Nurse manager engagement: what it means to nurse managers and staff nurses

To describe what nurse manager engagement means to nurse managers and staff nurses by incorporating an organizational dashboard to document engagement outcomes.

Retaining engaged nurse managers is crucial for individual performance and organizational outcomes. However, nurse manager engagement is currently underreported in the literature.

Existing data from the 2010 Employee Opinion Survey at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, were used to measure staff engagement among 28 nurse managers and 1497 staff nurses.

The data showed a 21% gap between manager and staff nurse engagement levels, with managers showing higher engagement levels than staff. No clear depiction of nurse manager engagement emerged. Consequently, an expanded definition of nurse manager engagement was developed alongside a beginning dashboard of engagement outcomes.

The findings have implications for overcoming barriers that affect staff nurse engagement, improving outcomes, and creating definitions of nurse manager engagement.