Introduction
Managing finances effectively in a hospital requires the collaboration of both patient care units and administrative units. Modern nursing courses involve financial management units to ensure that nurses undertake their duties in a cost-effective manner. This paper discusses how nursing units can be financially accountable and how hospitals management can enhance accountability.
Nursing unit financial management
The nursing department should be given an appropriate allocation of hospital finances according to their needs. Managing nurses should oversee the effective management of these funds and ensure that all operations are managed in a cost-effective way. Making a budget for every activity that needs to be undertaken in a certain period is crucial in ensuring that there is proper fund control within the department. Nurses have direct interaction with medical staff and the patients, they are thus in a better position to brainstorm some of the costs incurred in the hospital and devise measures to cost manage them. They can assist in establishing the costs that can be avoided or functions that can be merged. Mechanisms should be put in place that define certain functions in the unit, for example, the number of staff dresses should be regulated to ensure that they are adequate at any one time and no excess. The traditional notion that had been created in nurses that they do not have a duty in financial management should be changed and nurses made to understand for a cost-effective business it calls for the participation of all stakeholders (McHugh & Finkler, 2008).
To enhance accountability, hospital management should ensure that it is operated in a strategic manner. Strategic management involves a management system where all units are considered separate and accountable for their actions. The nursing unit should develop its own budget, have financial targets, and be managed by nurse leaders who understand the need to manage resources. When a certain allocation has been given to a nursing department, the nursing head should manage micro-teams, which will be further allocated some funds to perform operations in their particular area. For example, nurses assisting operating doctors may be given some allocation to manage, they should be held accountable for such an allocation. Another way of ensuring that resources are adequately managed is having resource management as one of the appraisal tools for nurses. They will be willing to manage the resources they have since they would like to earn a high ranking.
Frequent utilization reviews should be undertaken to ensure that there is quality and maximum utilization of funds in the nursing units. Like in the production business, any deficit or areas that lead to inefficiency should be addressed. Invention and innovation of better quality management should be implemented.
Hospitals should have an effective cost accounting system. Such a system will be used in charging patients according to the acuity of their illness. Such a system will ensure that services are not undervalued or overvalued. Adopting a patient classification system will assist a hospital in realizing which patient to admit and at what cost (Finkler, Kovner & Jones, 2007).
Conclusion
Financial management in a hospital should be a role played by all departments in their respective areas. Nursing units should be held accountable for finances allocated to them. Managing nurses or nurse leaders should ensure that nursing processes are cost-effective, by so doing the department will assist in overall hospital financial management.
References
Finkler, S.A., Kovner, C.T. & Jones, C.B.(2007). Financial management for nurse managers and executives. New York: Elsevier Health services.
McHugh, M., & Finkler, A. (2008).Budgeting concepts for nurse managers. Philadelphia: Elsevier Health Sciences.