Minimizing promotion trauma

In the April 1983 issue of JONA, the authors identified four major causes and the costs of promotion trauma. Nursing administrators can both minimize this trauma and its unnecessary cost by building awareness of the transition process, clarifying roles and expectations, and attending to the promoted employee's needs by developing a systematic program of manager care. Such support and encouragement can help promotees achieve the expected levels of competency in a shorter period of time, with less personal anguish. This article will help nursing administrators to develop a concept of manager care buttressed with programs for orientation of new managers, skills of mentoring, and systems of monitoring.