Nurse Leader Interview

I assume that transitioning from the expert staff nurse to the novice NP status will arise many challenges. Thus, my first goal is to find a work environment that supports professional nursing practice and individual development. I believe that organizations that empower professional nurses and promote visibility of the NP role have administrations that are open to NP’s suggestions to improve patient care. An organization like this will allow me to participate in clinical-decision making and become involved in the organizational governance (i.e. being a member of a committee), and improve my indirect care processes and skills. Despite the fact that direct care activities will account for most of my time as an NP, I will eventually like to undertake indirect care activities on patients’ and staff behalf, (i.e. coordination of care, conducting teaching/in-services to patient/family/caregiver, research, etc). Engaging in direct and indirect activities related to patient management will help me develop

Nurse mangers is the leader of a specific department or unit of a healthcare facility. The nurse manager is responsible for recruitment and retention of the nursing staff, collaborating with other health care providers on patient care, and assisting patients and their families when needed. The nurse manager works with administration communicating and interpreting the facility’s policies and procedures to the staff. Usually with other departments in the facility, the nurse managers develop quality improvement measures tracking the patient services and care. According to Espinoza et al (2009), the nurse manager plays a pivotal role in

This paper aims to address and discuss about the leadership and management of the nurse leader interviewed. This experience was a great opportunity to witness first hand how a nurse leader cultivate and manage their staffs in real life setting. Moreover, it provides a great access to gain insight and knowledge about nurse leaders’ vital responsibilities and role diversities in the organizations they work with. Nurse leaders pay more specific and close attention in handling the staffs and most importantly, patient care.

Management and leadership are two different ways of organising people and although sometimes used interchangeably, they are two different functions. Management has a strong emphasis on order and control, while leadership has a focus on articulating a compelling vision, which both inspires and guides others to follow (Dignam et al., 2012). In this essay I will critique two styles of leadership, authoritarian and situational. In addition to this, the management cycle will be discussed. I will then identify how the newly graduated Registered Nurse and the nursing profession can use these styles to provide quality patient care.

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.

One mistake that new nurse leaders make is that they believe that the only way to get things accomplished, is to be direct and autocratic (Kerfoot, 2008.) The new leader’s fear of failing can influence them to take on the autocratic role to try and earn respect from their employees. However, this is not considered to be very effective among staff. When the professional nurse takes on the autocratic leadership trait and uses it on a daily basis, employees feel micromanaged. When a manager micromanages their employees they take the risk of lowering morale, and losing good workers (North, 2011.) Nurses have a lot of autonomy in their profession. They work independently and take responsibility for their actions. When they become micromanaged by their nurse leader, it takes away that autonomy and creates a work environment that is very low in morale, and can hurt the relationship between manager and employee. Often managers are experiencing a substantial amount of stress from the administration concerning budgets, deadlines, and high performance issues, but this does not justify micromanaging employees (North, 2011.) It is important to give your staff some independence; this lets them know you trust their judgment (North, 2011.) A nurse leader may also change their leadership style depending on if they are dealing with an inexperienced new graduate nurse, or an experienced veteran nurse.

Utilize previous knowledge of the sciences, liberal arts, information technologies, and nursing to develop skills as a nurse leader.

This paper will discuss different concepts of nursing leadership. It will define the Director of Perioperative and Cardiovascular Services personal leadership style and philosophy of leadership. It will discuss how this leadership style influences organizational behavior and the behavior of staff.

Nursing administrators provide a wealth of knowledge and leadership for staff at many different type of facilities. These nurse must also possess strong leadership and management skills. Supervisors staff nurses and recommend policy, procedure, and organizational modifications while contributing in the implementation of changes ("Duties and Responsibilities of a Nurse," n.d.).

Nursing is a practice of merging art and science together (Wilson, 2005, p. 116). The American Nurses Association (2003) defines nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (p. 6). When working in such a field that is patient oriented, a leader can make the largest of impacts. Research by Allen and Dennis (2010) express the difference when an organization and their managers place the patient at the center of decision making; it can develop a spirit that nurtures respect and understanding for everyone, impacting the staff treatment and fairness while ingraining knowledge of what governess and accountability really mean (Allen & Dennis, 2010).

A leader does not simply have a basic definition, but instead, can be described in various ways that have various roles. According to the author Bessie Marquis, in the book, “Leadership roles and Management Functions in Nursing”, in simpler terms, a leader is the inspiration and director of the action. A leader has various roles such as making decisions, acting as a communicator, evaluator, a mentor, a critical thinker, a teacher, a visionary, and many more of which can make up a leader. In order to have leadership qualities, a person would need to have great communication skills as well as critical thinking skills. It is important in the

For the place of employment in question, it is clear that nursing leadership is needed. To that end, there must be a program set out to ensure that nurses are getting the leadership skills they need. The purpose of this program will not only provide nurses with the skills they need, but will better prepare them to be leaders for nurses who are new and just coming into the facility. All nurses who are part of the facility and nurses that will be hired by the facility in the future can benefit from this program, because leadership has great advantages for nurses (D'Antonio, 2010). When nurses also focus on leadership, they are able to provide management functions like decision-making and governance. This gives nurses extra skills and teaches them to manage facilities and help make things better for the nurses as a whole (Judd, 2009). Often, when nurses need something from management that can make their jobs significantly better and improve their ability to care for their patients, they are unsure how to ask for what they need. Leadership skills can help them with that issue.

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.

This leader is the Nursing Supervisor of a Post Anesthesia Care Unit. She supervises 12 registered nurses and 4 logistic technicians. She earned a degree in Bachelor and Masters in Nursing. The leader’s role includes utilizing her expertise in the nursing process and delivery of high quality patient focused care. She oversees her team members and acts as a role model and resource person. She also helps the manager with budget planning, staffing, scheduling, monitors meal breaks, work attendance, tardiness and overtime. She aids the manager in creating departmental goals, initiating interdepartmental collaborations and participates in the evaluation of newly hired employees. She conducts her team’s annual individual evaluation. She acts as a catalyst for effective changes within Nursing in the unit. She collaborates with the organization by actively participating in quality improvement projects. She is the team leader for the committee on shared governance in the unit. Her clinical responsibilities includes providing direct and indirect patient care in accordance to the National Patient Goals and Policies. This includes following guidelines such as identifying patients correctly by using two patient identifiers. The date of birth and medical record number are confirmed prior to giving medications or sending blood specimens to the laboratory. Another example is monitoring staff to

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.