Unit 2 Assignment: Case Study- Staff Role in Budget Development

Outcome Addressed: Program Learning Outcomes: 2, 5 Course Outcomes: 1, 2, 4, 6 AACN Essentials: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 2.1, 2.3, 2.11, 2.12, 5.1, 5.2, 5.6

Case Study:

The nurse managers in a hospital have been asked to prepare budgets for their units. At the same time, the managers are told that the hospital budget has serious problems with being over budget last year. This is the first year that nurse managers have been asked to participate in budget development. At the nurse manager meeting, several nurse managers were angry now that the hospital serious problems they were turning to the nurse managers. Maybe if they had been asked to participate in the budget process before there were problems, they might have been able to provide helpful strategies. Managers also felt they lacked the necessary skills to do the task. The nurse executive listened to their concerns at the meeting. After the meeting, the nurse manager from a medical unit returned to his unit and met with team leaders to ask their advice about the budget and deficit.

Questions:

How should the nurse executive respond to the nurse managers' concern about lack of skills to cope with this request?
How might macrolevel financial issues affect microlevel financial issues?
What might be the roles of staff nurses, team leaders, nurse managers, and nurse executives in budget development?
How might cost containment be used to address deficits of the medical units? Consider specific interventions or strategies that might be used.