Nurse Leaders: A Case Study

Observing and analyzing my leader opened my eyes to the amount of responsibility and knowledge one needs to be a great leader. These responsibilities that were witnessed during the shadowing project included aspects of role modeling, mentoring and educating fellow staff and colleagues alike. My leader possessed a well-rounded amount of experience, skills and knowledge about nursing and her management role. All of these aspects we observed and I feel my leader is not only strong nurse, manger and mentor; all these aspects contribute to making her a fine and valuable assets to our organization.

The role of a nurse leader is invaluable to the performance and ultimate success of an entire nursing team whose goal is to provide excellent patient care. There are a few key characteristics that define a nursing leader. The first characteristic is one who communicates effectively and is accountable on all levels, from the patient and their family to the interdisciplinary members and senior staff. Effective communication and accountability are characteristics of an individual who

Definition of a Nurse Leader A nurse leader is one who leads by example to enable other nurses to provide evidence-based, patient-centered care. This definition of a nurse leader correlates to Cook’s (2001) statement that a nurse leader is one who is “continually improves care through influencing others” (p. 39). Additionally, this definition echoes Harper’s (1995) definition of a nurse leader as one who, “uses interpersonal skills to enable nurses . . . to deliver quality patient care” (p. 81). Interview with a Nurse Leader Interviewee Qualification I interviewed Marcia Tilford, a registered nurse who has served in a variety of leadership capacities, including being the charge nurse for the Rutherford County Health Department.

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.

Leadership is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “the power or ability to lead other people” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). A leader may also be thought of as a guide or a director. Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams quoted that "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader" (GovLeaders.org, 2017). But what makes a nursing leader? In the book “Leadership & Nursing Care Management”, Huber defines a nursing leader “…as the ability to inspire confidence and support among followers, especially in organizations in which competence and commitment produce performance” (Huber, 2014, p. 4).

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.

Leading a health care organization comes with immense responsibility and is not an easy task. Transformational leadership has proven to be an effective leadership style in the nursing profession, demonstrating a clear mission, a commitment to excellence, and the ability to motivate and lead others to higher levels of achievement (Schwartz, Spencer, Wilson, & Wood, 2001). Characteristics and qualities of an effective leader include

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.

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.

Nurse leaders inspire others to work together in quest of a shared goal, for instance, improved patient care. The nurse leader is a critical thinker, sets goals, uses effective communication, and recognizes the emotional needs of others (Roskoski, 2012). Nurse leaders carry out any changes that are to be made that have been implemented by management.

With all the current changes currently in the health care field; health care professionals must have different attributes as well as different skills and knowledge in health care management to be a great leader not only empathetically towards the patients, staff but also within the organization, Health care management is a growing field, especially as more healthcare facilities adopt technology. Much of the day will require leader to improve efficiency and process in the healthcare setting, keep up to date on laws and compliance, manage staff schedules, be the face of the company at major meetings, and organize and manage the health records. Having great leadership skills in nursing means that, we as nurses have developed your own personal leadership skills and bringing them into the workplace. The top five skills needed in getting leadership role is of course the education

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.

Through a study of literary sources and reflection of past experiences and demonstrated examples of desired leadership characteristics and skills in real-world settings, a nurse leader will build a more profound and comprehensive understanding of leadership in nursing. This

I was privileged to have the opportunity to meet and talk with Patricia Kelly, Manager of Informatics Adoption in the Information Technology Department of Methodist Healthcare. She is truly proficient and self-motivated as these traits were observed during our discussion. Ms. Kelly provided intriguing information and identified her leadership style with support from her past and present work experience. During the interview, Ms. Kelly demonstrated and supported the importance of effective leadership and how it makes a difference in the workplace.

According to Dr. Lucy Cuddihy (Traits of Nursing Leadership 2015) nursing leadership includes understanding your role as a nurse for the sake of patients. While working in the hospitals, nurses are always on display and usually become role models through the way they present themselves, how they react on situations and how they communicate to perform effectively in a multidisciplinary team. Hence, the simple tasks that nurses perform in hospitals express their leadership traits which can influence patients and colleagues directly or indirectly.