Learning to manage a departmental budget is a competency that strikes fear in the hearts of new managers. Finance is not taught in pre-licensure nursing programs, and discussed only minimally in the BSN course of study. As leaders, we must be stewards of our budgets, but we require the assistance/engagement of our nurses and charge nurses. How do you explain the impact of appropriate staffing for census and supply management on the budget to bedside staff? How do you facilitate the ownership of the departmental budget?
Proper budgeting helps nurse leaders to ensure efficiency and effective management of finance as they strive to acquire the resources that they need to run their departments. While nurse leaders steer the budgeting process, it is important to note that bedside nurses play a key role in budget implementation (Good-year-Bruch et al., 2017). Supply management and appropriate staffing are some of the factors that affect the budget in a nursing department. It is the responsibility of the nurse leader to engage nurses and charge nurses in budget implementation.
In order to ensure that charge nurses engage in actions that produce quantifiable clinical outcomes and generate positive financial improvements, the nurse leader must help the nurses to understand the impacts of appropriate staffing for census and supply management on the budget. When explaining this to the bedside staff, the nurse leader should emphasize how appropriate staffing is related to quality measures and how the performance of these quality measures affect healthcare costs and eventually the budget. For example, the nurse leader should explain to the bedside staff that appropriate staffing for census ensures proper workload management, prevents burnout among nurses, and prevents medical errors thereby eliminating unnecessary expenditures that might impact negatively on hospital costs and departmental budget (Lasater et al., 2021). Additionally, the nurse leader should clearly explain to the bedside staff that the optimization of supply management promotes financial efficiency. For example, ensuring a constant supply of medication that is required to meet the needs of patients helps a healthcare organization to effectively manage expenses and increase revenue (Good-year-Bruch et al., 2017). Ideally, the nurse leader facilitates the ownership of the departmental budget by ensuring that nurses and charge nurses working in the department understand their roles in cost controls and budget implementation.
References
Good-year-Bruch, C., Altman, M. & Cox, K. (2017). Empowering nurses to innovate at the bedside, then spread their innovations. Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hblog20171121.831571.
Lasater, K. B., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D., French, R., Martin, B., Alexander, M., & McHugh, M. D. (2021). Patient outcomes and cost savings associated with hospital safe nurse staffing legislation: an observational study. BMJ Open, 11(12), e052899. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052899