Manager, clinician or both? Nurse managers' engagement in clinical care activities

To explore the extent of Australian nurse managers' engagement in clinical care activities.

Hybrid nurse manager roles lack clarity in the optimal balance between the clinical and other activities, resulting in stress and challenges in recruiting and retaining nurse managers.

In a national survey using the Advanced Practice Role Delineation tool, Australian nurses self-assessed their level of engagement in activities across five domains of nursing practice. The subset sample analysed comprised 2,758 registered nurses, 390 clinical (front-line) nurse managers and 43 organisational (middle) nurse managers. Median domain scores were compared with non-parametric tests of difference.

Clinical nurse managers were in a hybrid role, reporting high levels of engagement across the domains. Lower scores observed for organisational nurse managers highlight the shift to strategy-focussed activities that occurs as nurses up the management hierarchy.

By indicating their engagement in the clinical care domain, respondents demonstrated that clinically focused activities were not entirely lost from either front-line or middle-management roles.

Nurse managers equipped with clinical and management skills, and allowed time to remain engage in clinical care activities are critical for patient-centred and cost-effective care in today's complex health care environments.