Reviewer: Carl Balcom, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE (HCA Healthcare)
Description: The book serves as an excellent primer of how nursing services and patient care are organized in the healthcare system. It covers everything from leadership foundations to organization of care delivery to legal and regulatory considerations in patient care, and concludes with recommendations for successful transition from student to novice nurse. This is the third edition; the second edition was published in 2016.
Purpose: This book aims to provide the required foundational knowledge of nursing management and leadership for new graduate nurses. Its follows the Magnet model so the content is well laid out and flows nicely. It is critical that new nurses have a solid understanding of management and leadership so they are positioned to be effective members of the patient care team. This book provides just the right level of detail for a novice nurse to be successful in their transition to practice.
Audience: This book is intended for novice nurses. It is written at an appropriate level for this audience, providing the right amount of depth. The topics are important for new nurses to understand and be knowledgeable about as they enter practice. The authors are both credible and reliable sources on nursing leadership. Moreover, the contributors and reviewers are all well-reputed experts in the field.
Features: The book is structured to follow the Magnet model. The first section, "Transformational Leadership," provides a general overview of leadership roles and styles as well as some of the fundamental functions of healthcare leaders. The second section, "Structural Empowerment," provides insight into the structures and processes required to support cross-organizational/cross-functional communication that promotes efficient and effective delivery of care. The third section, "Exemplary Professional Practice," explains how all the decisions affecting how care is delivered (e.g., models of care, interprofessional practice, staffing, and skill mix) are determined. This is particularly important because it demystifies these topics that may not have been covered in basic preparation. The fourth section, "New Knowledge, Innovations, and Improvements," explains the importance of keeping up to date on best practices and incorporating evidence-based practice into care delivery. Again, this is an area that may not be fully understood by novice nurses, so this section explains the principles in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner. Throughout the book, there are illustrations to support the subject matter being reviewed. They are appropriate and reinforce the material well. Each chapter starts with a glossary of key terms that readers may not be familiar with and need to understand to appreciate the material in the chapter. Overall, the book is very well written and easy to follow.
Assessment: This is an excellent book for novice nurses (and any other discipline for that matter) to review as they transition to autonomous practice. There are many comparable books available that review the same subject matter, but this particular book flows really well and is easy to follow. One area lacking is that there is no mention of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would have expected to see more mention of innovations resulting from this emergency (e.g., alternative care models, changes to skill mix) in the book considering it replaced the second edition that was published in 2016.
