Definition Of Courage In Nursing

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~ Winston Churchill. This quote defines what it is to be courageous, to be courageous is to persevere even if you know you will fail. This kind of courage is the courage which both Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. In Stranger Than Fiction, an IRS agent, Harold Crick, with a monotonous life learns that you must not only survive, but you must truly live. This lesson is taught through a series of events that lead to his breaking out of his shell and truly living his life. The events are preliminarily put into action through Harold hearing the voice of the author of a book about his life. In To Kill A Mockingbird, a tomboyish six-year-old, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, discovers the true meaning of camaraderie and bravery. Her friendships are strong but her definition of courage is flawed. In the end, she realizes a great truth, that to really know someone, you have to imagine yourself in their shoes. Courage is important to these two characters, as they both discover what it really means to be brave and what the true definition of courage is. Courage is not always outspoken, sometimes courage is knowing that you will fail, but trying and failing anyway and then accepting your failure.

The field of nursing is one of the quintessential servant roles in our society today. We serve by taking care of our patient’s physical and mental (and sometimes spiritual) health. As a nursing student, there are three main characteristics that I have seen modeled in leaders that I think are most important to a servant-leader’s success. In my own practice, I hope to focus on all servant-leader characteristics, but these in particular as I strive for a lengthy and fulfilling career.

The concept of vulnerability can be seen on a daily basis in the nursing profession. From working effectively as a team to having difficult conversations with a patient, nurses must be engaged in their own feelings to understand how that can influence the way they provide care or deal with stressors in the healthcare setting. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the concepts of vulnerability, perfectionism, and shame from the book Daring Greatly (2012) by Brené Brown apply in nursing practice and leadership in the terms of empathy, patient advocacy, and nurse burnout. I will also discuss how vulnerability has changed my views in leadership and how I will use it in nursing practice.

Courage can be described in other words such as endurance, fearlessness, and heroism. Courage can come in many different forms. Courage is an example of your own personal will, and determination. Having courage proves that we can believe in our self, it can show us the strength we thought we never had. Its takes a lot of bravery to overcome a fear or trial. We all face different hardships in our lives like losing a loved one, running out of gas on the side of the road, or trying to study for 4 different tests at the same time for college students. Courage is the strength someone needs to manage their pain or sadness that they might be going through. Courage can be performed through powerful acts, or minor acts. A great act of courage would

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

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” There are many demonstrations of courage. Harper Lee really seems to capture what the real idea of courage is in all of his characters, but there are a few who seem to stick out the most; Scout, Atticus, Jem, Boo, and Tom Robinson. In this paper I would like to touch base on most, if not all of these courageous characters.

Beginning in Ancient Greece, philosophers, authors, and researchers have been exploring authenticity. It was not until 2003 when author Bill George discussed and incorporated authenticity as a leadership theory in his book Authentic Leadership (Kruse, 2013). This paper will discuss authentic leadership and its application to nursing practice. It will combine and relate a number of peer-reviewed journals, articles, and Brené Brown’s professional development book, Daring Greatly, to substantiate why this leadership theory is effective in the nursing profession. Authentic leadership and vulnerability greatly enhance a leader’s influence and has the ability to strengthen the nursing profession overall.

Following certain virtues and values are important to carry on to the healthcare career. Two important virtues that I believe nurses must have are courage and wisdom. “Courage is the mental or moral strength to persevere and withstand danger”. “Wisdom is the judicious application of knowledge” and learning to improve from your mistakes. Courage is something I believe many employees of the hospital lack, but don’t actually have any idea that they are lacking it. That’s why its always important to have courage! For example, if you work in a larger hospital, or as a CAN, or in a unit which you dislike, it will be difficult to show courage. Many people (CAN) dislike cleaning after elderly patients who can’t clean after themselves. Lacking courage

Integrity is a deeply individualized phenomenon. It is the correlation between a person’s actions and their beliefs, principles, or convictions. Additionally, integrity correlates an individual’s actions and their self-understanding. When an individual identifies himself or herself as a nurse, there are often underlying personal characteristics that accompany. For example, most nurses identify themselves as caring individuals far before they become a practicing nurse. Ultimately, acting within an individual’s self-understanding is a demonstration of integrity (Nelson & Gordon, 2006). The integrity of the nursing profession has been challenged as the goals of healthcare delivery have shifted to improving the bottom line, leaving one to question if nursing has lost sight of its foundation, caring. In her reflection of the Caring Conference, Lou Reida’s expressed, “… I have been challenged to reflect on how I, as a future leader, will be able to find a balance between nurturing the caring spirit of nurses and the business component of healthcare,” (Reida, BSN, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to discuss how integrity of nursing may be compromised and the importance of leadership in the persistence of integrity throughout the profession.

Nursing leaders were strong and courageous individual who would take risk in achieving the organization goal, would use their knowledge and skills to manage the employee who they were responsible for. Huber (2010) adds that Nursing leader should have the ability to collaborate clinical, administrative and operation skills into problems solving in care giving environment which needs a special skills, courage and ability to move the vision into action. Successful leader has the ability to create positive work environments. Laschinger (2012) pointed out "Authentic leadership" characterized by leader behaviors that create meaning and optimism in followers through transparency, balanced processing, moral integrity and self-awareness, to be linked with positive working conditions. While taking clinical co-coordinator role on the clinical environment, student experienced knowing owns "Inner leadership" or "Self-awareness" helped to bring the hidden qualities of leadership into reality and to apply them in life and work situations. As a team member student feels personally and professionally important while being treated with respect and consideration by the nursing leader. It also increases the sense of professional security when the nursing leader becomes supportive in dealing with clinical and administrative problems.

Nelson Mandela once said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” The dictionary states that courage is the ability to do something that frightens one which pretty much sums up what Nelson Mandela was trying to get across. Courage can range depending on all the different perspectives but the basis is always the same; to conquer a fear. Not only can the dictionary define the word courage, but other sources as well such as literature, examples of personal experiences, and quotes from authority figures can be used to better define the word courage.

In the competitive world of business the bottom line is king. Whether it’s increasing profits or meeting organizational goals it’s what drives a company and its employees. Business is a dog eat dog world and because of its competitive nature you don’t want to be caught wearing milk bone underwear. How a company makes or increases profits or even meets its goals is not always on the up and up. Sometimes safety practices go by the wayside putting people in danger of being hurt or even fudging the numbers to keep stakeholders happy. Whether you are a superior, subordinate, or peer you have a moral responsibility to speak up and question such acts. Human nature tells us that if nothing is ever said or done about bad behavior it will continue

Courage is a necessity to overcome fears and achieve a desired goal. Fear is something that exists in all of us. There is no hero or any particular courageous figure that is without fear. Being fearless is not required to be courageous, one simply has to look past or overcome their fears to possess this great quality. When overcoming fears and going against the norm, there are always risks involved. There are different types of risks that come about. Someone could risk life or limb, while others risk their reputation. Either risk is serious enough that a person must have courage to endure that particular risk. Courage can occur anytime, anywhere, and often in our everyday lives. Everyone will experience courage no matter how young,

As nurses, we need to have confidence, good viewpoints, strong beliefs spiritual understandings and moral values in developing a powerful image. “I have always believed you are what you think you are.” (Coelho, n.d). If you’re honest, have self-confidence, reliable, sound principles, and respect; you can acquire the capability to be successful. (Posner, n.d.).

“If you actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” (John Quincy Adams, as cited in Forbes, 2014, p. 1). A leader is mentor, guiding others to their best. In this paper, I will reflect on my personal values and beliefs regarding leadership. Next, I will discuss a leader in my life that personally resonates with me. I will then discuss the attributes of my chosen leader and relate them to theory on leadership, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, group dynamics and peace and power concepts and identify the leadership style that my chosen leader embodies. Finally, I will discuss how my leadership philosophy and the newly acquired theory will impact my future career as a nurse.