How tough is it to follow an executive nursing career pathway?

According to a recent guide in America, there has been a huge increase in the number of executive nurses over the past few years. They are now considered as one of the most important professionals in our health care system, and this will continue for years to come.

Executive nurses are the most senior nurses in a healthcare organization. These nurses are responsible for the paperwork side of the health care system, and they play an important part in helping organizations follow through and deliver outstanding services by making sure that the facilities and teams under their control are working effectively. Keep reading below to find out some more information about executive nursing and how easy it is to become an executive nurse:

What Duties Does an Executive Nurse Carry Out?

Executive nurses have a number of duties that they are expected to undertake, including:

• Undertaking financial responsibility
• Hiring staff
• Training staff
• Resolving issues in the organization they’re working within
• Developing networks and partnerships
• Collaborating and working alongside other healthcare professionals

What Skills are Crucial to the Success of a Nurse Executive?

The American Organization for Nurse Executives (AONE) has said that there are five skills that are needed for a nurse executive to be successful. These are:

1. Communication and relationship building – executive nurses need to be able to clearly and effectively communicate with their team. They must understand conflict resolution, create a trustworthy environment and facilitate discussions.
2. Leadership – executive nurses need to be able to be assertive with their colleagues and senior management.
3. Knowledge of healthcare – executive nurses need to have a background in clinical practice, health care economics, governance, healthcare policy and analysis of data and research. Executive nurses need to be able to comply with numerous policies.
4. Professionalism – executive nurses are expected to demonstrate high standards of professionalism in their work. Their role expects a sense of professional and personal accountability, coaching others, setting standards for colleagues, maintaining ethics and following corporate policies to the letter.
5. Business skills – executive nurses need to be able to understand health care from a business view. They are expected to hire, train and manage staff, manage financial resources, conduct SWOT analysis and keep up to date with changes in technology.

Executive nurses are a critical part of a health care team due to their knowledge of medicine and administrative skills.

Becoming an Executive Nurse

To be successful as an executive nurse, you need to have a good understanding of business and the healthcare sector. Nurse executives usually need to have had a number of years of work experience within a nursing environment, and they also need an advanced degree in the subject. To become an executive nurse, you could undertake one of these online DNP nurse executive programs. They will give you all the knowledge and guidance you need to become an executive nurse.

Becoming a nurse executive can take a long time, but it is well worth the time and effort you put in. After training as a nurse, you will need to spend time working in this environment for a number of years before you’re able to apply for an executive nursing program.

Here are some of the requirements and degrees you need to complete before becoming an executive nurse:

• A bachelor’s degree – A bachelor’s of science is the first step to becoming a nurse. The admission requirements to undertake this course are usually to complete science and math prerequisites, submission of a personal statement and a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• Become a licensed registered nurse – In order to gain the clinical knowledge that you require, you will need to register and obtain a license.
• Get some experience as an RN – Once you’ve got your license, you will need to work as a registered nurse where you will gain the relevant experience you need.
• Complete a master’s degree – Once you’ve got enough experience, you’ll be able to apply for a master’s degree in nursing. You could apply for a masters in nursing, business administration or healthcare administration. These degrees can take anywhere from 2-4 years to complete.
• Get the right certifications – Nurses who want to gain the title of nurse executive can get credentials such as nurse executive board-certified, nurse executive advanced board certified or certified in executive nursing practice.
• Stay in education – It’s important that nurse executives continue their education in order to keep up to date with current research, practices, and technologies as well as to maintain credentials.

Where Do Executive Nurses Work?

There are a number of different health care settings that employ executive nurses. Well-qualified executive nurses can find employment in:

• Healthcare clinics
• Hospitals
• Home health agencies
• Rehabilitation centers
• Schools of nursing
• Other healthcare organizations

Executive nurses can also choose to work as a consultant for different healthcare facilities.

The job of an executive nurse has altered considerably, from delivering basic nursing services to providing care to patients as a whole. This has led to an increase in the career prospects for executive nurses. There are numerous nursing schools and healthcare organizations looking for executive nurses who have advanced training to take up management roles. Nurse executives are also sought after by insurance companies.

Salaries for Executive Nurses

You may be under the impression that it’s not worth the hassle of undertaking all the training to become an executive nurse, but this isn’t the case. Executive nurses can earn a large amount of money because of the wide number of administrative responsibilities they have. It is hard to come up with an exact figure of how much an executive nurse earns, as it varies depending on location, qualifications, and experience, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, executive nurses roughly earn an annual salary of $98,350. This is much higher than a registered nurse would earn.

The number of executive nurses working in American has certainly increased over the past few years. Today, executive nurses must be competent in a number of different areas including leadership, data analysis, and communication. Training to become an executive nurse can take time and cost money, but it is certainly worth it in the long term.