An Experiential Educational Intervention to Improve Nurse Managers' Knowledge and Self-Assessed Competence With Health Care Financial Management.

Abstract

Nurse managers often list finance as the most challenging responsibility of their roles. This study examined the outcomes of an experiential, evidence-based educational intervention to increase nurse managers' knowledge and competence with the financial aspects of their roles. The study design was a pretest-posttest comparative evaluation. Twenty-three nurse managers attended two 4-hour sessions covering general budget terms, productivity measures, variance analysis, and personnel budgeting. Pre- and posttests included 20 questions obtained from health care finance texts and preparatory materials from a nurse leader certification examination. Preand postassessments consisted of the finance portion of the Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership's Nurse Manager Skills Inventory. Scores improved significantly (p ≤ .05) for the posttest and the American Organization of Nurse Executives Nurse Manager Skills Inventory Finance self-evaluation questions (p ≤ .01). Experiential methods were successful in facilitating learning. Certification examination questions addressed relevant areas of financial knowledge necessary for nurse managers' role in the financial management of their units. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(4):181-188.].