Collaborative Leadership Reflective Essay

The institute of Medicine (IOM) has defined quality healthcare as safe, effective, timely, efficient and patient-centered care that is given to an individual regardless of their race, gender, financial status or health status (Wood & Haber, 2014). Quality initiatives are designed to help maximize efficiency; decrease poor work performance and resolve workforce problems through leadership, commitment and involvement (Abdallah, 2014). Abdallah (2013) also noted that trained physicians can help with the implementation of quality culture and employee morale, and it can help with the collaboration of ACNP and physician management. According to Chorostecki et al. (2015), interprofessional (IP) care includes shared decision-making, collaborative problem solving, respect in the work field, and equal contribution among all healthcare team members. Implementing effective interprofessional collaboration can help enhance quality care in hospital, acute, home or office settings (Chorostecki et al.,

Another important aspect of healthcare is effective interprofessional practice. This allows practitioners from different disciplines to work together to provide the best care for patients. There are four areas of competency in interprofessional collaborative practice. They are values/ethics, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams/teamwork (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Each of these areas contribute to skilled interprofessional

Nurses play an important role in achieving the competencies of interprofessional collaboration, quality improvement, and human flourishing. Successful interprofessional collaboration requires the willingness to step outside of one’s comfort zone and initiate interactions with other professionals. Nurses must also possess a well-rounded understanding of patient needs in order to know which types of professionals with which to collaborate. Communication skills are

The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standard 2 Partnering with Consumers requires all health professionals to provide consumer-centred care and to design the care in partnership with the patient and the family (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in health Care, 2012). The NSQHS Standards (2012) identified patient and family-centred care and engagement as one of the national priorities. As such, in order to improve patients’ safety outcomes and reduce hospital acquired conditions and readmissions and provide client centred services, the IPE recognized the need for effective interprofessional teams to collaborate and engage patients and families by implementing IPE core structures and processes (Brewer & Jones, 2013). The Curtin University’s ICF encompasses five interprofessional capabilities: “reflection, communication, team function, conflict resolution, and role clarification” (Brewer & Jones, 2013, p. e47). The purpose of ICF is to guide and assist health care students for collaborative practice to deliver safe and high quality care, and client-centred care (Curtin University, 2011). Therefore, health science students are expected to be competent in all skills and meet the criteria outlined in Curtin University’ ICF.

Interprofessional team collaboration for professional nurses is viewed as a method to improve the care and safety for patients. However, interprofessional team collaboration presents both advantages and challenges for nurses and other team members. One of the advantages is the coordination of care for the patient and the sharing of knowledge to improve the outcomes for the patient. Challenges for interprofessional team collaboration is: poor role-definition, miscommunication, conflict, lack of accountability for assignment of responsibilities and tasks (Reeves, 2012). This paper will discussion the role of a nurse on an interprofessional team and the challenges, why interprofessional teams promote patient safety, and strategies to promote success interprofessional teams.

Hall and Waver ( 2001) defines Interprofessional as a group of professionals from different disciplines such as nurses, doctors, pharmacist that are working and communicating with each other while providing their knowledge, skills and attributes to enhance and support the contributions of others. Suter et al (2009) also said that the ability to work in an interprofessional team to convey collaborative, patient-centered care is an important aspect of professional practice that involves a possession of a particular set of competencies, such as communication skills. In relation to (Weinstein et al., 2003) Collaboration is the collection of knowledge, skills, values and motives which transforms to effective practice when applied by practitioners.

Leadership has been defined in a number of ways, but the concept is still indefinable (Barr and Dowding 2016). Buchanan and Huczynski (2010, p. 596) define leadership as “a process of influencing the activities of an organised group in its efforts towards goal-setting and goal achievement”. In clinical practice, leadership translates to an ability to direct other to achieve evidence-based practice that supports enhanced patient outcomes (Kelly-Hiedenthal 2004). Like any other industries and organisations, an effective leadership skill is vital in the healthcare sector to improve the standards of the care and to achieve organisational goals (Bach and Ellis 2015). Sullivan and Decker (2004) stated that nurses often step up to the

In healthcare it is very important to have strong leaders, especially in the nursing profession. A nurse leader typically uses several styles of leadership depending on the situation presented; this is known as situational leadership. It is important that the professional nurse choose the right style of leadership for any given situation to ensure their employees are performing at their highest potential. Depending on which leadership style a nurse leader uses, it can affect staff retention and the morale of the employees as well as nurse job satisfaction (Azaare & Gross, 2011.) “Nursing leaders have the responsibility to create and maintain a work environment which not only promotes positive patient outcomes but also

In the decision-making process related to patient care nurses are often perceived as having less authority than doctors. This can impact on how they behave and are treated within interprofessional teams. This essay will discuss interprofessional practice and the role of nurses within interprofessional teams. It will examine challenges faced by nurses in being accepted as equal partners within these teams, and explore solutions to this issue.

Those involved in the health care system—nurses, physicians, patients, and others—play increasingly interdependent roles. Leaders who merely give directions and expect them to be followed will not succeed in this environment. What is needed is a style of leadership that involves working with others as full partners in a context of mutual respect and collaboration (A Pearson, H Laschinger, K Porritt, Z Jordan, D Tucker and L Long [International Journal of Evidence-Based health Care], 2007, p. 224).

“Interprofessional working involves complex interactions between two or more members of different professional disciplines. It is a collaborative venture in which those involved share the common purpose of developing mutually negotiated goals achieved through agreed plans which are monitored and evaluated according to agreed procedures. This requires the pooling of knowledge and expertise to facilitate joint decision making based upon shared professional viewpoints” (Barrett, Sellman & Thomas, 2005, p18). How individuals collaborate and work towards a common goal for the benefit of the patient is essential for a swift recovery.

In healthcare settings, emphasis on clinical leadership ought to be made. Clinical leadership is a shared leadership that includes all nurses irrespective of grade. Shared leadership in a clinical setting refers to leadership shared within multidisciplinary teams (MDT). Stacey et al (2012) suggested that the MDT involves various healthcare professionals across services with specialized expertise, knowledge and skills working in

It would appear that my original theory regarding the applicability and practicality of this capstone was accurate. This course has managed to successfully supplement the knowledge I had previously acquired in other courses. For example, I was familiar with and understood the basic principles of leadership. However, this course has taught me that the ability to lead is not an exact science, but an art and determining how to proceed when faced with uncertainty or a highly volatile situation is an exceptional challenge.

Leadership can take many different forms, depending on the person and the situation in which it is needed. Collaborative leadership is a leadership style in which a leader brings together a large group of people, with a variety of backgrounds, to make a productive decision and act upon it. According to Chrislip and Larson (1994):

If one has no leadership ability, one cannot be a leader. If one does not make what his or her followers consider the correct decisions to achieve their goals, no one will have faith in the leader's abilities and, consequently, no one will follow and without followers, there can be no leader. Another important criterion which one must have in order to be a leader is a person who leads a crowd in the direction where the goal can be accomplish as well as someone who acknowledges a problem and finds solutions to it.