REDESIGNING THE NURSE MANAGER ROLE - A CASE-STUDY

Patient-centered redesign strives to improve service, improve quality, and control costs; each of these has significant implications for the nurse manager role. The patient-centered design, described in this ar ticle, used a participatory model involving more than 25% of the medic al center's staff from all disciplines and all levels, organized In te ams. A care management philosophy and redesign principles guided a man agement redesign work group to examine and redesign the role of nurse managers. The title of nurse manager no longer described the role whic h would include managing a diverse team. The nurse managers chose to a dopt the new title of unit manager. The data collected and the recomme ndations to redesign the nurse manager role influenced the management structure and roles in other divisions and services at the medical cen ter. The role of new unit manager was to envision the future, build an d manage paradigms, produce excellence, lead by influence, and develop synergized self-managed teams.