Leadership and Management in Nursing - Softcover

"Joanne C. Langan, PhD, RN" is an Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University School of Nursing. She received a BS in Education from Quincy University and a BSN from the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Langan earned MSN and PhD degrees in Nursing Administration and a Nursing Education Certificate from George Mason University. While a faculty member at GMU, she was theCo-Project Director for the Washington Regional Academic and Community Consortium and the Project Director of the Partnerships for Quality Education. At Saint Louis University, Dr. Langan is the coordinator of the traditional students' Public Health Nursing course. Research and areas of interest include Faculty Practice and nursing student learning, the Nursing Shortage, Community Partnerships in Graduate Medical and Nursing Education, and Disaster Preparedness. She is a contributing author for two Community-Based Nursing Practice books. She was a member of a team who received intensive education at the Henrietta Szold Hadassah Hebrew University School of Nursing and the Hadassah Medical Centers in Israel and is developing modules and curriculum as a faculty member of a Bioterrorism/Disaster Preparedness Certificate Program. Dr. Langan is a consultant/member of the Emergency Preparedness Team at St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood.

The third edition of this text offers students updated content that reflects the major changes in health care delivery that have occurred over the past several years. Many have impacted nursing as a profession in a profound way. One of the most striking changes is the number of professional nurses who have been displaced in acute-care settings in favor of ever-increasing nonprofessional care providers. In order to ensure safe care to patients, nurses who did survive the cuts became responsible for supervising nonprofessional personnel in practice settings. Along with the changed configuration of caregivers in care settings, nurses experienced a loss of professional autonomy in decision making relative to care delivery. Physicians found themselves in a similar bind. In their stead, business and health insurance considerations dominated decisions about the types and length of services patients were entitled to. At no other time in the history of health care in the United States have changes in the system resulted in such unprecedented turmoil. Administrative decisions failed to take into account the vital role nursing has historically played in health restoration and preservation over the decades. Nursing titles came to resemble those of the business world as the differences between business and professional standards were blurred. Over time, problems that emerged from such changes forced administrators to recognize the important role that only nursing can fill in the delivery of comprehensive health care. As a result, administrators are rethinking many of their cost-cutting strategies. On the plus side of the unprecedented changes, many physicians have a new appreciation for professional nurses as colleagues in the delivery of care. The time is right for nursing to reclaim its autonomy within the practice of nursing, and renew its role as an equal collaborator with other health professionals in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care. All of these factors influenced our approach to the updating of content for the third edition of this text. Several references to problems that came from the new system, along with ideas for resolution, are made throughout the chapters.

The content and concepts presented in this edition remain the same as in previous editions, reflecting their timeless nature. The latest literature from management, leadership, and nursing have been added to the references used in the text. Examples illustrating the concepts are updated to reflect current practice and new case studies, and learner exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. We were pleased to learn that the second edition of the text was recognized in the 1998 Brandon/Hill Selected List of Nursing Books and journals under the heading "Administration and Managed Care." Books included in the list represent contemporary concepts, theories, and trends in nursing and set forth sound clinical methods. This recognition reinforces our belief about the value of the book's contribution to the nursing literature for both generic students and registered nurse students returning to universities to complete a baccalaureate degree in nursing.

The content in this edition is divided into four units — Unit 1: Leadership; Unit 2: An Overview of Organizations and Management; Unit 3: Special Responsibilities of the Manager; and Unit 4: Managing Resources. In Unit 1 there are five chapters — The New Health Care System, Leadership Theory, Interactive Processes of Leadership, Decision Making and Conflict Management, and the Ethical Responsibilities of the Nurse Leader. There are three chapters in Unit 2 — Organization and Management Theory, Overview of Nursing Management, and Delegation. Unit 3 focuses on nursing managers and divides their responsibilities into five chapters — Maintaining Standards, Motivation in the Work Setting, Monitoring and Improving Performance, Legal Issues in the Workplace, and Managing Change. Unit 4 has four chapters devoted to managing resources — Managing Resources: The Staff, Managing Resources: Time, Managing Resources: The Budget, and Informatics in Nursing.

We continue to believe the flow of content in this text is logical and lends itself well to study by beginners. This belief is reinforced by reports of students relative to its readability. Using exercises in the book as a basis for written reports about their practice, students continue to provide us with contemporary evidence that this book is useful to beginners in the profession. Incorporating those reports into classroom discussions adds significantly to the value of a leadership course because their personal experiences replace sterile textbook content and they feel some ownership in the presentations. Student reports continue to provide us with some insight into the world of the beginner. It is an invaluable source of material for the classroom. We believe this edition will be helpful to students' understanding of the place nursing occupies in the overall health care system.

Additional exercises and activities to complement the third edition can be found on the Companion Website and Distance Learning Courses. Some of the features included are:

* Objectives
* Key Concepts
* Outline Review
* Critical Thinking
* NCLEX Review
* Message Board
* And more!

To access these features, visit the homepage for Leadership and Management in Nursing, 3rd Edition at prenhall/grohar-murray