AONL Releases Span of Control White Paper

The AONL Workforce Committee this week released a white paper on nurse manager span of control, defined as the responsibilities and number of direct reports assigned to nurse managers. Optimizing nurse managers’ span of control and making strategic investments to support them can increase retention, reduce overtime, decrease burnout and improve patient outcomes and experience. The paper notes the ideal span of control for nurse managers depends on the complexity of the health care setting, available resources, manager level of experience and skill, the workload and responsibilities of the direct reports. Multiple strategies and adjustments can address span of control, keeping an appropriate balance between effective management and high-quality care delivery. The paper includes a span of control assessment tool.