Applying Leadership For Nursing Practice

“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal” (Kruse, 2003). Being a leader is not only about having followers and finishing set goals but also about working well with others while inspiring them. Effective leaders are essential to guide others to success, whether it’s about inspiring others, having a vision or making a change. In order to attempt to develop a personal philosophy of leadership, I believe it is significant to examine what is essential to me as a leader. Throughout my nursing career I have encountered all types of leaderships from authoritarian to laissez-faire styles. I recently switched jobs and unknowingly I embarked in the search for leadership balance. What do I mean by this? I was searching for a place where I would be able to voice my concerns, where effective communication is present at all times, where my vision and passion for my nursing care will be taking into consideration and rewarded. The purpose of this paper is to define my nursing philosophy of leadership.

This paper aims to address and discuss about the leadership and management of the nurse leader interviewed. This experience was a great opportunity to witness first hand how a nurse leader cultivate and manage their staffs in real life setting. Moreover, it provides a great access to gain insight and knowledge about nurse leaders’ vital responsibilities and role diversities in the organizations they work with. Nurse leaders pay more specific and close attention in handling the staffs and most importantly, patient care.

In this essay I will discuss the leadership style of 3 nursing leaders, which I chose from Nursing Leadership DVD (Orazietti & Singh, 2014). I will then describe impact the leaders ' style has on improving nursing care, organizational processes, and inter-professional collaboration. In addition, I will provide some examples of a change process or difficult situation which leaders encountered. Finally, I will explain how I have dealt with difficult situation involving my colleague and one of physician in the hospital department where I worked. Throughout this essay I will analyze what leaders should have done differently. 3 Leaders which I have chosen were Debra Bournes from group 1 because of her political and administrative success, Mina Singh from group 2 because she is renowned for her educational style at York University, and Esther Green from group 3 because she is the sound and knowledgeable practitioner.

In my future role as an advance practice nurse I will be spending my time interacting with patients discussing their complaints

The aim of this essay is to identify a significant event from the authors clinical

Nurse leaders are the background to the nursing care. Effective nurse leaders can promote a positive workforce and a healthy work place for other nurses. Workplace dynamics is an essential part of how each nurse functions. Nurses, being mentally and physically stressed, need to have support and guidance from a nurse leader to feel confident about performance. The impact of nursing leaders can be a positive and guiding force for the younger or more inexperienced nurse. Having strong relationships with solid leaders can instill values in the beginning stages of a newer nurses’ career. Gaining insight and core concepts from a more experienced leader can make a world of difference in the way a new nurse performs, provides patient care, and sets future goals for themselves. A newer nurse with a positive role model and nurse leader can model themselves to become a leader for future nurses.

Leadership is encountered in every occupation and in everyday life. In nursing, leadership is not only prevalent; it is crucial to patient care and employee satisfaction. The nurse leader that was interviewed was a nurse at the Newport Hospital in Newport, Washington. This is a small hospital in a rural community. She is a charge nurse in the acute care unit, as well as in charge of leading infection control in the hospital. With these roles comes a lot of responsibility, and tasks that must be completed in a timely manner to create a workflow for the rest of the staff. There is a lot of juggling and balancing everything that is included in all of those positions.

Throughout this communication course I have learned and attempted to apply new skills in communication and group interactions. I have collaborated with nursing and healthcare leadership professionals on a project to improve communication and health outcomes for a specific population. As our group has formed and developed during this quarter, I have identified strengths and weaknesses in my ability to work within a group. The four stages of a group, as described by Connery and Vohs (2006) will be discussed as they pertained to my perception of the group process and outcomes this quarter. My communication strengths, weaknesses, and my adoption of the informal roles outlined by Connery and Vohs (2006) with regard to group work will be analyzed as well as my plan for utilizing my strengths and addressing my weaknesses for future interactions and group work.

Having effective leadership and management is essential for any health care facility to operate. Both leadership and management are an essential part to delivering quality healthcare to the patients that they serve. The foundation to any facility is nursing which must be led by the best leadership and management available for its continued success. This is the key to helping that facility to achieve a high level of patient and employee satisfaction. Having adequate staffing for any facility is an issue that many facilities face due to the shortage of nurses. This paper will compare and contrast nurse leaders and managers thoughts with the use of contract employees to assist with the shortage of nursing staff. It will also show support with theory, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus the manager. It will also identify the writer’s personal philosophy of nursing as well as explain her own personal style of leadership.

Leadership occurs when an individual is able to affect the behaviour or actions of others without having to make threats or use violence to implement changes (Ellis & Abbott, 2013). Nursing leadership involves all roles and aspects of nursing practice. It revolves around the ability to use critical thinking related to patient care, act upon those decisions and advocate for change whenever necessary. Nursing leadership has an important role in the lives of nurses’, influences the entire health care systems and the delivery of care (Canadian Nurses Association, 2009). Values and beliefs are what form and guide an individual’s thought processes and actions in everyday life. Being open, honest and sensitive are my values that guide my behaviour in my everyday life. I value openness because it allows me to feel comfortable to express my feelings and ideas. This value became important to me in my previous clinical setting. I was always afraid to openly inform my clinical instructor about whenever I did not agrees with changes that were being made on the unit. I was always scared that if I did voice my opinion and she did not agree with me, it would lead to failure of clinical. Honesty and being sensitive to one’s emotions is a value I believe are important. This value is imperative because the truth is known, but at the same time, it allows for one to be aware of individual feelings in relation to how to deliver this truth. This creates the knowledge of which tone of voice to use

It seems ironic that this aspect of nursing is overlooked especially when nurses have so much responsibility to know their skill alongside of working with patience and their families not to mention being a team player with other co-workers. Curtis said in her article, “…clinical leadership is often relegated to a space late in the delivery of nursing education…” (2011, p. 344). However, Curtis also alludes to the problem of leadership training by saying that most often when nursing programs incorporate leadership training into their programs, the training ends up coming from a business approach that is then adapted to clinical leadership. She also indicate that there needs to be more emphasis on leadership training that directly correlates with clinical leadership (2011, p. 346). In addition, Barkhordari-Sharifabad indicates that not equipping nurses with leadership skills results in little to no confidence, commitment and motivation as side effects to the lack of leadership (2017, p. 2). Both of these articles realize the importance of leadership playing an important role in creating an atmosphere that is efficient pleasant, and

Leadership is often defined as the process of “influencing the thinking and action of others with respect to achieving a goal” (Gaudine & Lamb, 2015, p. 2). This paper focuses on interactional theories, specifically transformational leadership, which involves the leader creating and providing a vision and influencing followers to achieve the goals, exhibiting enthusiasm and optimism (Gaudine & Lamb, 2015). To be an effective leader, one must exhibit a transformational leadership style. This includes being emotionally intelligent, having appropriate conflict resolution strategies and being able to respect diverse views. For this assignment, we conducted an interview with our former instructor, K.R., who we

As the health care environment in our country continues to change at a rapid pace, the need for properly prepared leaders in all health care environments will grow. The Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) prepared nurse will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to rise to the highest levels of leadership in the institution of health care. To be an effective leader requires knowledge of the organization’s mission and the guidance of a theory of leadership congruent with and capable of delivering the facility’s objective. The traits of the leader must harmonize with the theory of leadership that is applied. Through careful examination of an organization’s structure, an appropriate leadership style to match the traits of the leader and followers may be identified. Connecting the organization, leadership style, and traits of the leader and followers will promote success with the implementation of new processes to improve the quality of patient care for the population served.

The intent of a leader is to implement change, instill inspiration, orchestrate collaboration, and empower their followers to go beyond their limitations. Nurses are leaders who strive to improve the overall quality of patient care by leading those around them to participate in the vision of the corporation. He or she must be fully aware of the organization’s philosophy, clearly state its expectations, and possess the ability to develop well-versed and quality leaders (Tinkham, 2013). Every health care organization possesses a vision, a mission statement, and core values that every member functioning under that union must adhere to. Goals, achievements, and adjustments are essential to ensuring that the vision of the organization is being met and evaluated for positive outcomes. However, getting workers to believe and abide by the vision of the facility calls for effective and stimulating leaders. According to Schwartz, Spencer, Wilson, and Woods (2011), “Success in the workplace often is contingent on a leader’s ability to effect positive change and inspire others to higher levels of achievement” (p. 737).

Nursing is a very complex career that at many times requires one to be a leader. Nurses can be leaders in formal roles and also on the unit during any given shift. Nursing is a career that truly tests the character and attributes of those who choose to enter this career. Leadership in nursing is vital in creating a successful environment for patients. According to Stichler (2006), “effective leadership is essential to transforming organizations into environments that are safe for both patients and staff” (p. 422). Therefore, it is vital that as new nurses start out his or her careers that they learn from great leaders who are already in the profession. There are several great leaders working in the field who have a plethora of