Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management: Continuous Quality Improvement and Patient Satisfaction
In the healthcare system, nurses can serve in diverse leadership positions. They may become the unit managers, chief nursing officers, administrators or even members of the hospital board. The growing complexity of the nursing environment calls for effective approaches in leadership and management. One identified issue in nursing practice which requires attention is the continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction. It is worth nothing that the primary goal of every healthcare organization is to provide the best quality service and to maintain patients satisfied. This paper views into how nursing managers and nursing leaders
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I will then identify the best approach that fits to my personal and professional philosophy of nursing. Every organization requires leadership and management. The terms leadership and management are oftentimes used interchangeably leading to confusion. This is also true for the roles of leaders and managers which conflicts with each other in certain situations. It is just wise to distinguish them first and know their similarities and differences. Firstly, management is deemed to be a science in which there is a series of coherent or logical steps that can be followed to implement whatever the role demands. Meanwhile, leadership is more likely to be an art than a science (Coonan, 2007). The key role and responsibility of a nursing manager is to ensure that the organization’s resources are efficiently and effectively used. Managers are seen to focus on things and personnel issues, implement management functions such as planning, organizing and controlling, and follow rules. In addition, managers work to accomplish tasks and will do whatever is required to get the job done without taking in too much risk. The skills required …show more content…
Hence, the nursing manager would approach the continuous quality management as well as patent satisfaction issue by forming a reward system that gives incentives to those who perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. Rewards could be salary increases, job promotions and others. Punishment such as suspension may be given to those who do not perform well. From the nursing leader’s approach, resolving the issue would start from the leader himself. The leader would create the vision and demonstrate a role of behaviors to influence the attitudes of others. The leader will teach others the significance of quality management and patient satisfaction. Moreover, the leader will focus on inspiring and enlightening the employees to impart the same vision. It is also expected that the manager would use his entitlement of position to gain the authority of the employees. The manager has control over the situation and may direct others to implement good quality management practices as well as enforce policies of maintaining the satisfaction of the patients. On the other hand, leaders do not influence others through position but rather through connection and relationships. It is vital that leaders establish trust and strive towards unity and mutual open-mindedness (Coonan, 2007). The
Roussel, L., & Swansburg, R.C. (2009). Management and leadership for nurse administrators. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Murphy J, Quillinan B, Carolan M. "Role of clinical nurse leadership in improving patient care." Nurs Manage 16, no. 8 (2012): 26-28.
Nursing leaders ' responsibility extends to become a voice for the nurses and for offering quality in patient care, not just at their organizations but spanning the whole communities, interacting with law makers in revising regulations and laws, with researchers and educators. Nurse leaders, in particular those at manager and supervisory levels are spread sparsely. They are involved in business planning, human resources, information management and writing reports. It is advisable for them to refocus the leadership on care which matters to patients which is the essence of
The authors in this article aimed to discover nurse manager leadership styles and their outcomes. Nurses from hospitals in the Northeastern part of the United States were asked questions. The data was collected in a locked room, alone, so no one would influence the answers of someone else. The results were put into a software program and displayed for analysis. Results showed when choosing a nurse for a managerial leadership role, one should choose someone if they have the basic components of transformational leadership, not transactional leadership. The authors show that transformational leadership had revealed positive patient outcomes, retention, and satisfaction in the nursing staff. Those nurse leaders who have qualities of transformational leadership are encouraged to build on those skills constantly.
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 positively influences teams and individual nurses” (Malloy & Penprase, 2010.) Let’s explore two different leadership styles and discuss how they can enhance or diminish the nursing process.
It also proves that there should some retaining accountability in quality of care to individuals receiving healthcare. Aim is team work , planning, implementation , progress measuring of health care consumer within the organization.Promots continuous ongoing education of all healthcare providers.ANA provides some leadership qualities as nurses can act as a mentor to other colleagues for the improvement of nursing as a profession and quality of care. In leadership important personal qualities are communication and ability to resolve conflicts. So treat others with full of respect ,dignity and trust. Should consider the effectiveness of communication and ways to improve autonomy and accountability of nurses. Work under the influence of polcies and procedures and involve the patients and profession. Decision making bodies are taking the role for the sake of improve the healthcare outcomes and the professional practice improvement. In public health sectors there should be interprofessional team and that should be advance the nursing practice in interpreting the role for community as a whole. Also nureses can teach other staff members and patients. Pomoting good and healthy working atmosphere between local, national , international communities. Leaders are exhibiting the quality of flexible changing style and creativity according to the situation. They should be energetic in their action and also should accept the mistake by self and others . Other quality is co-ordination of care because in health sectors there is licensed and unlicensed nurses so there should co-ordination among staff members. Work as administrative team. Promote communication among staff members through written messages , publications and presentations. Promote direction to improve the effect of the multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary
In most aspects of life the saying “less is always more” may ring true; however when it comes to providing quality care to patients, less only creates problems which can lead to a decrease in patient’s quality of life as well as nurse’s satisfaction with their jobs. The massive shortage of nurses throughout the United States has gotten attention from some of the most prestigious schools, news media and political leaders. Nurses are being burnt out from their jobs, they are being overworked and overlooked. New nurses are not being properly trained, and old nurses are on their way to retirement. All the while the rate of patient admissions is on the rise. Nurses are reporting lower satisfaction in their job positions and hospital retention rates are at an all-time low, conversely this is affecting all patients’ quality of care. As stated in the article Addressing The Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care “According to an Institute of Medicine report, Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff”.
...r investigation and then devise a plan for best possible action recognizing the rights of the patient and its benefits followed by the application of the chosen intervention with positive outcome in mind (Wells, 2007). Delivery of excellent and quality of care at constant level (NMC, 2008) must be marked in any responsibilities and duties of the care provider to promote exceptional nursing practice
Hospital administrators will charge nurse leaders with ensuring that patient positive outcomes prevail while also controlling overhead. Nurse leaders are specially trained just for this task. Clinical Nurse Leaders are the experts that America’s patients will rely on to keep them safe and healthy in hospital settings.
Leadership is defined by Northouse (2013) as a transactional experience between persons whereby one individual influences a group of individuals who have a mutual goal. Leaders may hold authority attributed to them by the group, substantiated by how they are regarded, whether or not they have positional authority. In contrast to management, where the goal is to provide order through control, leadership is concerned with producing change through transformation and practical adjustments (Northouse, 2013). Because of the nature of nursing, its obligation to promoting health and healing of people, nursing leadership concentrates change efforts based on human needs and concurrently ponders the needs of administrations largely because they understand the interrelatedness of the two influences.
Sullivan, E. J., & Decker, P. J. (2009). Effective leadership and management in nursing (7th ed.).
A manager’s leadership style must influence staff and others to take them seriously. A manager sets the tempo for the employees’ work ethic. Effective leadership from healthcare managers is important to the modern healthcare reform (Kumar, 2013). Leadership engagement in healthcare explains how a problem could affect a healthcare organization. Managers that hold leadership roles must adopt a certain style that can be functional for his or her initial organization to be successful. Performance improvement can be a very serious aspect of leadership engagement (Croxton, 2011). Healthcare managers need to have people from all areas involved to work effectively. Without the consistency of getting all staff and physicians involved, the organization may suffer greatly.
...elly, P., & Crawford, H. (2013). Nursing leadership & management. In Nursing leadership & management(2nd ed., pp. 168-177). Canada: Nelson Education.
In the nursing profession, strategic thinking, effective decision making and delegation is important. With this, the goal of providing quality care is key and can be accomplished through a theory called servant leadership. In this style of leadership and management, the entire team has input into decision making based on the organization’s values and ideals. Servant leaders create devoted followers in response to the positive attention they give (Nursing Community Journal, 2015).
These characteristics of a nurse manager show how their leadership plays a role in their position in the nursing field. Without this position in the nursing structure, it would be very difficult to produce positive results in providing optimal patient ca...