Financial management for nurse managers--the bottom line for renewal.

Cost-effective health care has become the hospital motto for the 1990s. A great majority of costs can be controlled on individual nursing units, but many clinically expert nurse managers lack skills in financial management. Our goal was to teach such skills in a framework in which cost was balanced with quality. The three-day course emphasized leadership skills and management styles, change and renewal, solutions to problems of nurse turnover, and specific financial strategies. Evaluations of the course were positive and demonstrated one way in which valuable nurse managers can learn new skills to keep up with current needs.