Strategic Management Practices Of Nurse Managers At The Greater Accra Regional Hospital

Abstract

Strategic management practice is essential in the health care system especially, among nurse managers, since nurses are front liners in health care delivery. The study sought to explore the strategic management practices of nurse managers. A conceptual framework of the strategic management process was used to guide the study. A qualitative exploratory, descriptive design was utilized. Twelve (12) participants were purposively sampled from the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH). A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from the participants, and thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Five themes were identified from the data: environmental scanning practices, strategy formulation practices, strategy implementation practices, strategy evaluation and control practices, and challenges encountered in Strategic Management. The study's results showed that nurse managers scanned their internal environment using methods like observation, round checks, and supervision, as well as SWOT analysis as the tool, but the external environment received little attention, so opportunities were not maximized and threats were not reduced. The study recommends that nurse managers should give as much attention to external environmental scanning as the internal environment for efficient and effective strategy formulation and implementation practices. Furthermore, the management of the Greater Accra regional hospital, should give nurse managers support as well as training on strategic management to better equip their skills in contributing to the achievement of the hospital‟s objectives.