It comes as no surprise that the first thing you see when entering a hospital is numerous nurses going back and forth tending to their patients and duties. After all, nurses are basically the lifeblood of the healthcare system; without their tireless service, hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities simply could not function. Among the nurses constantly running around the hospital, there are a handful of people who are tasked with coordinating the efforts of these busy bees.

While regular nurses are tasked with providing care to their patients, it is the nurse administrator’s responsibility to coordinate the efforts of all other nurses to ensure that the patients and departments are properly covered. In this sense, while nurses are the lifeblood of the healthcare system, you could say that nurse administrators are the heart of the institution, constantly pumping nurses to the areas of the facility in which they are needed most. For this reason, the range of these administrators, as well as their responsibilities, are both quite large.

What is a nurse administrator?

At heart, a nurse administrator is an executive. While these individuals are frequently nurses themselves, they forgo the standard tasks of providing care to patients in lieu of coordinating the efforts of all the nurses under them. In this sense, these administrators are often high in the command chain and report to either the CEO or to someone directly underneath the CEO. They are functionally similar to a nurse manager, but with a larger scope. 

While the manager might be put in charge of a specific department, they will usually report to the administrator, who coordinates the activities of the managers and, by extension, to the nurses themselves. Nevertheless, both managerial and administrative positions require similar skill sets, which include supervisory and management skills, budgeting and financial planning, and other strategic visioning.

Aside from coordinating their nurses, the administrator also supervises the tasks of every other nurse in the facility to maintain a high level of quality in the care that is being administered to the patients. As executives, nurse administrators also handle certain human resources tasks such as the recruiting and hiring of new nurses, as well as overseeing their training. Furthermore, they also ensure that their staff is receiving constant relevant education to ensure that their credentials are up to date and that they are versed in the latest procedures and techniques.

When it comes to unionized hospitals, the administrator often acts as the liaison between the hospital and the union leaders. In non-unionized hospitals, however, the administrator often acts as the link between the nurses and all the other areas of the healthcare facility. In this sense, the administrator will also play a vital role in policy-making and in the implementation of new procedures. Their voice carries significant weight when deciding upon which equipment to use in specific departments, as well as how they run in terms of the services they offer. 

These changes cannot be implemented at the whim of the administrator (or at the whim of any other employee, for that matter). The decisions made must be supplemented with the appropriate reports and paperwork. For this reason, and aside from the fact that they have to coordinate hundreds of other nurses, a nurse administrator must also be studied in proper communication skills.

How to become a nurse administrator

The very first requisite that anyone needs to fulfill in order to become a nurse administrator is to be a registered nurse, and to have a BSN degree so they would be able to move on to further studies. Ideally, a nurse administrator would be someone with an advanced degree such as a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). There are several types of master’s degrees available, one of which is specifically tailored to nursing administration. 

Through these courses, the candidate will learn all the skills and traits necessary to provide proper administration of a healthcare facility, including financial management and human resources. After the course is completed, and the person earns their degree, they can then receive their certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center after completing an exam. Once all of these courses have been completed, the nurse can then opt to fill an administrative position in their local health center, if an opening exists.

In conclusion, the tasks and responsibilities of a nurse administrator could vary from hospital to hospital, depending on the scope that the organization has for the position. Nevertheless, in most centers, this position is usually very demanding and challenging and often involves important decision-making, care coordination, and an eye for perfection. It also requires constant communication with both the hospital and employees in order to create a healthy work environment while also honoring the requirements of the organization.