Capstone Approach To Study Nursing

My initial interest in nursing began from my experience with my grandmother. It was in the fall of 2007 when my grandmother was sent to the hospital due to hypernatremia. My dad would pick me up every afternoon from school to visit my grandmother. I was given the responsibility to look after my grandma for nearly two weeks that includes in feeding her, assisting her, and other light duties. What fascinate me during my visits in the hospital were the nurses who assisted and took care of my grandma. They treated my grandma with dignity, kindness, compassion, courtesy, respect, understanding, and love. Their commitment, professionalism, dedication, determination and skills inspired me to pursue a career in the medical field. From that point, I realized that nursing is a field that enables people impact other people’s lives and make a difference. At 9 years old, being a nurse was a childhood dream and now I am at the point of turning my dream into reality. I want to study and pursue my dream registered nursing at Ryerson University that offers a nursing degree program that focuses on developing student’s critical thinking skills, ability to analyze reflectively and apply theory through community health focused practice making Ryerson one of the best nursing schools in Canada.

Slide 1: The expectations of nurses today are higher than ever with goals such as achieving top percentiles in nursing and patient satisfaction, to being among the top leaders in quality outcomes, and to build productive work relationships and environments. Nursing leaders serve as the primary link between staff, physicians, and the community. They are expected to be innovative, highly skilled, possess a certain degree of nursing knowledge, and produce qualified individuals to care for the growing population. According to Lorber, Treven, and Mumel (2016) “nursing leadership is pivotal because nurses represent the most extensive discipline in health care”. Because of this growing need for diversity in leadership and my background in the military, I decided to focus on the MSN Executive Track at Chamberlain College of Nursing.

Now, the graduate level nurse’s leadership attributes have been described in scholarly sources. Based on the documents of the American Association of College of Nursing (AACN) (2013), essentials of graduate nursing must be skilled in organizational and systems leadership role. Specifically, they are supposed to assume leadership roles in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives while working in the interprofessional team context. APN must use communication in an effective way, with regards to speaking, scholarly writing, and group interaction. Nurse leaders should also demonstrate the working knowledge of the current healthcare system and its essential components, including delivery and payment models, sites of care, roles of various stakeholders in the process of care delivery (AACN, 2013).

Bachelor degree nursing programs are highly regarded for the skilled, clinical thinking, and professionalism of nurses they provide for the community. Obtaining a baccalaureate in nursing provides the same skills and knowledge encompassed in most associate’s programs, while allowing a broadened look into research, public health, management, and humanities (AACN IENP, 2012). Many facilities are now providing incentives for nursing staff to continue their education; from tuition reimbursement, an increase in pay, and played time off for the sole purpose of education. Research has proven that with a more educated

Since I was in the 10th grade, I knew I wanted to pursue my education at Mount Vernon Nazarene University for nursing. Furthermore, my first college visit on MVNYOU day confirmed my decision. I greatly treasure the close knit community and the Christian based morals. To get a head start on my journey, my sophomore year I applied and was accepted into the Career and Technology Education Center of Licking County for Clinical Care (C-TEC), a nursing based program. In the duration of my last two years of high school, instead of simply graduating with my diploma, I graduated with my STNA, CET, CPT, CPCT, and my CPhT. I have gained a knowledge of the basic fundamentals of nursing. I am an active member of many different clubs and organizations supporting

Leadership and collaboration are integral parts of every role of a DNP graduate (Chism, 2016). The competencies are part of the AACN Essentials, standards of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF), and Practice Doctorate Nurse Practitioner Entry-Level Competencies (Chism, 2016). The competencies must include leadership skills for greater patient outcomes. Chism (2016) maintains a DNP’s interprofessional collaboration with other discipline is imperative for successful results. A DNP with strong leadership skills will strengthen the practice, which will lead to improved healthcare

The third barrier discussed in the IOM’s Future of Nursing report was that nurses need to be full partners, with all other health care professionals, in order to redesign health care in the United States (IOM, 2010). To do this nursing education must add leadership aspects to the education programs. In doing this it will ensure that nurse are ready to actively participate and lead in decisions regarding healthcare

Grossman, S. C., & Valiga, T. M. (2012). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing (4th ed.). [Proquest Ebook Central]. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Perfetto, L. M. (2015). Facilitating educational advancement of RNs to the baccalaureate: What are they telling us?. Nursing Education Perspectives (National League For Nursing), 36(1), 34-41. doi:10.5480/13-1161.1

Not all nurses go into the profession with leadership ideas. The nursing profession must produce leaders throughout the health care system. Leaders must function as workers, and administrators with leadership qualities, while still meeting their budgets and running effective units with high functioning and happy staff members. They need to trouble shoot necessary and work with the medical faculty while pleasing their staff and the administers.

Leaders are often called upon to be innovative and flexible, able to be inventive in an unpredictable environment (Nibley, 1987), which makes talented leaders a tremendous asset to the nursing field, where human behavior can alter from what is typically considered to be the norm. Effective leaders should be able to lead not only others, but themselves too. Additionally, leaders who solicit successful input from others, and develop coalitions through teamwork to achieve results (Kelly & Crawford, 2013). Some head nurses are tasked with being both a leader and a manager, which can become troublesome if an established leadership style has not been learned and mastered (Sorensen, Delmar, & Pedersen, 2011). Being able to navigate the responsibilities of both a leader and a manager, working with doctors, fellow nurses, and patients, in a cohesive manner can be challenging. While the evaluation of leadership styles and the importance of effective leadership in a healthcare setting in the current paper is being evaluated through the view of a newly graduated nursing student, it is important to keep the roles of a head nurse in mind due to potential career goals. Doing such also helps to understand the stresses that the head nurses are under as they fulfill the roles of nursing and leadership within the department.

As N412L: Capstone Nursing Practicum comes to a close, I can reflect on my clinical experiences in this course and my progress towards meeting my defined behavioral objectives. At the beginning of this course, I set goals for myself, of which I planned to accomplish by the time this term came to a close. These objectives included: effective communication of the patient’s care summary in SBAR format, safe and efficient administration of intravenous medications, successful performance of tracheostomy care, and accurate physical assessment and patient monitoring. While I still have much to learn as I step into the role of a graduate nurse, I have accomplished my behavioral objectives for this semester.

Nursing leadership is also one of the very important messages of the 2010 IOM report on nursing. The IOM calls to expand opportunities for nurses to lead. It advises that nurses need to be prepared and enabled as leaders in order to advance healthcare. One of the recommendations states that “expand opportunities for nurses to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts” (IOM Report, 2010). In that regards, a research article (Sherman, 2011) points out that charge nurses on frontline of acute care setting are the

I am striving to achieve professionalism and growth in roles and values while going through the bachelor’s degree in nursing program. I plan on taking each class one at a time, try to do my best, and gain the knowledge needed to grow in the nursing profession. By October 2010, I should obtain my bachelor’s degree in nursing, which will provide new opportunities, such as management, and educator positions. A bachelor’s degree in nursing will provide the opportunity to further my education to a master’s degree level.

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