Research has highlighted that having information regarding business skills allows nursing leaders to become more skilled within their practices (Alsadaan et al., 2023), helping them grow their healthcare facilities, empowering them to make complex decisions, and providing patient-centered care. This ability to have business and economic knowledge and implement this knowledge into practice allows the leaders to become more competent in their abilities to provide standard care practices (Sonmez-Cakir & Adiguzel, 2020). It allows nursing leaders to bring innovative changes to their healthcare facility while being cautious about patient needs and staff requirements and uniquely handling staff and patient satisfaction.
Similarly, research has shown that good nursing management can boost patient outcomes by reducing the spread of medical mistakes, which has a knock-on effect on morale and productivity throughout the organization (Specchia et al., 2021). Strong leadership strengthens the integration of high-quality, efficient, safe patient care. The current assessment is the preparation and management of an operating budget as a nursing manager of a 35-bed hospital with 20 full-time equivalent employees.
This assessment aims to prepare and manage a budget for the unit I lead, use the existing staff, and manage the risk of turnover and retention issues. Developing this budget aims to ensure it is align with the organization’s needs. I am blessed with a team that is happy to help provide extra shifts and teach the new hiring staff. However, I planned to provide overtime compensation. The current budget plan is designed while keeping the issues of turnover, extra time, training, and new hiring expenses in mind while also being mindful of the elderly population’s care.
Operating Budget
An operating budget is a comprehensive estimate of an organization’s expenses and revenue over a specific period. It is planned as a goal of what to expect during a specified period and guides how much money the organization will need to operate. It is an estimated cost prepared to manage the expenses based on the fixed and varying costs usually prepared for a year, including the expected expenses and predicted revenue generated throughout the year. The expenses dedicated to a small hospital are medical supplies, utilization, bills, training and development expenses, appraisals, bonuses, devices, and technology maintenance expenses (Abdulsalam & Schneller, 2019). All these elements are essential for staff satisfaction and retention rates, while revenue is based on patient satisfaction with hospital services, research grants, and charity funding.
The budget for my facility was planned to improve staff retention and satisfaction while managing the budget to enhance patient-centered care. I designed an operating budget for one year, dividing it into three quarters for analyzing and evaluating the plan to ensure that it is aligned with the organizational goals, serves the purpose of patient care, and enhances staff retention. The current budget stresses two aspects: retention of staff and patient-centered care. The objective is to increase staff retention through performance reviews, bonuses, the integration of telehealth, and team-building training. At the same time, patient-centered care primarily focuses on modifying infrastructure, acquiring medical supplies, and evaluating. Studies have shown that staff retention and patient satisfaction help improve clinical outcomes, ensuring optimal organizational benefits for both staff and patients (Specchia et al., 2021)
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