In 2024, Nursing Catalyst surveyed more than 1,700 nurse managers to understand drivers of workload strain and unsustainability in frontline leadership. This snapshot builds on that work, highlighting how one health system reduced nurse manager burden through better tools, protected time, and clearer boundaries around the role. Click here to explore the full series.
Executive Summary
Baptist Health Jacksonville paired Nursing Catalyst's 2024 span of control data with its own manager engagement survey to pinpoint what was driving nurse manager burden. Two things stood out: unsustainable workload volume, and inconsistent proficiency with the day-to-day tools already built into their role. Baptist tackled both at once, combining skill-building with structural changes to the role itself. Initiatives included technology and financial acumen training, process consolidation, time block protection, and new rules on who can assign work to nurse managers. The goal across initiatives was to help managers become more organized, proactive, and clear on what genuinely requires their attention.