This article presents an overview of the nurse manager salary, along with some key aspects relating to the job as a nurse manager.
The career as a nurse manager comes with a great set of responsibilities and duties. He is the head of the nursing department of a hospital, and all the nurses work under his supervision. He generally works in big hospital establishments, and has to manage and assign responsibilities to all the nurses. There is always a flow of patients in a hospital, and a nurse manager makes sure that each and every patient gets adequate attention and care. Patient care and managing the work of the nurses forms his core work. Take a look at the brief job description of a nurse manager, before we look into the salary details.
Job Description
A nurse manager has a wide array of responsibilities. The most important duty is overseeing the work of other junior nurses, and assigning them duties. He/she also ensures that all the work carried out is as per the rules and regulations of the hospital. He is also entitled to take disciplinary action if some irregularities are found in the working of the employees.
In a hospital, there are plenty of departments; it is his duty to ensure that skilled and specialized nurses are allocated to each department. He also ensures that all the new and old medical equipment are maintained and safety standards are being followed. He should also plan and manage the budget of the nursing department. The job also involves some creativity, and he can devise ways to improve the patient care functionality. He is also expected to interact with the heads of other departments and plan his work accordingly.
A nurse manager is a highly skilled person, and the minimum educational requirements for one is a bachelor’s degree in science or fields concerning science. Some hospitals even demand a higher qualification in the form of post graduation. He needs to obtain a license by passing the relevant exam. The starts career as a registered nurse, and then with relevant experience moves up the ladder to become a nurse manager.
Salary
Plenty of factors influence the salary of a nurse manager, and thus there are no perfect salary figures as such. Place of work and the experience the person has, are the two important factors that determine the average salary of a nurse manager. The salary figures also vary as per the state of work. This salary in the United States is around $65,000, annually. But some of the prominent states like New York and California offer salary figures above $80,000, annually. Thus, the salary you will earn is hugely affected by the state you work in. The pay scale of a highly skilled and experienced ones also crosses the figure of $80,000. For freshmen, the salary is around $30,000 a year. One should also note that the bigger the hospital, the higher is the salary. But note that most of the big and established hospital chains demand a work experience of above 5 years at the least.
For success as a nurse manager, one is expected to remain up-to-date with the latest medical trends and happenings. This being a job in the health sector, he is, on most occasions expected to work round the clock and in shifts. Hard work is the quality that has a huge impact on the success of this profession.