A district director nurse is a registered nurse who has successfully attained district healthcare specialist practice qualification. Thus, they have higher technical skills, better decision-making skills, and broader experience in practice. A district director nurse has a broader and more unique role in dealing with complex cases which require technical skills and oversight of other nurses in a district healthcare facility. A district director reports directly to the executive director or administrator and thus is responsible for implementing services and ensuring that all the nurses in the district meet the minimum threshold required for a nurse as set in the district. This study will evaluate the leadership roles of a district director nurse in ensuring that quality care is provided to the residents.
The district director nurse is essential in recruiting, selecting, orienting, and retaining teachers and staff. The district director takes full responsibility for the quality of their nurses’ services and has an active role in recruiting staff. One of the most testing periods was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they had to ensure adequate nurses in their healthcare facilities (Holm et al., 2021). In addition, the district director nurse provides a strategic recruitment plan, including the minimum qualifications that a nurse must have to work in the healthcare facilities regarding the state-set qualification. District director nurses should ensure that the nurses are employed with the healthcare’s economic budget.
Every state in the US has laws and regulations for evaluating a nurse staff member defined in the Nursing Practice Act. However, generally agreed rules govern the evaluation of a nursing staff member. The first law is that nurses should be able to practice ethically (Huynh & Haddad, 2021). Ethics are essential to nursing because they help nurses to notice healthcare dilemmas and make the most appropriate judgments based on their values while keeping with the laws that govern them. The education level is another crucial regulation in evaluating a nurse. In the United States, the minimum qualifications for becoming a registered nurse is an Associate Degree in Nursing, followed by completing the NCLEX-RN exam (Huynh & Haddad, 2021). These education levels ensure that the nurse can conduct important nursing activities effectively.
A district director has an essential role in assisting improve the quality of care marginal employees provide. One of the best ways to do this is to provide leadership support to all the subordinate employees and address their needs. A district director has to ensure an effective communication channel between them and the junior employees. This way, they can understand the employees’ needs and address them effectively, improving care. Employee needs include fighting for their rights, ensuring they are adequately staffed, and having enough resources in healthcare facilities (Patarru’ et al., 2020). The other strategy would be providing them with training activities to improve their quality of care by organizing workshops and updating them on the latest evidence-based care.
Nursing, like any other career, is prone to misconduct due to the nature of its service. However, a sequenced process is used for counseling and progressive discipline for staff. The first step involves a verbal warning that enables the manager to bring the employee’s attention to the misconduct issue under review (Oldland et al., 2019). In this case, the supervisor discusses the nature of the problem or violation with the employee and provides guidelines for improvement. The second step is a written warning if the misconduct issue persists. This written warning is supposed to give the staff a review of the misconduct and expected correction measures. If the misconduct continues further, the staff will have a suspension to temporarily remove them from the workplace. The final step is always the full termination of the contract, whereby the employee’s contract is permanently terminated (Oldland et al., 2019). However, the employee is entitled to an appeal to dispute the information within fourteen days of termination.
Due to the increasing competition in the nursing service and a declining economy, nurses’ salaries are determined by different factors and vary across the board. Some factors include the years of experience that a nurse has in service, whereby a graduate degree nurse is the lowest paid until they pass the NCLEX exam (Advent Health University, 2022). After they pass their exams, their salaries are increased, and if they fail, they are given a grace period to retake the exam. The other factor to consider is their unionized pay because sometimes the unions can work in favor or against nurses. The final factor that the healthcare facility considers is the shifts in which the nurse is going to work. Night shifts attract more pay than day shifts; thus, nurses who work at night are given better compensation.
A district director nurse has a broad leadership role in ensuring that healthcare services are provided. They are responsible for ensuring that hospitals are adequately equipped, there is enough staffing, up-to-date training services, and that residents receive quality care. In evaluating nurses, the district director has to ensure that nurses can practice ethically and have attained the required educational level. The district director has a role of improving the quality of care by providing employees with leadership support, having a good communication channel, and providing training services to improve the quality of service. When there is misconduct, they are in charge of using the five-step procedure to provide appropriate discipline to the responsible nurses. District director nurses are in charge of setting the minimum recruitment threshold and minimum wages that nurses are supposed to be remunerated in their region per state laws. Finally, they link the healthcare facilities and the top management to ensure the smooth running of services in the district.
References
Holm, D., Ohr, S. O., & Giles, M. (2021). The experiences of new graduate nurses and midwives going through a virtual interview recruitment process during the COVID-19 crisis: a cross-sectional study.Human Resources for Health, 19(1). Web.
Huynh, A. P., & Haddad, L. M. (2021). Nursing practice act.PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. Web.
McCrory, V. (2019). An overview of the role of the district nurse caring for individuals with complex needs.British Journal of Community Nursing, 24(1), 20–26. Web.
Oldland, E., Botti, M., Hutchinson, A. M., & Redley, B. (2019). A framework of nurses’ responsibilities for quality healthcare — Exploration of content validity.Collegian, 27(2), 150–163. Web.
Patarru’, F., Weu, B. Y., Handini, F. S., & Heryyanoor, H. (2020). The role of the nurse unit manager function on nursing work performance: A systematic review.Jurnal Ners, 14(3), 231. Web.