Managing Change In Healthcare

There are numerous change theories that nurse leaders can use to help make a change. According to our textbook, one of the most useful theories is Lewin’s change theory. This theory of change is described in three stages, (a) Unfreezing, (b) Moving, and (c) Refreezing (Grossman & Valiga, 2012). First, in the unfreezing stage, a problem is identified, analyzed and the start for change begins. Second, in the moving stage, this is where you make the change, new policies are developed and implemented. Last, in the refreezing stage, the change has been made and this is the new way of doing things now. Lewin’s change theory also mentions the driving forces, restraining forces and equilibrium, in order for organizations to remain in balance.

According to Porter-O’Grady, 2016 et al p 324, our healthcare systems today are at the center of what is considered major change. Much of the change today is directly related to the foundational principles, concepts and associated with complexity in systems and relationships, and an understanding by nurse leader and follower; of what it takes to make meaningful change. Nurse Leaders, registered nurses, advance practice nurses, and other followers, at every level of our organizations must be increasingly aware of meaningful and sustainable changes that improves our healthcare systems (Porter-O’Grady, 2016 et al p 324).

In today’s healthcare system, effective leadership is essential to improving and reaching organizational outcomes. A leader is someone with the ability to influence others but, an effective leader uses positive strategies to inspire employees to work towards the same goal. Leadership in nursing requires a constant effort to motivate others to become part of the organizational transformation. This can be achieved using a transformational leadership style with a focus on communication, motivation, and empowerment.

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.

The IOM particularly points out the need for strong and capable leadership of nurses. The report says that the professional nurses must produce leaders at every level of the system and accept primary leadership positions in politics and organizations. The implementation of health care reformation expects that the nurses must exhibit leadership capacity and high-level collaborative skills in formulation of policies as well as in nursing practices. The nurses should prove their potentialities for contemporary, advancing high-quality patient care at every stage. IOM says that acquiring leadership qualities from the beginning to the end of the nursing profession is very crucial to achieve the affordable health care to everyone in the challenging socio economic situation. The report clearly calls each nurse to take responsibility to attain leadership qualities to plan, implement and be a mentor of the society. Nurses should see themselves as critical leaders in decision making and adopting new policies to meet the prevailing

Florence Nightingale was a leader and change agent. Unfortunately, many nurses have now become followers instead of leaders. The IOM has called for nurses to lead the change to remove barriers to the scope of practice for nurses. This will provide more opportunities for access to high quality healthcare. As a change agent for nursing education, you have been asked to participate in an interdisciplinary group to investigate the barriers and to propose how industry and academia can work together to better address needs of a changing health care industry. This may include new roles for nurses, new leadership needs, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Discuss with your peers what points you will address with the interdisciplinary group. Support your work with current research.

Learning is a vital aspect of growth and development of a human being. Humans learn to adapt to new environment and conditions through continuous learning. The healthcare system is an ever-changing world. Healthcare practices have become dynamic throughout ages. Thus more nursing leaders are needed to shape the modern healthcare scenario and provide efficient nursing practice.

Nurse leaders are faced with issues or problems on a daily basis that are often expected and sometimes unexpected. It “comes with the territory” so to speak. If there were no issues to solve or hurdles to overcome the necessity of designating a leader would not seem quite as important. Nurse leaders can tackle issues that occur in their work environment using nursing theory to guide them. Nursing theory provides a framework that nurse leaders can use to implement interventions or changes to positively impact the staff they lead. This framework of the theory will set the standards for achieving the desired outcomes and is based on knowledge that is gleaned from practice and/or research.

for buy-in, enabling action, creating short-term wins, don’t let up, and making it stick). Bridges

In the healthcare field, nursing leaders and managers face consistent issues in their respective practices that force them to alter the way they work and the way they think. In taking on a role as a leader within the field, nursing leaders and managers also take on the role of ensuring that work within an organization runs smoothly regardless of new issues that may arise in the healthcare arena. For instance, in today's healthcare environment, the issues of nurse shortage and nurse turnover have the capacity to alter the healthcare field and many of its respective branches and organizations should these problems not be managed properly by the leaders in the field. In viewing the issue at hand and in discovering how nursing leaders and managers are expected to act, and do act, in order to approach this issues, along with pinpointing the best approach possible to aid this issue, one can better understand which leadership styles are necessary for leaders to function.

The main focus of the theory is motivation, inspiration and empowerment to create changes. It is based on the idea of empowering others to facilitate overall goal. Bennis and Nanus (1985) describe this new leader as a leader who “commits people to action, who converts leaders into leaders, and who converts leaders into agents of change” (p.3).177. According to processes to engage and motivate staff article “Transformational leadership is important for high quality care delivery, and behaviors that nurse leaders inspire, role model and reinforce are instrumental in creating work practice that deliver optimum care”.

Transformational leadership is an emerging type of leadership that is more adaptable the changing environment within healthcare and has the ability to guide and empower staff to embrace the changes (Finkelman, 2012). This type of leadership is especially important today with many nurses felling unsatisfied, or unappreciated. In order to have a successful organization, it must first have the ability to retain nurses through job satisfaction. Transformational leaders have the ability to encourage staff members to embrace the changes to come, by promoting such things as team work, and recognition of hard work done by staff members (Smith, 2011). Having the ability to recognize staffing needs along with the compassion to try and meet those needs while maintaining the functionality of the organization, is the key to future

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

Without competent leadership change can have negative impact on both the employees and the patients. According to Wright (2010), lack of leadership in change management could lead to adverse outcomes such as resentment, rebellious attitudes, and could end up damaging the same people it intended to make better (p.20). Therefore, experts warned that it is very important to have competent leadership at the helm of change management (p.20). As the focus of providing leadership shifts to nurse administrators who are often in the frontline of change management, nurse administrator should use essential tools such as the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) five domain of competence as a framework in change management.

By empowering the community of nurses and sustaining employee engagement, patient and employee satisfaction would remain the same, if not increase (6 Leadership strategies for navigating perpetual change in healthcare, 2015). Change is tough for most people and the time to adjust varies with each individual. Taking some time to acknowledge each individual and their needs is an important factor to being a great leader (6 Leadership strategies for navigating perpetual change in healthcare, 2015).