APA PAPER

Health care system are facing significant change in the United States. Nursing as a frontline workforce plays an undeniable critical role in leading the health care reform. Nurses with advanced leadership and management skills become the significant influence in shaping health care workplace. In this essay, the student will use the Nurse Manager Inventory Tool to reflect my strengths and weaknesses as a nurse related to my professional responsibility, my career plan, and my characteristics contribute to my nursing practice to achieve the goal.

When it comes to a nursing philosophy, every nurse has their own values, beliefs, and ideals that are different and unique from others. It presents a great challenge when incorporating these ideas into a professional practice. “Professional values are standards for actions accepted by the practitioner and professional group that provide a framework influencing the behavior of the group.” (“Professional Values: The Case for RN-BSN Completion Education,” 2008, p.1). Identifying which values are most important will have a huge

(North Carolina Nursing History, 2010) Still, many leaders in the nursing community believed that nursing education should take on a more theoretical role with the Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing (BSN) and adapt a diverse curriculum that include the Social Sciences, Evidence Based Research, Leadership and Management, Public Health and the Humanities. These parties reasoned that by incorporating such curricula, nursing students will develop critical thinking skills that seek to address the subcultural, political, social economical and psychosocial issues that influence their patients and the healthcare delivery system and thus improve healthcare outcomes. (Wood, 2014)

For this assignment, I had the opportunity to interview two nursing education administrators who work in different agencies. Those educational administrators are Dr. Linda Cook who works in the educational setting and Elaine Blackwell who works in the healthcare setting. Several questions were asked about their educational and professional backgrounds, leadership philosophy, values, attitudes, the effectiveness of their leadership style, measurement and evaluation tools they use, and the educational strategies they integrate (see Appendix A).

Major changes need to take place within the nursing leadership in order to change the culture of the nursing practice. Evidenced- based research has proven that a transformational leadership style, solid emotional intelligence, effective communication skills, and a new culture of nursing leadership are the key for growing the nursing practice. The problem is change is not happening at the top level of nursing administration, so the entry level, or clinical nurse is still practicing in the manner that they were taught by their predecessors. New nurses and participants in the healthcare workforce are having leadership theories, patient- centered care models, and other newer concepts instilled in them during their education. Once the new graduates enter the world of medicine, they are confronted with a workforce that has not made the necessary requirements to meet the needs of today’s healthcare. This can happen in the nursing practice, but there needs to be a change in the roles and scopes of the nurse executive and nurse manager. Through a literary review, it was determined that to foster a new nursing practice the educational requirements of the nursing leadership needs to be at a minimum of a master degree in nursing. Other conclusions were to adopt the evidenced- based patient- centered care model of a High Reliability Organization (HRO) and to promote a Culture of Safety. It was further concluded this change in the nursing practice will have to be done

Second, some of the findings have been contradictory. One study found that skipping breakfast impairs certain aspects of cognition, such as problem-solving abilities (Pollitt, Lewis, Garza, & Shulman, 1983). However, other research by M. W. Green, N. A. Elliman, and P. J. Rogers (1995, 1997) has found that food deprivation ranging from missing a single meal to 24 hours without eating does not significantly impair cognition. Third, not all groups of people have been sufficiently studied. Studies have been done on 9–11 year-olds (Pollitt et

Learning that the educational level achieved and not one’s experience level dictates patient outcomes (Aiken, Clarke, Cheung, Sloane, & Silber, 2003), drastically altered my perception of professionalism in nursing. This evidence heightened my understanding of the importance of obtaining a BSN in nursing for the improved well-being of patients in the direct care setting. The preparation that nurses obtain from a baccalaureate program of study enhances critical thinking and reasoning skills and also fosters personal and professional growth (Delaney & Piscopo, 2007). This information

The field of nursing is one that has profound impact on medicine, health care, and society. There has been increased interest in the study and practice of nursing in the 21st century around the world. It is a growing field with a solid global reputation of necessity and respect. More and more people are interested in becoming nurses and more attention is being paid to the roles of nurses in the overall health care experience. The IOM report was released in 2011 as a reflection of the progress, philosophical perspective, and standards by which nursing and nurses should uphold. The paper pays particular attention to the sections regarding the IOM's stipulations for transforming the practice of, the education in, and the transformation of leadership in nursing. When initiatives and documents surface in a particular field, there will be changes in the approach, execution, and consideration for that field. Certainly, the IOM report directly impacts nursing education, the nursing practice as a whole, and perceptions or definitions of leadership in nursing. The paper is a short meditation and exploration of such considerations, as well as reflection as to how the IOM report alters my personal practice so as to meet the goals presented.

Professional nurses need to possess adequate training on management, administration and HR development and interpersonal skills that facilitate the achievement of the mission and vision of the organization. This justifies nursing leadership is a permanent feature of professional achievement that allows participation and planning inherent in professional practice of team activities. Nursing leadership enables nurses to participate in decision-making, generate new ideas and help in solving daily problems faced. As nursing is gaining an increasing impact on all aspects in provision of quality healthcare, it is important for nurses to develop leadership skills early in the career. Already nursing metrics are being introduced so that nursing care can contribute to patient outcome by bringing cost-efficiency.

Susan currently has an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) but is on track to obtain her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). She took the position on condition that she have degree within 3 years. She has 8 years of experience in long term care and has attended leadership and long term care conferences to prepare for her career. In order to gain confidence and decrease frustration, Registered Nurses (RN) require training as health team managers in order to meet the expectations of the organization. When support from the healthcare organization is limited then the RN will not feel competent enough in their leadership skills (Dwyer, 2011).

Education is the key to a successful career; there are many differences and opportunities between an Associate degree in Nursing and a Baccalaureate degree in Nursing. The difference between an Associate degree in nursing and Baccalaureate degree is that, an Associate degree is two-three years, while a Baccalaureate degree is four years. According to Methodist College of nursing “The numbers of Nurses graduates from Associate-degree programs are 59%, followed by Baccalaureate programs 37% and then diploma programs 4%”, this indicates that there is a rapid growth in nursing education

Many undergraduate nursing programs aim to fulfill many pathways into the nursing career while inspiring early achievement of graduate education. The undergraduate programs share multiple commonalities, the differences are visible in the structure of the courses structure and the contents (Billings & Halstead, 2016, p. 135). The first curriculum model of training created in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries was the Diploma programs. At first the program was associated with hospitals and higher educational institutions, with the goal of training nurses in clinical skills to deliver patient care in many health care environment over a period of three years. The program mainly consisted of general education courses in the biological and social sciences which was facilitated through association with a local college or university. Students were able to transfer their credits to a baccalaureate degree in nursing to further their education. The continuing progress of undergraduate program into colleges and universities has cause the decrease in diploma schools and has contributed to 10% of nursing programs educating students in the United States. The existence of ASN or associate degree in nursing (ADN) programs were initiated in 1952 by Mildred Montag in reaction to nursing shortages and to produce nurses in two years to provide care to patients with guidance of professional nurse in acute care environment (Billings & Halstead, 2016, p.135).

Education for nurses is life long process either at the bedside or school, nurses are continuously learning to meet the competencies of professional practice and growing demand of excellent care. The difference between the nurse prepared at the associate degree level versus the baccalaureate degree level in nursing is the nurse with baccalaureate degree has the more prestigious degree and training in global aspect of health care

In his book A Force for a Change, John Kotter (1990) proposed that management differs from leadership, because “leadership is a process that focuses of making organisational changes, while management is primarily concerned with control and results”. The terms leader and manager are too often used interchangeably, leaders are not always managers, and managers are not always effective leaders. However to support quality patient outcomes, nurses can demonstrate leadership and management skills at any level of experience and in any stage of their careers. This paper will outline the differences between leadership and management, how leadership and management relate to nursing, how skills can be developed and how graduate nurses can struggle to display these skills, but can learn how to become an effective leader with time and education.

Education is the key to being successful in any field, and the nursing field is no different. It takes time, dedication and determination to return to school to attain a higher degree. There are three paths to secure a Registered Nurse (RN) license, a diploma program, associate degree (ADN) and bachelor’s degree (BSN). Many editorials have addressed the leadership abilities of the associate degree and diploma prepared nurse. Lack of confidence and delegation style have been established as difficulties for the diploma prepared and ADN nurse (Saccomano & Pinto-Zipp, 2011). Some studies have found that hospital outcomes such as mortality rates are related to education level (Spetz & Bates, 2013). True leadership lies within each individual, however, formal education provides a platform on which a diligent leader can succeed. Organizations commonly encourage academic advancement and they will foster a positive environment to help individuals further their education. Hospitals have an additional incentive for developing bachelor prepared nurses because they can achieve Magnet recognition. Every nurse that is a graduate from a diploma or associate degree program nursing should have a realistic plan for progressing on to achieve a bachelor’s degree (Manthey, 2005). Returning to school to get a BSN to secure a leadership position has proven to be a challenging undertaking. In order to be successful in realizing a higher degree it is necessary to understand