a long term care facility|Director of nursing (long term care facility)}} The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge of nursing in a hospital and the head of the nursing staff, is called ''nursing officer'' in UK English,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nursing_officer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916235609/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nursing_officer|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 16, 2018|title=Nursing officer}}</ref> and ''head nurse'' or ''director of nursing'' in US English,<ref>{{Cite CD.com|head nurse}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/head+nurse|title=The World's Fastest Dictionary : Vocabulary.com|website=www.vocabulary.com}}</ref> and ''matron'' or ''nursing superintendent'' in Indian English.<ref name="Agarwal2007">{{cite book|last=Agarwal|first=Arun K.|title=Standard Operating Procedures For Hospitals In India|date=21 June 2007|publisher=Atlantic Publishers |language=en |isbn=9788126907762|page=245|quote=Nursing Superintendent/Matron The Matron will be responsible to the MS for the administrative and technical aspects of nursing in the hospital. Her charter of duties will include the following: ( 1 ) Administration of nurses, their accommodations and messing, viz. equitable distribution and economic utilization of nursing staff, maintenance of duty roster, turnout and discipline; supervision ...}}</ref>
The chief nurse is a registered nurse who supervises the care of all the patients at a health care facility. The chief nurse is the senior nursing management position in an organization and often holds executive titles like ''chief nursing officer'' (''CNO''), ''chief nurse executive'', or ''vice-president of nursing''. They typically report to the CEO or COO.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
The chief nurse serves as "the head of the general staff of the hospital" and is obeyed by his/her subordinate nurses.<ref name="Archer1967">{{cite book|last=Archer|first=Francis B.|title=The Gambia Colony And Protectorate: An Official Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wk6o1XniPsQC&pg=PA296|access-date=26 February 2013|date=1967-10-20|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780714611396|page=296|quote=I. The staff of European nurses shall consist of a matron or senior nurse, and such other nurses as may from time to time be appointed. II. The matron shall be the head of the general staff of the hospital, and shall be responsible for the discipline of the institution to the medical officer. III. The other nurses shall obey the orders of the matron or senior nurse, and perform whatever duties she may detail them for in addition to their duties as prescribed by the senior medical officer.}}</ref> Traditionally, chief nurses were called ''matrons'' and wore a dark-blue dress that was usually darker than that of her subordinates, who were also known as ''sisters'', in addition to a white-starched hat.<ref name="Fatchett">{{cite book|last=Fatchett|first=Anita|title=Social Policy for Nurses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oktzFVbA58C&pg=PA222|access-date=26 February 2013|date=2012-04-17|publisher=Polity|isbn=9780745649207|page=222|quote=The matrons of the past had a very distinctive uniform, usually a dark-blue dress, in a slightly darker hue than that of her direct subordinate (the sisters). She also wore an elaborate, white-starched hat.}}</ref> As such, matrons usually "provide strong leadership and act as a link between Board-level nurses and clinical practice".<ref name="Lees2007">{{cite book|last=Lees|first=Liz|title=Nurse Facilitated Hospital Discharge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hp3Qba_xDuwC&pg=PA80|access-date=26 February 2013|year=2007|publisher=M&K Update Ltd|isbn=9781907830129|page=80|quote=There is a clear expectation that matrons will provide strong leadership and act as a link between Board-level nurses and clinical practice. Nurses at Board level have a responsibility to ensure that nursing meets Trust objectives.}}</ref> In military hospitals of the United States, matrons were "charged with the responsibility of making twice daily rounds to supervise the [common] nurses' duty performance".<ref name="Sarnecky1999">{{cite book|last=Sarnecky|first=Mary T.|title=History of the United States Army Nurse Corps|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maGqQnddNpkC&pg=PA3|access-date=26 February 2013|year=1999|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812235029|page=3|quote=The larger military hospitals ideally had a nursing staff that consisted of a matron or head nurse and a number of "common" nurses. The matron was charged with the responsibility of making twice daily rounds to supervise the nurses' duty performance.}}</ref>
The American Organization of Nurse Executives is a professional association for directors of nursing.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
====Service directors==== Many large healthcare organizations also have ''service directors''. These directors have oversight of a particular service within the facility or system (surgical services, women's services, emergency services, critical care services, etc.). Often these directors are over managers of those service lines.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
===Nurse manager=== The ''nurse manager'' is the nurse with management responsibilities of a nursing unit. They typically report to a service director. They have primary responsibilities for staffing, budgeting, and day-to-day operations of the unit, bed site teaching, complaint investigations and conducting educational programs at unit base.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
===Charge nurse=== {{Redirect|Nursing sister|nurses carrying out military duties|Military nurse}} The '''charge nurse''' is the nurse, usually assigned for a shift, who is responsible for the immediate functioning of the unit. The charge nurse is responsible for making sure nursing care is delivered safely and that all the patients on the unit are receiving adequate care. They are typically the frontline management in most nursing units. Some charge nurses are permanent members of the nursing management team and are called shift supervisors. The term for a female charge nurse was traditionally a '''nursing sister''' (or just '''sister'''), and this term is still commonly used in some countries (such as the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries). Some patients address a sister by Sister followed by her given name, for example, Sister Patricia.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Related material== *Nurse Manager Core Competencies: A Proposal in the Spanish Health System. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(9):3173. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093173 *Modelo de competencias para la gestora enfermera. Metas Enferm dic 2019/ene 2020; 22(10):5-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35667/MetasEnf.2019.22.1003081511 *Competency Model for the Middle Nurse Manager (MCGE-Logistic Level). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(8):3898. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18083898 *Nurse managers’ competencies: A scoping review. J Nurs Manag. 2021; 29: 1410– 1419. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13380 *Modelo de competencias para la gestora enfermera del nivel operativo. Metas Enferm mar 2022; 25(2):49-55. Doi: https://doi.org/10.35667/MetasEnf.2022.25.1003081885 *A competency model for nurse executives. International Journal of Nursing Practice, e13058. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijn.13058
{{Nursing}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nursing Management}} Category:Nursing specialties Category:Business occupations Category:Management occupations