One thing you don't learn in nursing school is project management. Or do you? Although nurses may not receive formal training on business topics, there are many skills you do learn that can help you conceive and manage projects in the workplace. In fact, the nursing process provides an ideal background for using project management techniques. The nursing process incorporates a systematic method of assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
We teach project management at the University of Technology Sydney and recently the number of health professionals studying subjects in our program has increased. There are also books published on project management applicable to health. The interest is certainly growing.
With the nurses roles in the hospitals evolving, most of the quality improvement, risk management, patient safety projects are nurse led. I guess this is because of the larger proportion of health care workers who are direct contact with the patient being nurses. It is therefore imperative to equip nurses with project management skills that will enable to carry out there roles better
Project Management certainly a most useful skills for any profession. That said, certainly, it will be useful for any nurses involved in clinical research. For example, nursing researchers, case managers, directors, faculties, etc. However, I don't think it is required for all the nurses. Most of the nurses that I know, they overwork and burnt out due to double shifts, shortage of staff, etc. Divorce is common among shift-workers. Nurses are no exceptions. Normally in ICUs and step down units, the nurses patient ratios could go up due to this reason that I outlined. There are host of other issues related to shiftwork.
Hence, my argument will be it is essential, but not to all nurses. Already, issues such as privacy, compliance, quality, and patient-centered care, etc. are mind boggling for them. Adding PM to everyone might be an overkill! Any thoughts?
Leading or participating in Project Management is fruitful not only for a better patient outcome but team building activity. Most future nursing managers embark on these projects while still being a direct care nurse. It makes for more forward thinking nurse leaders. Agreed.
It is essential for nurses especially in managerial positions to learn project management because nurses do project management e.g. when an infectious patient is admitted like with typhoid, As nurse manager immediately you have an objective to prevent cross infection from time of admission to time of discharge. Here we have input that is patient with typhoid and output patient recover without contaminating other patients, staff and visitors. Resources are used for isolation like human resource, skills knowledge, equipment. To get these resources there is cost involve so how much is the patient/ government going to pay for this service. Therefore in your unit budget how much will be used to care for this patient with typhoid and how long will it take to treat the patient. The process used to take care of this patient has all the elements of project management: Time, quality, scope and cost. We implement project management but we do not interpret it as project management. I think for one to understand PM it is better to study it as PM not as Nursing PM.
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