Nurse Leader
Leadership does not always come with a title or prestige. Every nurse has within themselves qualities that make them a great leader. Leadership by definition, “is a combination of intrinsic personality traits, learned leadership skills, and characteristics of the situation (Cherry& Jacob (2013 p. 335). A leader is one who has the capacity and skills to direct or encourage others in efforts to achieve an outcome. I recently completed a self-assessment on my perceived leadership abilities. The survey was called the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory (Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership, 2008). It consists of four content areas of which I will address and identify my strengths and weaknesses.
I am almost 48 years old and have
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Career planning I rated myself between competent and expert in the three areas of career planning. I understand my role in my current job and I have a full understanding of where I want to be in the future. My career path has me staying at my present employer. I love working for my state’s Quality Improvement Organization. I am surrounded by people who are striving to better health care for all residents in Wisconsin and I am thrilled to be part of this team!
Personal Journey Disciplines I have the opportunity to participate in shared leadership as I lead several statewide initiatives in regards to stroke care. I have had the sometimes uncomfortable opportunity many times to reflect on choices I have made, this is also known as “action learning”. I believe it is a good practice to ponder decisions made to determine if possibly a different path or choice could have been made. This makes one a good leader to thoughtfully contemplate behaviors.
Reflective Practice Reference Behaviors/Tenets Personal reflection is individualized and as such there are several methods that can be utilized. The tenant I need to personally work on is the appreciation of ambiguity. I do appreciate everyone’s uniqueness and value every person as a holistic individual. However, I am definitely not perfect at
identify the educational preparation and role(s) of the clinical nurse leader (CNL) designation. Give an example of how the CNL influences direct patient care whether in a hospital or out in the community.
3). In this relationship, each must work through phases including conflict resolution and negotiation as part of the process. Transformational theory further explains leadership must include exhibiting a degree of emotional intelligence. This occurs when perceiving how others feel, understanding how the feelings lead to thinking, understanding the emotions, and managing emotions internally. In respects to this theory, emotional intelligence enhances this bi-directional relationship between the leader and the followers (Spears, 2002).
Leadership is all about having the right amount of heart and determination to help make a difference in someone’s life. It takes certain qualities to be considered a good leader. A leader should want to help inspire others to make a change and to be the best that they can be. A true leader does not need to feel powerful, instead they empower those around them. Throughout my life I have come across various leaders who have made an impact on my life. It takes a very special person to inspire and touch people’s lives. Leadership is so much deeper than having power and bossing people around.
No matter how great a nurse leader may be, every nurse leader has their strengths and weaknesses. My strengths include being compassionate, humble, and resilient. Whereas my biggest weakness as a leader is not having the appropriate skills to influence others to see things my way.
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.
Leadership is encountered in every occupation and in everyday life. In nursing, leadership is not only prevalent; it is crucial to patient care and employee satisfaction. The nurse leader that was interviewed was a nurse at the Newport Hospital in Newport, Washington. This is a small hospital in a rural community. She is a charge nurse in the acute care unit, as well as in charge of leading infection control in the hospital. With these roles comes a lot of responsibility, and tasks that must be completed in a timely manner to create a workflow for the rest of the staff. There is a lot of juggling and balancing everything that is included in all of those positions.
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
Good leadership is demonstrated through educating future nurses, leading within the workplace, and being part of a nursing groups and organizations. Nurses should be working together to improve the care for all patients.
Not all nurses go into the profession with leadership ideas. The nursing profession must produce leaders throughout the health care system. Leaders must function as workers, and administrators with leadership qualities, while still meeting their budgets and running effective units with high functioning and happy staff members. They need to trouble shoot necessary and work with the medical faculty while pleasing their staff and the administers.
Leadership may mean different things to different people, the consensus opinion of experts in this field is that leadership is using power to direct and influence activities of people to achieve set goals or targets. Nursing leadership is all about every nurse providing, facilitating and promoting the best healthcare services to client and to the public. Leadership is a shared responsibility. (CNO 2012). The nursing profession need leaders that can build the capacity of nurses through mentoring, coaching, supporting, developing the expertise and management skills of nurses to make a difference to the quality of patient care at all levels of the profession ( McIntyre & McDonald, 2014 ). At the core of every leadership either political or managerial is power and how the leader uses it. While it is practically impossible to lead without power, how the nurse leader uses this power not only determine the leadership style but also the results or outcomes of what is achieved through the process.
The Professional Performance Standard of leadership by the American Nurses Association 's Standards of Professional Nursing Practice (2010) states, “the nurse professional demonstrates leadership in the professional practice setting and the profession" (ANA, 2010). The definition of leadership in relation to the nursing profession is defined as; “Leadership refers to the ability to guide, motivate, and inspire, and to instill vision and purpose” (Ellis & Hartley, 2012). The application of leadership in the profession of nursing involves the ability for the nurse leader to “influence the beliefs, opinions, or behaviors of others and to persuade others to follow your direction” (Ellis & Hartley, 2012).
Organizational structures play a vital role in the creation of the favorable environment for client centered care. It determines how information systems adopted are used. The organizational structure highlights the nature of communication within a company's decision-making techniques and habits of the health agency. Functional and service line structures are extremely prominent in health settings as they determine how activities are run within this industry.
In nursing, we grow every day; learning to be a strong professional takes many skills. Some people are born with, and some acquired through practice and research. It is important in being a good democratic leader to establish rules effectively with peers and subordinates. Leadership involves action, creativity, motivation, and visioning. It is viewing the possibilities and motivating others to make things happen (Kearney-Nunnery, 2016). Evidence based practice is a must to have a successful and a safe practice in your work environment, whether it is a hospital or nursing home. Leadership and evidence based practice are two parts of the coin that are very important in being a nurse leader. Leadership is a critical part of the organization to apply evidence based practice. This paper identifies and defines these important nursing traits and discusses the traits that are significant to being proficient in these skills.
There is an increased need for registered nurses in the industry and there is a growing shortage of nurses in the workplace today. Many of the older workers, more commonly known as Traditionalist and/or Baby Boomers, are starting to retire. This leaves a gap to be filled by the younger generations since a lot of these nurses who are retiring will likely need nursing care at some point.
A nursing director in a hospital organization is the chief of all nurses employed in the healthcare institution. He or she is appointed by the administrative body or a group of stock holders of the agency in accordance to the criteria stated by the policies of the organization as well as in congruence to the Nursing Law being applied in the state or location. By education and management experience, a registered nurse is given an administrative position wherein he or she can facilitate the implementation of the organization’s mission and vision statement to its personnel.