On Being in Charge

Download or read book On Being in Charge written by Rosemary McMahon and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised training guide is designed to help health workers, including nurses, midwives, and medical assistants, improve managerial skills. The book is divided into four main parts, each dealing with a different aspect of management. An opening exercise helps readers diagnose managerial weaknesses and turn to appropriate chapters for study. Part I explains general principles and functions of management. Part II on personal relations offers advice on the following topics: how to get to know the community, motivate a health team, delegate authority, supervise supportively, conduct meetings, and encourage high work standards. Part III describes problem-solving methods for management of common problems involving equipment, drug supply, money, time, space in the office or clinic and in the community, and paperwork. Information includes how-to instructions for prepackaging and labeling of routine courses of drugs, advice on preparation of a duty roster, and guidance on what to do when treatment of a single common disease would consume the drug budget. Part IV shows how to apply principles of good management to health care in a community and offers step-by-step advice on how to assess needs, fix priorities, define objectives, monitor progress, and adjust programs. Methods for developing community self-help programs are described. Each chapter begins with a statement of learning objectives; each part concludes with exercises to aid individual instruction and problem-solving in teams. Seventy pages of illustrative solutions to the exercises are provided. (YLB)