The Standards Of Professional Nursing Practice

Leadership is “the fusion of heart and mind, selfless action, encourage betterment of others, and to make a difference. It is the process of influencing

Professional nursing practice has been developing for several centuries. Nursing as a profession can be traced back to the early Christian era. Since then the perception of nursing practice has changed significantly. “Nursing is caring, commitment, and dedication to meeting the functional health needs of all people” (Craven &

Leadership has been defined in a number of ways, but the concept is still indefinable (Barr and Dowding 2016). Buchanan and Huczynski (2010, p. 596) define leadership as “a process of influencing the activities of an organised group in its efforts towards goal-setting and goal achievement”. In clinical practice, leadership translates to an ability to direct other to achieve evidence-based practice that supports enhanced patient outcomes (Kelly-Hiedenthal 2004). Like any other industries and organisations, an effective leadership skill is vital in the healthcare sector to improve the standards of the care and to achieve organisational goals (Bach and Ellis 2015). Sullivan and Decker (2004) stated that nurses often step up to the

Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

Behaviors associated with nursing professionalism go far beyond how nurses practice in a clinical setting. Alidina describes professionalism as “a multidimensional concept that provides nurses with opportunities to grow personally and professionally (2013, p. 128). This shows that professionalism has many different components. Alidina also uses “Miller’s Wheel of Professionalism.” This model uses a wheel to represent different aspects of professionalism. The different behaviors that are represented are “adherence to code for nurses, community service orientation, Professional Organization Participation, autonomy and self-regulation, Publication and Communication, development and use of theory and research, and continuing education and competence (2013, p. 129-130).

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

Leadership, one of the seven professional standards outlined by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), discusses how nurses are to be leaders in the workplace and with patients. This includes teaching health practices as well as promoting good health.

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.

Lucy Osburn was the Lady Superintendent to one of the first nursing teams sent to Australia to implement the Florence Nightingale standards of car. This essay focuses on Lucy and the attempts attempts to implement these standards of care s well as whether Lucy’s nursing practices compare to the competency standards of modern day nursing. The competency standards addressed are 3.5 Participates in quality improvement activities which discusses the improvements Lucy made to the quality of care and facilities in the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary. The implementation of Florence Nightingales nursing standards are outlined and linked to the competency standard 2.2 Integrates

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.

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.

A professional nurse is one who puts the needs and importance of patient care above all others. While striving for professionalism, nurses need compassion, patience, empathy, strong moral and ethics, accountability and the commitment to always act in the best interest of their patients. Nurses are held accountable for providing quality, safe, and effective nursing care (Hood, 2014). A professional nurse has the responsibility to continually improve and implement nursing standards while maintaining integrity by involving themselves in various tasks. Regular involvement in reading professional literature and sharing of evidence- based research with other healthcare personal helps increase knowledge and skills. This nursing ability can be used to encourage the actions of others in the healthcare team resulting in improved patient care. Nurses should encourage each other to become involved in hospital committees, provide an environment to encourage the discussions of ethical dilemmas, promote professional growth of nurses to voice their concerns and share viewpoints to address issues. “A professional nurse should expect to commit to a life of continuous learning growth and development”. (Hood, 2014, pp. 29). Nurses choose this profession to help others. As professional nurses we must maintain our ethics, values, characteristics, and commitment to drive our profession forward (CCN, 2015). Nurses must be autonomous, accountable, and be able to delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel. Being autonomous as a nurse means having control over their practice (Hood, 2014). It allows a nurse to take risks while being held accountable for ones’ actions (Hood, 2014).

Leadership is about helping people, empowering people, setting clear goals and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organisation.

Professional nursing practice is a system that usually supports the registered nurses to get control over the process involved in delivering with the nursing care as well as the environment that the care is delivered to patients. However, for this system to be successful and effective, it involves the application of the paradigm of research, theory as well as practice and policy where each plays a specific role. The paradigm of the theory is involved in the professional nursing practice since it utilizes and employs a logical structure of nursing ideas, assumptions and hypotheses that are applied to various situations. These structures assist in serving as a base for various aspects of professional nursing practice such as professional development,

As the statutory authority, the Nursing Council of New Zealand oversees all nursing scope of practices. The registered nurse (RN) scope of practice articulates education preparation and clinical experience requirements that nurses need to undertake to meet the standards of daily practice. The RNs scope of practice, set by