...In nursing, leadership is a irreplaceable part of how the entire operation of a hospital works. When speaking of leadership, our minds often go directly to the “higher up” authority such as the CEO and Supervisor of Nursing. On the other hand, hospitals often also have informal leadership. “Informal leadership is often an innate characteristic found in many nurses and integral to the role of ‘advocate.’ Autonomy and empowerment in the work environment are key attributes supporting advocacy. Advocacy hones communication skills in order to follow through with, or change, interventions to create more positive outcomes for patients” (Krueger, 2013). With this, higher up management in the hospital appoints nurses who are exceptionally well in their area and empowers them to guide the other staff members to do just as well. Being that they are on a equal playing field, having informal leadership provides a non-threatening drive to improve their skills and nursing abilities. In the hospital I currently work in, we have a few people in this position who are not necessarily given any authority to penalize employees, but have an air about them that is powerful and they appear to be the kind of person you listen to and would not want to disappoint. They are all exceptionally motivating people who drive me to be better at my job and take everything I do very seriously when I am caring for patients. It is smart to have them on the unit with the nursing staff because they have the opportunity...
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...Nursing Leader Interview The nurse manager of the cardiac rehabilitation unit has been a formal nurse leader for the past five years. The conversation began with a discussion about her personal leadership style and how it evolved from a knee jerk style to her current democratic style. Being a nurse leader requires adaptation and flexibility. Administration, Medicare, and certifying organizations require changes to be made frequently to improve patient care. These changes are often tied to service reimbursement, so they must be initiated swiftly. Many difficulties surround the role of leader in today’s health care. Being unprepared for a management role, avoiding micromanagement, and maintaining clinical competency were the biggest challenges identified during the transition and continuing role as nurse leader. Open communication was the key to overcoming the personal and professional challenges of being a leader. Formal and informal power influences the success of the organization and the role of a nurse manager. The nurse manager identified administration as a formal leader. Patients and her staff were recognized as informal leaders. Maintaining an open relationship with both formal and informal leaders is essential to achieving the organizations mission. Leadership Style As a successful nurse leader the nurse manager of the cardiac rehabilitation unit describes her style of leadership as democratic. According to Marriner Tomey (2009) “Democratic leaders maintain...
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...LEADERSHIP STYLES IN NURSING Leadership Styles in Nursing Zehra Madhany Georgia State University Leadership Styles in Nursing Leadership Defined Leadership, as a concept, has long been studied. Various attempts have been made to define the term using traits, behaviors, personalities, and situations. Although a single definition has not been reached, various common themes have emerged (Nursing Leadership in a Changing World, 2005). These themes include: courage, change, vision and goal-setting, enabling and inspiring, enlisting others to get things done, relationships, honesty and integrity, and fostering leadership in others (Porter-O’Grady, 2003). There are other common features within leadership. “Leadership is a process, involves influence, usually occurs in a group setting, involves the attainment of a goal, and leadership exists at all levels” (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002). Leadership can further be designated as formal or informal. A formal leader is one that is associated with a particular title or position while informal leaders guide through their ability to influence others. They make a positive contribution or inspire others despite the strains of the healthcare system (Gillis, 2003). Kouzes and Posner have found that for people to follow someone willingly, they must believe the leader is honest, competent, forward-looking, and inspiring (2002). The nursing profession faces many challenges in developing future nurse leaders. All nurses, regardless...
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...Nurse Leader Interview Ariel Echevarria NUR/587 November 23, 2015 Professor Carla Hronek Leadership Interview Leadership can take on many forms and shapes. Each leadership style is unique and has a great impact on its team. Leadership is not about position, but more so about how a leader influences others to create a difference or change. The style of leadership that a leader portrays is often not chosen; it is more of a developed set of traits that come from the beliefs and values displayed on a daily basis. While it can be argued that leaders are born not created, leadership styles can be evolved based on experience and knowledge of how to motivate others. This paper will discuss points from an interview with a nursing leader. Included in the discussion will be the perspectives by the nurse leader in regards to leadership style, leadership role, challenges faced, and the effects of formal and informal power on an organization. Nurse Leader and Leadership Style Christine Roller RN (C.R.) has been a leader within her organization for the last ten years. Currently, she is the Nurse Manager of a busy observation unit and a 37-bed med-surg unit. She is a dedicated leader whose core values are strong and are the foundation of her confident leadership ability. As a leader, she is respected by her peers for displaying integrity, approachability, trust, and partnership; as evidenced by her annual peer reviews. C.R. describes her leadership style as charismatic. A charismatic...
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...Health Care Leader Mandy Littlefield HCS/492 September 3, 2012 Regina Phelps, MN, PhD, RN, NEA, BC Interview of Health Care Leader Leaders and managers can often be interchangeable. Although they have many similarities, there are some differences between them. Parker and Hyrkas (2011), stated “nursing management and leadership are primary stakeholders who develop and collaborate the transformation of health care, deliver world class value, and optimize the health of patients and the community” p. 567). Leaders are individuals who “use interpersonal skills to influence others” to work toward a common and specific goal (Sullivan & Decker, 2009, p. 45). Managers differ from leaders as they are employed by an organization to be “responsible and accountable for efficiently accomplishing the goals of the organization” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009, p. 45). Managers use their interpersonal skills to plan, organize, supervise, staff, evaluate, negotiate, and represent the organization and work toward meeting goals set by the organization. The role and responsibility of management is to ensure employees are properly executing their duties in a way that promotes productivity and satisfaction among the clients they serve. Management also has the responsibility to ensure the employees are working efficiently and skillfully to uphold the organization’s mission statement and vision. Leadership – Formal and Informal Leaders Leadership can be formal and informal. Formal leadership...
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...Nurse Leader Interview Paper Uchenna Enewally University of Phoenix NUR 587 February 25, 2013 Breta Lieke, RN, MSN, NE-BC Nurse Leader Interview Getting a chance to interview a true nurse leader is not easy as many attempts to get an appointment fail. Nurse leaders have very busy schedules because of their organizational roles and finding time to grant a quality interview about their leadership style is slightly out-of-the-box for their daily routines. Interviewing a nurse leader is even harder when the interviewer is working from a remote area in Africa and has to do the interview by phone. The interview must take place so when finally MK, the Patient Advocate/Patient care services of St. Francis Medical Center consented and gave the interview, it became possible to report the personal in-sight of a good nurse leader. This interview report is a summary of MK’s perspectives on her leadership style, changes made because of evolving leadership role, challenges faced as a leader in today’s health care system and the effects of formal and informal power in the organization. Summary below are her answers to the questions asked by the nursing graduate student presenting this report. Leadership Style MK started at the organization in 2004 as the patient advocate manager to improve the customer satisfaction rating and advance the image of the hospital in the Los...
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...Organizational Structure and Culture Student’s Name: Institution: Date: My current service area is the pediatric nursing department. The service area is part of a collection of nursing service areas that operate under the nursing practice department of the teaching hospital. The teaching hospital works under a well-managed structure depicted by the hospital’s organizational chart. The chart is a vertical organizational chart that begins with the highest levels of management and highlights the hierarchy of the levels in a descending order (Ezzat, n.d). The lowest levels of management are shown at the bottom of the chart. The nursing practice department is the largest due to the numerous service areas the department oversees. The head of the service areas are associate directors who report to the chief nursing officer. The chief nursing officer is responsible for the management of the nursing practice department. The organizational chart plays numerous roles within the service charter of the teaching hospital. One of these roles is the creation of a supportive environment that enables the teaching hospital to accomplish a client-centered model of care. The organizational chart meets various demands that support a client-centered care model. These demands collectively make up the clinical dimensions of the client-centered care model (Green et al. 2012). The first demand is the provision of a supportive and actively involved management system. Provision...
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...power and gender, it is the lack of communication skills that the nurse manager of the progressive unit that is taken into consideration by the author, recognizes as the one most affecting the collaboration nurses-physicians. How can the nursing and medical staff collaborate more effectively to improve patient outcomes and at the same time increase nursing job satisfaction? The author highlights the steps required to initiate a change toward a collaborative workplace through the use of an attentive communication style. Once background research is done, the decision about the need of the change has been reached, informal leaders support gained, and plan of action drawn, the model developed by Kurt Lewin in implementing the changes are adopted. In developing the change process through the unfreezing, moving and refreezing stages, the author analyzes the rationale for the change, the benefits that the organizations, staff members, and patients will gain from the change, the role of the change agents, the proposed timelines, and the measures of success of the change through the plan for evaluation. Let’s Work Together: Collaboration is the key The Progressive ICU unit in consideration is part of a small hospital and the majority of the nursing staff are new nurses that have about a year or less of experience. Nurse-physician relationships are one of the most important drivers of the work environment (Smith, 2004), and the nurse manager is aware that the inexperience and professional...
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...communication, work flow, and formal power that direct organization activities” (2003, p. 446). The purposes of this memorandum are to identify and describe the formal organizational structure of the Smith & Falmouth (S & F) company. The S & F is a tele-shopping and mail order network that has operation in the United States and Canada. The memorandum also compares S & F’s structure with other organizational structures, analyze the effectiveness of the S & F organization’s informal culture with the formal structure. The memorandum also assesses the informal culture of the S & F’s company, determines its impacts on the formal structure, and discusses the role of power and politics within the organizational culture. In addition, the memorandum will demonstrate the power and politics within the S & F culture and recommend the most effective leadership style to Irene Seagrave, chief executive officer of the S & F. In terms of labor and coordination, the formal structure of S & F was coordinated through informal communication under a formal hierarchy that included sharing information on the mutual task between the three managers and the chief executive operation. According to McShane and Von Glinow (2004), the Hierarchy assigns legitimate power to individuals for directing the work flow. In terms of elements of organizational structure, S & F was a flat structure with a wide span of control. Even though the structure was centralized, S & F had been operated as a decentralized company...
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...Andrew Carnegie once said, “No man will make a great leader who wanted to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” I have assumed roles as a leader through my involvement with the Student Nurses Association, Red Cross Volunteering, Community Service, the mentor program, and Student Affairs Committee; but I have learned that in order to be a good leader it is important to learn how to follow as well. I am currently Co-President of the Student Nurses Association for Ventura College. I organize monthly speakers for the association with the help of my co-president. I actively recruit new nursing students to become involved in the association to learn about the many different aspects and prospects within the nursing field. I was involved in the curriculum committee for two semesters. This committee provides an open forum for communication between the faculty and students. The goal of this is to make improvements to the nursing program, and improve student – teacher relationships. This helped me to further develop my professional communication skills, which has improved my confidence at all community volunteer settings....
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...Capital investments the system has acquired include primary care physician providers as well as three smaller hospitals to provide acute care to their immediate communities. The main campus houses a tertiary care hospital, a rehab hospital, a children’s hospital, a psychiatric hospital, and a long-term acute care hospital. Values of the hospital system include visibility in the community as a leader in health care providing innovative services. The hospital system also has an ambulance service, home health service, and a medical equipment provider. The main campus includes a 500-bed acute care hospital with 22 adult nursing units, a high risk labor and delivery unit, and an outpatient surgery unit. The children’s hospital has 250 beds with a neonatal intensive unit, and a pediatric intensive care unit. The long-term acute care hospital has an intensive care unit and a medical-surgical unit. Each ancillary hospital has medical-surgical units and an intensive care unit. The ambulance services provides transports for patients transferred to other hospitals, discharged to skilled nursing facilities, and discharged home for patients who cannot be...
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...ON LEADERSHIP STYLE OF A LEADER 10-11 THAT IS APPARENT IN THE EFFECTIVE PROVISION OF HEALTHCARE DISCUSSION ON LEADERSHIP STYLE OF A LEADER 11-12 THAT FACILITATES POSITIVE STAFF DEVELOPMENT CONCLUSION 12-13 INTRODUCTION in today ever rapid changing and challenging healthcare environment, nurses are required to develop their leadership skills where effective leadership styles they choose to deliver high quality care with improved patient safety outcome (Treguno et al, 2009); healthy work environments (Shirey, 2009): job satisfaction (Heller et al, 2004; Sellgren et al, 2007); lower turnover rates (Gelinas and Bohen, 2000); and positive outcome for organization and patients (Wong and Cummings, 2007) and healthcare providers (Cummings et al, 2005). It must be emphasized that leadership should not be viewed as an optional role or function for nurses. Nurse leaders nowadays confronting challenges like new roles, new technology, financial constraints, greater participation, cultural diversity and education We must be aware and realized that leadership is a must in all healthcare facility where effecting change and achieving high standards of patient care are stipulated in job titles, such as Director of Nursing, Nurse Consultant, or Modern Matron (Sulivan and Garland, 2010). One of the most challenging nurses faced today in nursing profession is...
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...Workplace issues impacts productivity, increases turnover, decrease job satisfaction, and increase sick time. Nursing leaders play an important role in communicating that bullying behavior will be replaced with respect. The Nurse Practice Act (NPA) sets forth the requirements for licensure and defines the scope of nursing practice. Licensure benefits both the public and the individual nurse by assuring the safe practice of nursing. BONs were established to protect the public’s health by overseeing and assuring the safe practice of nursing. BONs in U.S. states and territories were created to protect the public from the unsafe, incompetent or unethical practice of nursing. Nursing associations protects the Nurse Practice Acts in each state. They are for their member on both the federal and state level. Their goals are to establish and maintain a code of ethics; to elevate the standards of nursing education; to promote the usefulness and honor, the financial and other interests of nursing. I learned that there are many issues in nursing that can impact quality, safe and effective delivery of health care...
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...Leadership Journal Keith Michaels University of Texas Summary The authors of this article aim to explain what relationship training and education have on the nurse leader or the aspiring nurse leader. The growing demand for qualified nurse leaders is explained along with the profound effect that leadership has not only on the direct care staff but also on the patients and their loved ones. A main theme throughout the article is that education and training is effective but in what way should nurse leaders receive the supplementation; should education come through graduate programs or are on the job training via formal or informal methods adequate. Additionally, no matter the method of delivering the education, is the emphasis taught put on management skills or leadership methods? It’s also noted that nurses placed into leadership roles without related experience or adequate training are at increased risk for job dissatisfaction and turnover. Nursing leadership can be directly linked to practice and the profession would be well served by the more formal integration of leadership training and development throughout the educational process from the very onset (Curtis, Sheeran, & De Vries, 2011). Personally, this article relates to me in that I have made a choice to “take risks” and further my education in a way that emphasizes leadership. I feel that I received some leadership training through my undergraduate education, more so on the job as a staff nurse and through...
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...Leadership and Management Introduction In this essay, leadership will be defined and analysed. A detailed leader profile from my workplace will be developed and described using transformational theory, as this is the most adequate theory to describe the performance, effectiveness and styles used by the leader to achieve the objectives and goals in my workplace. Moreover, the nature of the leader’s role and achievement utilising the theory will be analysed. In addition, transformational theory will be defined and analysed based on different explanations. Leadership Leadership is one of the most essential criteria of the nurse manager. It is the process of interaction between the leader and the other staff, influencing them toward workplace goals achievement (Yukl, 1998). Leadership is the ability to provide direction toward preferred future aspirations and aligns the followers toward goals achievement (Kelly-Heidenthal, 2004). Moreover, leadership is viewed as a dynamic interactive process that involves various dimensions, including planning, organising, directing and controlling. The activities of an organised group can be influenced by a process in which the efforts to achieve the goals and tasks are managed by leadership (Roussel, Russell & Swansburg, 2006). Leadership is also defined as inducing individuals or a group to take an action in accordance with the purpose of the leader. Moreover, Roussel, Russell and Swansburg (2006) correctly pointed out that leadership can be explained...
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