Prepare an 8–10-page operating budget for a hospital unit.Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.SHOW LESSSound financial management is essential to the fiscal well-being of all health care organizations, and the nurse leader plays an important part. Consequently, the preparation and effective management of operating budgets is a critical skill for nurse leaders. The budget guides leaders in optimizing the use of resources, and because nurses are closest to patients, they understand very well what it takes to operate on a daily basis and provide safe, high-quality care.This assessment provides an opportunity for you to develop an operating budget for a health care unit. Keep in mind, staff is a large part of this budget and is often hard to control.By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:Competency 1: Design an operating budget that incorporates variances or discretionary spending.Prepare an operating budget.Explain how a budget is designed and created.Competency 2: Develop a plan for managing the labor force, within the parameters of the budget and productivity.Develop an approach to ongoing budget management.Competency 5: Apply financial principles to a strategic plan for achieving organizational goals and fiscal success.Develop a strategic plan.Competency 6: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.Present budget data and information clearly and accurately.Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support budget data and information, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.PreparationYou are the nurse manager of a 35-bed hospital unit with 20 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. You have been given the task of getting the budget under control. Several people have recently left the unit, and you have been working to fill those open positions. Your staff work scheduled overtime and many sign up to work extra shifts. Your unit serves an older population, as well, and has incurred expenses associated with this group of patients.Note: Remember that you can submit all of, or a portion of, your draft to Smarthinking for feedback, before you submit the final version for this assessment. However, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.RequirementsNote: The following requirements correspond to the grading criteria in the assessment scoring guide. Be sure that your budget addresses each point, at a minimum. You may also want to read the Guiding Questions: Preparing and Managing an Operating Budget [DOCX], linked in the Resources under the Suggested Resources heading, to better understand how each criterion will be assessed.Prepare and submit an operating budget for your hospital unit.Prepare the operating budget.Note: Assemble your budget figures in a table, using a format of your choice. You may use either Microsoft Word or Excel to create your budget table.Explain how the budget was designed and created.Develop a strategic plan.Develop an approach to ongoing budget management.Present budget data and information clearly and accurately.Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your budget data and information, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.Additional RequirementsIf you use Microsoft Excel to create your budget table, submit the Excel file along with your budget narrative. You may also add the Excel file to your Word document as an embedded object.Format your budget narrative using APA style.Use the APA Style Paper Template [DOCX], linked in the Resources under the Required Resources heading. An APA tutorial is also provided in the resources to help you in writing and formatting your document. Be sure to include:An APA-formatted title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.A minimum of five properly formatted citations and references.Your budget should be 8–10 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page.