Date Available

4-17-2018

Year of Publication

2018

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Committee Chair

Dr. Debra Hampton

Clinical Mentor

Dr. Lewis Perkins

Committee Member

Dr. Kim Tharp-Barrie

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess nurse manager span of control in medical- surgical, intermediate care, and progressive care units at Norton Healthcare and determine correlations between nurse manager span of control and employee engagement.

METHODS: For this descriptive, correlational study, the researcher analyzed data to identify relationships in span of control and employee engagement data for 19 nurse managers leading 23 inpatient care units. A survey to evaluate the role of the nurse manager and the assistant nurse manager also was done.

RESULTS: The average span of control for nurse managers was 52.2 full time equivalent employees with a range of 37.3 to 81.8 full time equivalent employees per manager. The average actual number of employees per nurse manager was 73.8 employees with a range of 51 to 110 employees per manager. No association between span of control and employee engagement was found for the Medical Surgical, Intermediate Care, and Progressive Care Units at Norton Healthcare.

CONCLUSION: Based on the findings from this study, employee engagement does not appear to be impacted by nurse manager span of control. Continued evaluations are recommended to determine if nurse manager span of control is appropriate for the ever-changing healthcare landscape.

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