My Experience As A Nursing Officer (CNO)

Nurse leaders play a vital role in establishing standards and leading organizational change. The effects of the Affordable care Act (ACA) on the healthcare industry is characterized by change (Delmatoff & Lazarus, 2014). Given this ACA paradigm transformation, I believe today’s nursing leaders must adapt quickly and assist new leaders to develop the skills necessary to envision and evaluate new healthcare delivery systems. According to Chism (2009), the roles of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) prepared nurse graduates may be incorporated to meet the transformation of today’s contemporary healthcare. After reading the assigned material, I gained confidence that the DNP program will prepare me for eligible leadership roles within the healthcare industry.

I recently accepted the Neuroscience ICU (NSICU) Nurse Manager position at the Medical University of South Carolina. The principals of transformational leadership and nursing distinction radiate throughout the facility, extending the brand of excellence towards nursing. Onboarding as a new leader requires agility and flexibility. I was able to capture the union of course content and application of my leadership practice.

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.

I sincerely believe that I accomplished my goals this week. I realized that I served 14 patients by combining the ability of knowledge, my attitude for excellence that I have consistently defeat the odds to become the very best Nurse practitioner; I can become. This clinical experience brings forth many opportunities and achievements. The most important experience this week; I had the ability to identify as primary healthcare provider a high risk need for the patient to be transferred to the Hospital for further evaluation without delay; due to complaints of “leg cold from the knee down to the feet”, which my evaluation was based on evidence practice knowledge of compassion and skill with the autonomy to practice, diagnose, and treat patients

In this paper, I will reflect on the fourth competency that the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) places an emphasis on, a competent nurse demonstrates leadership in nursing and healthcare. I will provide evidence and detail of how my practice as a case manager nurse and my position as the department manager demonstrate the five dimensions of this competency including: displaying a calm and confident manner, leadership development and evaluation, supervision, delegation, and change management (OCNE Competency Rubrics and Benchmarks, 2013).

As a nurse administrator, I have a distinct role to play in the healthcare sector. Preparation for this position commences at the graduate level; either masters or doctoral level. Prospective students at graduate level are expected to indicate a variety of roles across healthcare sector as stipulated in the legislative law. Factors such as the nature of the organization and its system of leadership provide credible knowledge that is critical for nursing management roles. As opposed to Gerontology Nurse Practitioners who are expected to have a wide array of technical and hands-on skills

Every day, a set team of nurses and nursing managers set out to ensure the health and well-being of their patients. To achieve this goal, a nurse manager must adhere to a specific style of nursing leadership. There are many different styles of leadership in the healthcare field. Bass and Barnes (1985) stated that the two most common are transformational and transactional (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p.24). This paper will define leadership, the two different styles, how each are executed, as well as pros and cons of each.

The type of leadership theory the chief of nursing facilitates is transformational leadership. In the transformational leadership, “the leaders and followers raise one another to higher level of motivation and morality” (Grossman & Valiga, 2009, p. 73). After the training was completed, we felt comfortable and equipped to responding to an emergency in a war zone.

The purpose of this paper is to address and identify the best possible practice of nurse leaders in the nursing arena. When considering effective leaders in the nursing field nurses must acquire leadership skills in order to meet the steep demands of the positions held as advanced practitioners. The healthcare industry has mainly focused on meeting the continuing education requirements to keep advanced certifications of nurse leaders however an effective leader who is faced with a plethora of complex leadership challenges will focus on enhancing their personal arsenal of leadership techniques through seeking leadership development opportunities catered to the provision of safe and effective care for patients and their staff. Through the

The third and last section of the IOM report that will be discussed is on “transforming leadership” key message # 3 of the IOM report states, “Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health professionals, in redesigning healthcare in the United States.” The committee is calling for a new type of leadership, one that involves collaborating with others and working together as partners showing mutual respect. This style of leadership has been shown to improve patient outcomes, reduce staff turnover, and reduce medical errors. (Gardener, 2005; Joint Commission, 2008; Pearson, 2007) For the needed changes in the U.S. healthcare system to take place all nurses from nursing students through Chief Nursing Officers must develop competencies in leadership and become partners with physicians and others to improve our healthcare system and delivery of care.

There are many skills, traits, and behaviors one must possess in order to be an effective leader. The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) has compiled a list of competencies and skills that nurse leaders should be proficient in. The five competency domains identified by AONE (2011) are “communication and relationship building, knowledge of health care environment, leadership skills, professionalism, and business skills” (p. 3). The competency domain I believe is essential for one to possess in order to be an effective executive nurse leader is communication and relationship building. The competencies AONE (2011) listed under the domain communication and relationship building are “effective communication, relationship management, influence of behavior, ability to work with diversity, shared decision-making, community involvement, medical staff relationship, and academic relationships” (p.3). I will discuss how Tom (nurse manager of a psychiatric unit) did not meet these specific characteristics under that domain.

Influential nurse leaders need to demonstrate specific characteristics in order to effectively lead within a healthcare organization. A MSN/MBA in Healthcare Administration prepared nurse should uphold leadership competencies detailed by the American Organization of Nurse Executives [AONE] and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]. A nurse leader must self-assess strengths, limitations, and values, as well as identify opportunities for personal and professional growth. In this paper, I will explore desired

Leadership traits associated with nurse executives are honesty, credibility, supportiveness, visibility, and flexibility. Nurse executives analyze nursing functions and empower nurses through participatory decision making, shared governance, and employee involvement. Nurse executives share the vision and goals of the hospital and promote application of a nursing theory into the nursing care delivery system. They anticipate the future of health care and nursing and serve as monitor, role model, and preceptor to lower level management (Upeniecks, 2003). Nurse executives in the Magnet program are required to have advance practice degrees with certification in their specialty (ANCC). Understanding evidence-based management and enabling the use of evidence-based knowledge provides the nurse executive with the tools to improve patient outcomes. The transformational leader will remove barriers to improvement and encourage outcome based thinking. While nurse leaders are charged with questioning the status quo, nurse managers in the transformational approach to leadership are charged with maintaining the status quo.

An interview was conducted with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) at an acute care facility. This discussion revolved around the following: her style of management, style of communication, decision-making skills, technical skills and delegating skills. Before sharing specific responses to each of these, the CNO wanted to clarify that because she was new to the organization and following someone who had been in this position for over 20 years, during the first year and transition phase, there were certain situations in which she was consciously adjusting her leadership style to fit the culture of the organization. She strongly felt over time the staff would adjust and become more familiar with her natural style of leadership and

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.