Clinical Leadership : Nursing From My Practice

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.

Without the trust and respect of peers and patients, my job as a new nurse will be far more difficult than it has to be. Establishing trust by being open and the truest version of one’s self is paramount in these relationships, and often this level of trust defines the relationship and sets the tone for all interactions. When I can open myself up to my patients and my peers they can ultimately be willing to do the same.

American Association of College of Nursing (2012).White Paper on The Role of the Clinical Nurse Leader Retrived from: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/white-papers/cnl

In this essay I will discuss the leadership style of 3 nursing leaders, which I chose from Nursing Leadership DVD (Orazietti & Singh, 2014). I will then describe impact the leaders ' style has on improving nursing care, organizational processes, and inter-professional collaboration. In addition, I will provide some examples of a change process or difficult situation which leaders encountered. Finally, I will explain how I have dealt with difficult situation involving my colleague and one of physician in the hospital department where I worked. Throughout this essay I will analyze what leaders should have done differently. 3 Leaders which I have chosen were Debra Bournes from group 1 because of her political and administrative success, Mina Singh from group 2 because she is renowned for her educational style at York University, and Esther Green from group 3 because she is the sound and knowledgeable practitioner.

For decades, something was missing in patient care. Crucial quality and safety-improvement professionals involved in healthcare delivery were formerly not located in the places where care was actually provided. This often resulted in a disconnect that fragmented healthcare quality, safety, and improvement. According to Reid and Dennison, in their article The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)®: Point-of-Care Safety Clinician, “The role of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)® restores this vital connection. The CNL is a clinician who brings the locus of control for safe and quality care from the administrative areas straight to the unit’s providers who deliver the services. “

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

It seems ironic that this aspect of nursing is overlooked especially when nurses have so much responsibility to know their skill alongside of working with patience and their families not to mention being a team player with other co-workers. Curtis said in her article, “…clinical leadership is often relegated to a space late in the delivery of nursing education…” (2011, p. 344). However, Curtis also alludes to the problem of leadership training by saying that most often when nursing programs incorporate leadership training into their programs, the training ends up coming from a business approach that is then adapted to clinical leadership. She also indicate that there needs to be more emphasis on leadership training that directly correlates with clinical leadership (2011, p. 346). In addition, Barkhordari-Sharifabad indicates that not equipping nurses with leadership skills results in little to no confidence, commitment and motivation as side effects to the lack of leadership (2017, p. 2). Both of these articles realize the importance of leadership playing an important role in creating an atmosphere that is efficient pleasant, and

Clinical Nurse Leaders: Fulfilling the Promise of the Role. MEDSURG Nursing, 26(1),

It can be difficult to encounter Clinical Nurse Leaders in many settings. But, from what I have experienced in the past and from what I could find information on CNLs from the American Association of College of Nursing (AACN), they do provide patient care just not at the APRN level. Just as they cannot sit for an exam for APRN though they may have 1000 hrs. of clinical experience and a master’s degree, their requirements for examination are specific. Only individuals who graduate from a CNL or similar master’s degree program in nursing that has meet the criteria delineated in the CNL Curriculum Framework and prepares nurses with the competencies identified in AACN’s white paper on The Education and Role of the Clinical Nurse Leader

Working as a nurse I am often thrusted into charge positions or work situations with little or no orientation first. Though I have learned to value my ability to adapt readily to accomplish what needs to be done, have developed worthy professional skills, and received good feedback in these situations. As my experience matures I have realized the value to transition with an accomplished set of skills attained from thorough orientation necessary for the job or project. Further formal education in nursing led to take a nursing leadership course in which leadership is described as contrary to the charge forth leadership many often envision. Leaders should guide from the side rather than as the sage on the stage. Supporting the development of each

Pagana (2013) describes elevator speeches as brief speeches that sell an idea, promote business or advertise an individual. It’s a pitch that showcases the value of a service, product or individual.

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.

Having strong leadership sets the stage for nurse development; starts in the clinical learning environment during your nursing program, with your preceptor. During one of my medical-surgical rotations in nursing school, my preceptor gave me three patients. Meanwhile, my classmates had only two patients. All three of my patients had numerous IV medications. My preceptor new that, IV administration was my nemesis. I had to decide if I was going to sink or swim. I decided that I was going to go for the gold. My preceptor gave me the autonomy to make decisions, but, if she felt that I was making an unsafe decision. She would lead me in the correct direction, by asking me questions. Making me think critically about the situation. Helped me see the

Nurse leaders and managers have an important role to play in facilitating the nursing team to implement and deliver high-quality patient centered care. (McSherry and Douglas, 2011; Douglas, 2011; Coulon et al., 1996). Effective leadership and management requires emotional intelligence, they should be able to and establish open communication and mutual understanding towards their staff. (Ezzatabadi, Bahrami, Hadizabeh, Arab, Nasiri, Amiresmaili & Tehrani, 2012). It is the role of the Nurse in charge of a ward, a shift or any area in the clinical setting is to be able to engage their staff and determine their strength, weaknesses, empower and support. In the case study there was a poor communication line established between the HIC/NIC and the

It also created the feeling that she is out of touch with current issues and dynamics of bedside care. The lack of visible leadership caused frustration for the staff and lead to dissatisfaction and ethical erosion in the form of decreased loyalty. I am pleased to say that based on the results of our last several employee satisfaction surveys, and encouragement from her directors, this senior leader has recognized her disconnect with middle management and staff and has started to host meetings on the inpatient units where she will bring a meal and the staff can ask her questions. This was a courageous move for her and I was not certain how it would be received, however, I am pleased to say, the results have been positive. The staff is making an effort to attending their scheduled meeting and attendance has been good. Staff questions have been insightful and respectful. It has given staff the opportunity to see and hear from their senior leader, her vision and to understand her passion for patient care and the concern she has for staff, directly from her and for her to hear concerns and frustrations directly from staff. This simple effort to interact with staff on a more personal basis has significantly changed her reputation as a leader. She is dynamic and fully committed to her nursing staff and now the staff know it as well as her directors.