Administrative decision-making for nurse managers: An evolutionary concept analysis.

BACKGROUND

Among nurse managers, administrative decision-making (ADM) refers to leadership behaviors that involve rational, complex processes aimed at identifying optimal courses of action. Digital advances in healthcare settings have significantly influenced nurse managers' decision-making, transitioning from traditional, intuitive approaches reliant on limited real-time data resources toward analytics-informed decision-making. Consequently, previously established ADM conceptual frameworks may limit applicability to frontline nurse managers in the contemporary healthcare context.

PURPOSE: To clarify the ADM concept among nurse managers at the operational-unit level by examining historical and contemporary perspectives across relevant disciplines and exploring how the concept has been shaped by the modern healthcare environments.

METHODS

We employed Rodger's evolutionary concept analysis method.

DISCUSSION: Attributes of nurse managers' ADM at the operational-unit level consisted of an analytical decision-making approach, a hybrid human-centric decision-making approach, and evidence-based leadership. Antecedents included organizational, personal, and interpersonal factors, ADM prerequisites, and data-informed decision-making resources. Consequences included optimal decision-making, achieving operational and organizational goals, and managerial creativity and effectiveness. Limit data-science literature directly examining ADM constrains the strength and generalizability of the findings.

CONCLUSION

This study offers a context-dependent conceptualization of ADM as a structured, ethical, evidence-informed, and human-centered decision-making approach that may inform nursing leadership development, education, policy, research, and continued concept development.