Leadership Roles
While all nurses are leaders, nursing and healthcare offer many different management and leadership roles in a variety of settings. Check out this partial list of formal leadership positions for nurses!
Nurse Manager/Patient Care Director - Nurses in management roles in the hospital setting are often in charge of a nursing unit that may have a few patients to more than 40 patients every day. These nurses must have excellent clinical skills as well as management skills to provide leadership to a team that must take care of patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Middle Level Managers - nurses in all practice and health care settings have may an opportunity to work as a manager directing the activities of other nurses, health care providers, and others employees. These roles may include overseeing patient care delivery or other types of health care services.
Chief Nursing Officer/Director of Nursing - A nurse in this role will have a combination of clinical and management experience and be responsible for overseeing the daily operations of an entire nursing department providing care within a health care setting. These roles generally require an advanced practice degree in Administration.
COO/CEO/President - Nurses who have excelled in other management roles may aspire to being responsible for leading an entire health care delivery organization. While this role generally requires an advanced degree, nurses who are in these roles have both a clinical and extensive management background.
These are just some of the management roles for nurses. While most of these roles require some direct patient care experience, they provide opportunities to lead and shape the delivery of nursing care in a so many different settings. If you're a "take charge" type of person, a management role might be just for you!
