Nursing Leadership And Advocacy : Nursing

After I graduated with my bachelors’ degree in Nursing, I knew that was not the end of my education. I knew I wanted more knowledge because I wanted to be a master of my profession to be able to truly help my patients.

Nursing is defined as the promotion, protection and the prevention of illness and Injury, the treatment of a patient’s disease or diseases, the patient’s response to a disease, as well as one big thing that nurses are known for, and that is being a patient’s advocate nursing has been one of the fastest growing fields since the 1990’s (Mueller et al.,2012). Advocacy is defined as an action in which a person speaks out, argues a cause, supports and defends on the behalf of others. I believe that the role of being a patient advocate is one of the most important things a nurse can do because there are many patients that cannot speak on their behalf, I believe that it is up to the nurses to be those patients as well as all patient’s voices (Mueller et al., 2012).

On August 2015, I started the RN-BSN program with the Transition to Professional Nursing as my first course. I took one class at the time because I was working as a full time nurse at the same time. I did not take a break and started a new class each start date because I wanted to complete this program as soon as possible. The journey has been a long, hard road and the stress was constant and many times I felt that I could not complete it; it has been a difficult but very satisfying journey.

Completing my bachelor’s degree in Nursing has been a personal goal of mine since I graduated with my associate’s degree in nursing. Having my BSN degree is essential for my career and personal development. Initially after graduating with my ASN, I enrolled in a BSN program and started my first class, when life happened. I was a single mother raising my 5 year old daughter, working the night shifts at Miami Children’s Hospital. I was dating my now husband and became pregnant with my second child. I ended up having to quit my job as a pediatric nurse which was my goal, to be a pediatric nurse, get my BSN and climb the ladder there. After the birth of my daughter my personal goals changed, and my academic and career goals were put on hold.

Nursing guidance is a complex but essential part of the nursing workforce. Guidance can come in the form of management and in the form of leadership. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but do not always mean the same thing. The nurse manager is often someone who has authority from the facility to be in management. The nursing leader may not have authority over other nurses, but may be a strong guide in the workplace for other nurses and nursing staff. Nursing as a profession is ever-changing and increasingly challenging. Nurse managers are tasked with an enormous variety of functions in their respective workplaces, budgeting, scheduling, hiring, disciplinary actions, implementing facility policies and procedures, and the

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.

An advocate must have influence or must be in a position to influence decision or action through his or her message. The nurse must develop influencing skills on competence, credibility, and trustworthiness. For example, a veteran’s advocate must have the best interest of the veteran some as to build trust and credibility in order to facilitate change (Tomajan, 2012)

Stogdill (1950) defines leadership as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts

Everyday nurses encounter situations in the workplace and frequently find themselves in the role for advocate for both patients and staff. Advocacy is a process used to facilitate growth in others and provide others with the information that empowers them to make their own decisions. While advocating nurses main focus remains on supporting decision making rather than making decision for others (Grand Canyon University, 2011).

“While you may not realize it, you are helping to exemplify many of the reasons that we are going back to school for our BSN’s. Because higher learning really does improve our nursing practice and cultivate the learning culture of nurses in our institutions.

Nurses play many essential roles in the care of their patients, one is being an advocate. Nurse advocates are the liaison between patients and doctors.

Since July of 2015, I have been in school working towards obtaining my baccalaureate of science in nursing (BSN) degree. In October of 2016 I will have completed the BSN degree program at Grand Canyon University (GCU). Although I obtained my associates degree in nursing (ADN) in 2005, which has been well over five years ago, I will be one of the nurses who will help achieve the IOM’s recommendation of having eighty percent of the nursing workforce have their BSN.

According to Agency for Healthcare Research and quality ([AHRQ], 2014), the nurse manager skills inventory tool is used to determine a nurse personal leader skill and growth, and it is completed by a nurse and a nurse manager. First, the nurse completes the initial assessment. Second, the nurse manager does a follow-up assessment. Then when they are done, both of them go over the result and analyze any area that there is a conflict or disagreement in between their result. The assessment consists of four main areas, which the author will discuss in this paper. The first area is the author’s personal and professional accountability as a nurse; the second area is her career planning;

Starting the Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelorette of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Jacksonville University in June 2015 was a simple transition for me. I had graduated an Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) program in December 2014 and became a licensed RN in January 2015. I had just gotten hired for my first nursing position the month prior to the start of class and had not yet started working. I was very much still in student mode. While this makes it a bit easier to learn and process information in a classroom setting, I had no real world experience to help guide me. Through the knowledge I have gained as a student at Jacksonville University I have become a competent and well-rounded nurse. I am able to quickly problem solve and utilize critical thinking to identify and rectify issues. I have even put together, and will be presenting, and presentation about nursing practice for staff members at the facility where I work.

I am striving to achieve professionalism and growth in roles and values while going through the bachelor’s degree in nursing program. I plan on taking each class one at a time, try to do my best, and gain the knowledge needed to grow in the nursing profession. By October 2010, I should obtain my bachelor’s degree in nursing, which will provide new opportunities, such as management, and educator positions. A bachelor’s degree in nursing will provide the opportunity to further my education to a master’s degree level.