As nursing leadership becomes increasingly front and center within healthcare, nurses must develop several key skills to deal with the value-based healthcare of the future.
As healthcare shifts from a volume-based model to a value-based one, nurses will need a broader range of skills to do their jobs, Banner Gateway Medical Center CEO Lamont M. Yoder and Legacy Health Chief Nursing Officer Carol Bradley told Hospitals & Health Networks. These skills, qualities and steps include:
- Continuing their education: Healthcare will make considerable progress toward its goal of bachelor’s degrees for 80 percent of entry-level nurses by the end of the decade, Yoder told the publication, but in the meantime, the industry has changed to the point that a bachelor should be more of a jumping-off point. Advanced degree nursing programs have seen a surge in recent years as demand grows for nurses with advanced education, FierceHealthcare previously reported. In the meantime, recruiting nurses who already have advanced degrees can help hospitals with retention; research found newly licensed nurses with bachelor's or advanced degrees are more likely to stay on the job.
- Technological know-how: Proficiency with technology is particularly vital for nurses within the modern hospital sector, Bradley said, because of the part such skills play in aspects of the job such as sharing evidence-based practices, improving system-wide efficiency and protecting patient safety. Technological skills can also enable nurses to seek career advancement in ways that might not otherwise be available, FierceHealthcare previously reported, thanks to such options as telephone triage and informatics consulting.
- Business sense: With performance measures so important to the value-based care model, it's important for nurses to understand the business side of healthcare, according to Bradley. “Nursing leaders need to have the business acumen to analyze the way care is being delivered and apply clinical value analyses and the kind of 'lean' thinking that can reduce waste, inefficiency and costs," she said.