Leading and Management
Leading and managing take on different meanings depending on one’s perspective. A registered nurse (RN) in healthcare may not fully internalize his or her role as “leader” on the team, but the responsibility inherent with licensure to practice, understand expectations and fulfilling them, is essential. Effective delegation is an important leadership strategy for any RN to learn and execute, as patient outcomes are ultimately tied to the RN assigned.
In the scenario provided, there were several key factors that could have resulted in a poor quality outcome for the patient. There were a number of tasks assigned to the Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), which required special training or competency. It was difficult to validate that the LVN had been deemed competent to perform the more specialized skills with the information available. Clarifying the LVN’s skill set and having full understanding of her training would have been critical for the RN in charge. Further, the LVN was simply not delivering the care that had been assigned. The RN needs to critically evaluate the situation. The LVN may have felt intimidated, lacked the skill, failed to understand the assignment, or any other variety of reasons. The point is the patient was not receiving the care needed and an intervention was required. “Delegation is both an art and a science. It includes cognitive, affective, and intuitive dimensions,” states Marjorie Barter (2002). All RN’s, regardless of assignment, should remember that “leaders do more than delegate, dictate, and direct. Leaders help others achieve their highest potential,” (American Nurses Association). The RN would have been remiss in not pursuing an answer to why the LVN appeared to be avoiding ce...
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... to serious harm to the patient. In the State of Texas, RN’s are ultimately accountable, and failure to embrace that responsibility and manage it effectively can be costly for all involved. The RN should not be resisting the idea of leadership, but rather engaging in building tools, knowledge and resources to help facilitate his or her role as a leader for the sake of patient care.
References
American Nurses Association. (n.d.). American Nurses Association. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.nursingworld.org
Barter, M. (2002). Follow the team leader. Nursing Management, 33(10), 54-57.
Five rights of delegation. (n.d.). Texas Board of Nursing. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.bon.texas.gov/practice/pdfs/Delegation-fiverights.pdf
Murphy, S. S. (1995). Scope of Practice. Legal handbook for Texas nurses (p. 41). Austin: University of Texas Press.
Section 5.4, which is the preservation of integrity, suggests that nurses will inevitably have to deal with threats to their moral or professional integrity at some point in their careers. Nurses should do their best to maintain professional integrity when met with adversity, weather it be from uncooperative issuance companies, an unsound work environment, or from the patients themselves. When working in an unsound or unsafe work environment that violates law or the ANA code of ethics nurses must go through the proper channels to fix the problem. If a nurse feels that a procedure or treatment their patient is having conflicts with his or her own moral integrity and they cannot participate, the nurse must report they unwilling to tr...
Approximately 100 years ago a Board of Nursing (BON) was established to help ensure the protection of society through rules and regulations of proper nursing practice. The goal of the BON is to provide “regulatory excellence for public health, safety and welfare” (National Council of State Board of Nursing [NCSBN], n.d., para. 1). The duties of the board is to implement the Nurses Practice Act, handle licensures, accredit nursing programs, develop policies, rules, and regulations and develop standard practice (NCSBN, n.d.). As we continue throughout this paper we will be looking specifically at the Mississippi Board of Nursing (MSBN) and how it is governed.
The American Nurses association defines delegation as, ‘The transfer of responsibility for the performance of a task from one individual to another while retaining accountability for the outcome’ (Saccomano, 2010, p. 523). When delegating to staff or members of your team, it is important that it is used appropriately and within the proper guidelines. It is common to see RNs delegating in the hospital setting to the LVN or nursing assistant, however, the RN must know the limitations and what is within their scope of practice. Unfortunately, even if the nurse uses these guidelines, conflict can still occur with other staff making the process more difficult. Having the responsibility to delegate, especially as a new registered nurse, can be daunting,
...rsing is not an individual effort to address patient symptoms or illnesses. While this is an integral step to thriving as a nurse, the duties of a nurse far transcend the scope of this responsibility. Nursing is not simply an individual pursuit, but rather, a communal role in which professionals convene to enhance patient care and the quality of their organization as a whole. As noted, the mission of this organization is to empower nurses and actuate beneficial changes in this professional field. The rules of order, leadership behavior, and decision making jointly contribute to the seamless flow of business. There is a team effort that joins nurses together in purpose, mission, vision, and corporate goals, and it is this very sense of joint responsibility that transforms individual efforts into a compelling, sweeping force that changes health care for the better.
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
1.Casida, J., & Parker, J. (2011). Staff nurse perceptions of nurse manager leadership styles and outcomes. Journal Of Nursing Management, 19(4), 478-486. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01252.x
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.
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.
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.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
More often than not RN’s are not prepared for the responsibility of delegating tasks to co-workers. Being able to delegate takes a certain level of confidence. Anytime that the nurse delegates a task they are held responsible for seeing it through to the end. They are required to assess the situation and evaluate the patient care being given. After the task is completed it is important to appraise the competence of the nurse’s aide. The whole concept of delegation has been around for quite some time now that it dates back to the early nursing efforts that Florence Nightingale that started the movement of nursing. Florence nightingale described delegation to be on the more entry level side of nursing. With this being said it shows that nursing programs of today need to provide more experience with delegation tasks and to stress the importance of being able to work in a leadership role when faced with a situation that makes it necessary to do so. An example of this would be when a code blue is called and many health care team members are together in one room, sometimes it is appropriate for someone to take the leadership role and assign everyone a task.“Forty-one percent of RN’s in the US report that they were not exposed to delegation and supervision content in their nursing curriculum”(Saccomano, 2011). This is a large number of nurse’s that were
Safety is non-negotiable. Because of nurse leader's perspective on the causes of errors and their prevention, they are an indispensable part of a multidisciplinary team that finds innovative solutions to improve safety that ultimately benefits the patient.
An organization’s mission, vision, and philosophy determine the goals the company seeks to achieve and describes the structures used to reach objectives. The mission statement speaks to the relationship the organization has with the community by linking its actions to the people it serves. The vision statement gives details of the organization’s purpose and values to employees and customers. The philosophy defines principles and overall beliefs that guide the organization in reaching its goals (Current Nursing, n.d.). For this paper, I will describe the mission and vision statements of my organization, discuss how my role supports the mission, discuss pros and cons of the nursing department’s structure, and give examples of how nursing could
In today’s society, leadership is a common yet useful trait used in every aspect of life and how we use this trait depends on our role. What defines leadership is when someone has the capability to lead an organization or a group of people. There are many examples that display a great sense of leadership such being an educator in health, a parent to their child, or even a nurse. In the medical field, leadership is highly used among nurses, doctors, nurse managers, director of nursing, and even the vice president of patient care services. Among the many positions in the nursing field, one who is a nurse manager shows great leadership. The reason why nurse manager plays an important role in patient care is because it is known to be the most difficult position. As a nurse manager, one must deal with many patient care issues, relationships with medical staff, staff concerns, supplies, as well as maintaining work-life balance. Also, a nurse manager represents leadership by being accountable for the many responsibilities he or she holds. Furthermore, this position is a collaborative yet vital role because they provide the connection between nursing staff and higher level superiors, as well as giving direction and organization to accomplish tasks and goals. In addition, nurse managers provide nurse-patient ratios and the amount of workload nursing staff has. It is their responsibility to make sure that nursing staff is productive and well balanced between their work and personal lives.
The nursing profession has changed drastically over time. The roles and responsibilities that nurses take on have increased and become far more complicated. Nurses are managers, leaders, supervisors and have become experts in many areas of care. Every day nurses are faced with the task of improving and strengthening professional leadership within their work environment. Managing good quality and eliminating risk is the major challenge in health care. All members of the team must work together to accomplish outstanding patient care. Budget cuts and nursing shortage in all areas of health care leads to less licensed staff, where use of unlicensed personnel have been used widely, where delegation is not an option, but a necessity. Nurses must be aware of delegation guidelines, what tasks to delegate,when to delegate for the safety of patients, liability of nurses and the facility.