A Chief Nursing Officer is one of the highest nurse management positions in healthcare, responsible for ensuring that patient care, as well as clinical and staffing standards are met. A Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) supervises nurses and nurse managers, recommends strategies to improve nursing services, develops policies and procedures, and ensures that employees comply with the established standards and regulations. They are in charge of recruiting, hiring, retention of staff, and providing guidance to fellow colleagues. CNOs may also develop patient care programs, participate in cross-departmental decision making, conduct performance improvement activities, and represent nursing services at board …show more content…
A study conducted by Burke and Docuette provided reported that 49% of hospitals were in a poor work environment and the acute care staff nurses were dissatisfied with their CNO. The nurses indicated that they felt the CNO was removed from the reality of the nurses’ workday, that concerns of the nurses were overlooked, and that the CNO was not an advocate for nurses in the organization (Buck & Doucette, 2015). This shows, that nurses feel underappreciated by management and their concerns are not being heard. Therefore, a CNO should promote open communication with staff to have a better grasp of the work dynamic, within the unit, and the positive and negative impact policies have on daily care. The study conducted by Burke and Docuette provided, “new evidence that identifies the transformational leadership practice domains enable others to act and encourage the heart as the highest self-ranked practices exhibited CNOs.” This enable CNOs to create an environment for other nurses to act and encourage environments that are collaborative, civil, and healthy, which will lead to better patient outcomes (Burke & Docuette, 2015). The creation of this trusting environment and leadership practice, CNOs can encourage staff to be involved in the important decision-making and help create policies that will be beneficial to the hospital, …show more content…
They have a key leadership role advocating for the staff and in making important hospital management decisions. A CNO that develops a trusting relationship with their nurses to create policies that are beneficial allows the nurses to focus directly on the patients, enhancing the quality of care. This creates a positive and an efficient work environment, where staff nurses feel appreciated and patients are more satisfied with care, benefiting the hospital