Includes glossary and index.

Nursing leadership, management, and motivation -- Health care environment -- Nursing today -- Decision making, critical thinking, and technology -- Leadership and management of the interdisciplinary team -- Health care communication -- Change, innovation, and conflict -- Power and politics -- Leadership and management of patient centered care -- Delegation of patient care -- Effective staffing -- Budgeting for patient care -- Planning care -- Time management and setting patient care priorities -- Quality improvement of patient outcomes -- Quality improvement and evidence-based patient care --
Legal aspects of health care -- Ethical aspects of health care -- Culture, generational differences, and spirituality -- Leadership and management of self and the future -- NCLEX-RN preparation and your first job -- Career planning and achieving balance.

Nurses play a crucial role in protecting patient safety and providing quality health care. A national Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM) report found that "how we are cared for nurses affects our health, a nd sometimes can be a matter of life and death... nurses are indispensable to our safety" (Institute of Medicine, 2004).