A nurse manager wants his nursing unit to be a place where all nurses want to work, where patient satisfaction is high, and care is innovative and interdisciplinary. Staff are encouraged to chair taskforces to improve quality of care and he counsels staff in areas of measuring patient outcomes. Other managers want to mimic this manager's approach to improve their own units. This nurse is which type of leader?

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The correct answer is A: Transformational. This nurse manager is focused on creating a positive work environment, encouraging innovation, empowering staff, and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate followers to achieve high levels of performance by emphasizing shared vision, personal growth, and values. This nurse manager's approach aligns with the characteristics of a transformational leader. Incorrect Choices: B: Transactional leaders focus on rewards, punishments, and exchanges with followers based on performance. This nurse manager's approach goes beyond transactional interactions. C: Laissez-faire leaders are hands-off and provide little guidance or direction. This nurse manager is actively involved in guiding and supporting staff. D: Authoritative leaders make decisions independently and expect followers to follow orders. This nurse manager encourages staff involvement and input in decision-making processes.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: Step 1: Managing variances in nursing overtime costs and supply usage is crucial for a nurse manager's performance evaluation as it demonstrates their ability to control expenses effectively. Step 2: This component directly relates to the nurse manager's responsibility in budgeting and financial management. Step 3: Analyzing and managing variances show the nurse manager's skill in monitoring and adjusting budgetary allocations to meet targets. Step 4: Other choices are not directly related to the nurse manager's core responsibilities in budgeting or evaluating performance. Step 5: Labor budget costs for overtime and benefits (Choice A) and predicting revenues (Choice C) are important but not as directly tied to performance evaluation as managing variances in costs. Step 6: Providing qualitative analysis for variances in the capital budget (Choice D) is not typically a key aspect of a nurse manager's evaluation, as it focuses more on long-term investments rather than day-to-day operational budgeting.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The correct answer is C: Participatory. In participatory budget development, input is gathered from various levels within the organization, such as staff and managers. In this scenario, the nurse manager met with her staff to establish strategic goals before budget negotiations, indicating a participatory approach. This allows for staff buy-in and ownership of the goals. A: Iterative budget development involves refining a budget through multiple rounds of review, which is not explicitly mentioned in the scenario. B: Top-down budget development is characterized by decisions made by upper management without input from lower levels, contradicting the scenario where staff provided input. D: Zero-based budgeting starts from scratch without considering previous budgets, which is not evident in the scenario where goals were established based on staff input. In summary, the participatory budget development is the appropriate choice in this scenario as it aligns with the collaborative approach taken by the nurse manager and her staff in setting strategic goals before budget negotiations.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The correct answer is B: applying productivity metric. The nurse manager is calculating the ratio of direct nursing care hours to total hours worked, which is a productivity metric. This metric helps assess the efficiency of the nursing staff in delivering care. Developing the capital budget (A) involves planning for long-term investments, not daily staffing calculations. Monitoring the labor budget (C) involves tracking expenses related to staff salaries and benefits, but not necessarily productivity metrics. Incremental budgeting processes (D) refer to budgeting based on past budgets with incremental changes, not specific productivity metrics. Therefore, the nurse manager is primarily involved in applying a productivity metric to assess nursing staff efficiency.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The correct answer is D because feedback is an essential component of the communication process. Feedback allows the receiver to respond to the sender, indicating understanding or seeking clarification. This two-way interaction is crucial for effective communication. In contrast, choice A is incorrect as communication components are interdependent, not mutually exclusive. Choice B is also incorrect as communication is often non-linear and involves feedback loops. Choice C is incorrect because communication involves various elements beyond just the sender and the receiver, such as context, message, and noise.