Professionalism and Excellence Paper
Nurses rely on other professions to accomplish functions other than clinical roles. For example, nurse managers require the services of a financial manager for successful budgetary planning and implementation. In this respect, a nurse manager who also possesses financial management competencies can run operations in his or her unit better than one who lacks these skills (DeNisco, 2015). Various aspects of other professions can be related back to the nursing profession. Nurses should review evidence contained in the published literature to understand how other professions impact their fields of practice (Antwi-Yamoah et al., 2021; DeNisco, 2015). The purpose of this Professionalism and Excellence paper is to discuss how financial management and digital competence would benefit an operating room nurse who is aspiring to become a Peri-Operative Director in the operating room. It will also synthesize research evidence that describes professionalism or excellence as it relates to financial management and digital competence.
Two Professions Other Than Nursing
Business management and computer science are non-nursing professions that today’s nurses and nurse leaders require to be effective in their roles. The specific aspects of business management and computer science that are relevant to the nursing profession are financial management and digital competence respectively. Healthcare organizations are increasingly experiencing financial challenges that are preventing them from implementing their missions and visions. Nurses and nurse managers need financial management skills and competencies to be able to oversee the proper budget allocation and address economic constraints that are affecting healthcare quality and safety (Naranjee et al., 2019). As Naranjee et al. (2019) explain, nurse managers can effectively handle leadership and management challenges when they have an adequate understanding of issues related to healthcare costs. Therefore, it is imperative that nurse managers receive training in the financial management of contemporary healthcare organizations to be able to effectively manage expenditures and contain costs.
Contemporary healthcare organizations are integrating technology at a rapid rate in their efforts to improve healthcare quality and promote patient safety. Since nurses interact directly with patients, medical facilities require their input in order to successfully introduce, implement, and use technology to deliver healthcare services (Nes et al., 2021). Digital competence guides nurses and nurse leaders to support the integration of technological elements that will have positive outcomes for patients. Therefore, computer skills are applicable across nursing specialties and fields. For example, nurse educators are responsible for equipping nursing students with the knowledge and skills that they need to comfortably perform their roles in today’s work environment. Therefore, to produce market-ready graduates, nurse educators must possess digital literacy skills and be able to adapt them to nursing education and practice (Ryhtä et al., 2020). Since nurses have a role to play in technological integration in their facilities, they require digital competencies to be able to positively transform the nursing profession and healthcare delivery.
Research Articles
Financial Management
Article 1: Priono, H., Yuhertiana, I., Sundari, S. & Puspitasari, D. S. (2019). Role of financial management in the improvement of local government performance. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews, 7(1), 77-86. https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2019.7110
Financial management professionals play a key role in ensuring proper budget development, financial resource allocation, proper expenditure, and cost containment in a company. Financial management is an important business management aspect that connects an organization’s finances with its operations and non-financial resources. Priono et al. (2019) conducted a study to assess the role of the financial management profession in influencing the performance of local governments in East Java province in Indonesia. The study participants were local government managers who are directly involved in financial management in their practice. Study findings indicate that financial management competence has a direct impact on the performance of local governments as it ensures quality public service delivery. Precisely, financial management promotes effective budgetary planning and appropriate allocation of economic resources (Priono et al., 2019). The authors further indicate that financial managers are directly involved in conducting executive oversight of the budget and monitoring expenditures to promote budget efficiency. From this study, it is evident that local governments are guided by their financial management professionals to improve their service delivery to the public.
Article 2: Zada, M., Yukun, C., & Zada, S. (2021). Effect of financial management practices on the development of small-to-medium size forest enterprises: Insight from Pakistan. GeoJournal, 86(2), doi:10.1007/s10708-019-10111-4
An organization that properly manages its financial resources is likely to grow and expand its operations. Zada et al (2021) examined how financial management impacts the growth of small-to-medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. They collected data from 260 finance managers and professionals of select SMEs. The specific areas of financial management competencies evaluated by the researchers include financing, financial reporting, accounting information systems, working capital management, and investment decisions. The study revealed that financial management competencies in the five areas of focus are positively related to effective financial performance and growth of SMEs. The researchers have concluded that financial management practices and competencies are valuable tools required by SMEs to achieve business success and growth.
Digital Literacy or Competence
Article 1: Moonkyoung, J., Milla, A., Shahrokh, N. & Seongcheol, K. (2021). The impact of literacy on intention to use digital technology for learning: A comparative study of Korea and Finland. Telecommunications Policy, 45(7). doi: 10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102154.
Digital technologies allow organizations to interact with their stakeholders from different geographical locations and settings. Contemporary academic institutions are increasingly using information and communication technologies to teach their students from different geographical locations around the world. Moonkyoung et al. (2021) conducted a comparative study to investigate the influence of digital literacy on the use of digital learning technologies in Finland and Korea. The study revealed that digital literacy affects learners’ and teachers’ intentions to use digital technologies in academic settings. It is evident from the study that both learners and educators require digital literacy and competence to be able to interact effectively with digital learning platforms.
Article 2: Khalid, M., Abas, M., Yahaya, R. & She, M. (2019). Digital literacy and its relationship with employee performance in 4IR. Oxford Journal: An International Journal of Business & Economics, 4(2), 2550-1429. doi:10.24191/jibe.v4i2.14312
Employees of today’s organizations require technological knowledge to be able to cope and perform their roles effectively. The objective of a study by Khalid et al. (2019) was to examine the relationship between digital literacy and the performance of employees in the Malaysian oil and gas industry. The researchers found that there is a positive relationship between digital literacy and employee as well as organizational performance. Based on these findings, the investigators have concluded that organizations should embrace digital literacy at both the employee and managerial levels. Precisely, they should strive to improve the digital literacy skills of their employees and managers.
Features and Impacts from the Other Professions
Financial Management
A Peri-operative Director in the operating room needs financial management skills and competencies to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Being an advanced role in operating room nursing, a Peri-operative Director must possess certain characteristics that will enable him or her to serve effectively in the role. The specific features of financial management include the determination of the financial needs of an organization, designing the capital structure, budget development, selection of financial sources, selection of investment patterns, and management of working capital (Priono et al., 2019; Zada et al., 2021). These financial management characteristics complement each other to support one to create a system that properly obtains, uses, and monitors the movement of its financial resources.
Financial management has a positive impact on operating room nursing, specifically in the Peri-operative Director role. For a Peri-operative Director to increase value in the operating room, the incumbent must focus on activities that improve quality and decrease costs. Due to variations in operating room (OR) time and the health needs of surgical patients, a standard benchmark for OR cost is always lacking (Childers et al., 2018). Therefore, financial management skills enable a Peri-operative Director to create a financial structure that adequately balances the costs of service delivery, facility characteristics, resource availability, and other expenditures.
Digital Literacy or Competence
Digital competence is a key skill in the 21st Century healthcare organizations, especially those that are handling a large volume of surgical patients. The specific features of digital literacy applicable to the nursing profession include the ability to use the computer to record, process, store, and exchange electronic data, an understanding of the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of electronic data, the ability to use information technology tools for communication and collaboration, data analysis using the computer, and the ability to use technology to monitor performance and patient outcomes (Moonkyoung et al., 2021; Khalid et al., 2019). A Peri-operative Director must possess these digital health literacy skills to effectively use technology to oversee the activities of a surgical department.
Digital literacy is associated with positive impacts on the Peri-operative Director role. As Mascagni et al. (2022) explain, the increasing uptake in less-invasive surgery worldwide influences the rapid integration of modern surgical technology tools such as robots and fiber optic cameras in their operating rooms. Such technologies utilize computer vision algorithms to facilitate the interpretation of visual data to allow decision-making (Mascagni et al., 2022). Digital literacy enables a Peri-operative Director to effectively use computer vision algorisms and tools to coordinate diagnostic, surgical, and therapeutic activities in the operating room.
Research Application
When integrating aspects of other professions into practice, nurses must ensure that their decisions and actions are informed by evidence-based research. For example, the evidence contained in the research articles that are not directly connected to nursing can be applied to the nursing profession to promote excellence. According to Priono et al. (2019), financial management promotes effective budgetary planning and appropriate allocation of economic resources. Peri-operative Directors, as financial managers, will achieve success by engaging in effective budgetary planning and appropriate allocation of economic resources. They should demonstrate competencies in five key areas of financial management namely financing, financial reporting, accounting information systems, working capital management, and investment decisions (Zada et al., 2021). It is important to be able to apply research from financial management articles to operating room nursing to ensure proper management of financial resources by integrating insights from other researchers.
Today’s Peri-operative Directors should be cognizant of the technological advancements that are rapidly transforming healthcare delivery in contemporary healthcare organizations. A study by Moonkyoung et al. (2021) revealed that both learners and educators require digital literacy and competence to be able to develop an intention to use and interact effectively with digital learning platforms. According to Khalid et al. (2019), there is a positive relationship between digital literacy and employee as well as organizational performance. Guided by this evidence, a Peri-operative Director must strive to acquire digital competence and ensure that nurses in the operating room receive training on how to use digital technologies for enhanced service delivery and improved organizational performance. Generally, it is important to be able to apply research from digital literacy articles to operating room nursing to ensure that decisions that surround the use of technology in the operating room are informed by research.
Conclusion
Nurses need to understand how other professions outside nursing apply to their fields of practice. This paper has explored how relating back financial management and digital literacy aspects to nursing promotes professional excellence in the operating room. Nurses must ensure that their decisions to integrate other professions into their fields of practice are informed by research evidence.
References
Antwi-Yamoah, P. B., Antwi, F. B., Osei, S. A., & Antwi, R. S. (2021). Financial management and evidence-based practice culture among nursing managers in Ghana. International Journal of Nursing Science, 11(2), 31-35. doi: 10.5923/j.nursing.20211102.01.
Childers, C. P., & Maggard-Gibbons, M. (2018). Understanding costs of care in the operating room. JAMA Surgery, 153(4), e176233. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2017.6233
DeNisco, S. M. (2015). Advanced practice nursing (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781284099133
Khalid, M., Abas, M., Yahaya, R. & She, M. (2019). Digital literacy and its relationship with employee performance in 4IR. Oxford Journal: An International Journal of Business & Economics, 4(2), 2550-1429. doi:10.24191/jibe.v4i2.14312
Mascagni, P., Alapatt, D., Sestini, L., Altieri, M. S., Madani, A., Watanabe, Y., Alseidi, A., Redan, J. A., Alfieri, S., Costamagna, G., Boškoski, I., Padoy, N., & Hashimoto, D. A. (2022). Computer vision in surgery: from potential to clinical value. NPJ digital medicine, 5(1), 163. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00707-5
Moonkyoung, J., Milla, A., Shahrokh, N. & Seongcheol, K. (2021). The impact of literacy on intention to use digital technology for learning: A comparative study of Korea and Finland. Telecommunications Policy, 45(7). doi: 10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102154.
Naranjee, N., Ngxongo, T., & Sibiya, M. N. (2019). Financial management roles of nurse managers in selected public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 11(1), e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.1981
Nes, A., Steindal, S. A., Larsen, M. H., Heer, H. C., Lærum-Onsager, E., & Gjevjon, E. R. (2021). Technological literacy in nursing education: A scoping review. Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 37(2), 320–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2021.01.008
Ryhtä, I., Elonen, I., Saaranen, T., Sormunen, M., Mikkonen, K., Kääriäinen, M., Koskinen, C., Koskinen, M., Koivula, M., Koskimäki, M., Lähteenmäki, M. L., Wallin, O., Sjögren, T., & Salminen, L. (2020). Social and health care educators’ perceptions of competence in digital pedagogy: A qualitative descriptive study. Nurse Education Today, 92, 104521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104521
Zada, M., Yukun, C., & Zada, S. (2021). Effect of financial management practices on the development of small-to-medium size forest enterprises: Insight from Pakistan. GeoJournal, 86(2), doi:10.1007/s10708-019-10111-4