Providing safe and quality care that is patient centred is one of the most important aspects of a nurse’s career. This must be carried out through all health care settings (Alwyn Rehabilitation Hospital, 2017). Although, in most situations a nurses role also needs to involve leadership and management skills. They need to be able to identify best practice and patient health changes. They need to be able to prevent or manage adverse effects and events (Australian College of Nursing (ACN), 2015). Additionally, nurse’s need to be capable of providing adequate support to patients and their families. By having a wide range of leadership and management skills, a nurse is able to ensure and continue the safety and quality of patient care. An immense …show more content…
The National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (2012) further suggest that in standard three, preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections, clinical leaders and managers of health services develop and implement governance systems to manage and prevent healthcare associated infections. Standard 3.5 states that the criterion for prevention and control strategies involves developing, implementing and auditing a hand hygiene program that is consistent with the current national hand hygiene initiative. Workplace compliance with the national hand hygiene guidelines will be regularly audited. Compliance rates from the audits are regularly reported to the highest level of governance within the organisation and action is taken to non-compliance or the inability to comply. Communicating these systems throughout the workplace will hopefully achieve a positive …show more content…
It is necessary to ensure that all these factors are in place by showing strong leadership at all levels, from the nursing unit manager to state and federal governments. Nursing units with positive and strong leadership styles have been directly correlated with lower rates of medication errors (ACN, 2015). Nurse leaders are a valuable resource for the potential to transform the health system. Failure to utilise nurse leaders across the health care system can limit the system’s capacity to meet certain demands in the
Whitehead, D. K., Weiss, S. A., & Tappen, R. M. (2010). Essentials of nursing leadership and
V. (2000). Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene. The Lancet, 356(9238), 1307-1312.
Nurse managers are responsible for nurse performance and retention, and the manager’s leadership style is critical to the achievement of these outcomes (McGuire & Kennerly, 2006). Transformational and Transactional leadership theory are two leadership styles that have attracted the interest of many researchers. An analysis of these two leadership models will identify strengths and weaknesses of both theories in relation to Hospital medical errors.
Murphy J, Quillinan B, Carolan M. "Role of clinical nurse leadership in improving patient care." Nurs Manage 16, no. 8 (2012): 26-28.
It is important for nurses to be well organized and if leaders are strong in organization, the team will be as well. “Nurse leaders at every level and position must develop organizational and management skills, whether they are managing human, fiscal, policy, time, material or other resources” (Canadian Nurse Association, 2008, p. 9). “Exerting good management skills is part of being a good leader – and leadership skills are necessary for good management” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008, p. 9). When nurses are able to organize their time, they are able to assess their patients thoroughly. Following these assessments, nurses are able to organize and prioritize which patient is in most need of assistance or immediate attention. If a leader is not well organized themselves, patient care may be affected. Practical Nurses like any other nurses need to have strong organizational skills, especially, if a practical nurse is working on a demanding, fast paced unit. Patient’s health and well-being depends on their ability to manage information and multi-task. It is easy to become overwhelmed and make mistakes if a practical nurse lacks in good organizational skills. Being well organized is even more important when working short staffed. In this instance the practical nurse would have to be able to organize her patients in priority order and be able to divide her time accordingly to provide safe and competent
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.
To contribute patient safety and excellent care, nurses in all levels must have strong leadership skills. Nurses should have a voice in health policy decision making and should be an active part of advisory committee, commissions and board of nursing where policy decisions are made to improve patient care (IOM, 2010). This transformation will bring forth a more positive work environment for professionals as well as progress all aspects of patient centered
Essential II basic organizational and system leadership for quality care and patient safety is also an essential that all nurses deal with on a daily basis. “Leadership skills are needed that emphasize ethical and critical decision-making, initiating and maintaining effective working relationships, using mutually respectful communication and collaboration within inter-professional teams, care coordination, delegation, and developing conflict resolution strategies.”(American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 13) This essential begins on the first day of orientation and ends on the day a nurse retires. One cannot stress the importance of ethical decisions, critical decisions, and respectful communication enough. Whether speaking with an aggrieved family member or fellow staff member one should always look to quality
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.
This literature review will analyze and critically explore four studies that have been conducted on hand hygiene compliance rates by Healthcare workers (HCWs). Firstly, it will look at compliance rates for HCWs in the intensive care units (ICU) and then explore the different factors that contribute to low hand hygiene compliance. Hospital Acquired infections (HAI) or Nosocomial Infections appear worldwide, affecting both developed and poor countries. HAIs represent a major source of morbidity and mortality, especially for patients in the ICU (Hugonnet, Perneger, & Pittet, 2002). Hand hygiene can be defined as any method that destroys or removes microorganisms on hands (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). According to the World Health Organization (2002), a HAI can be defined as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other health care facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. The hands of HCWs transmit majority of the endemic infections. As
This essay critically examines the relationship between interventions and the dubious increase in hand hygiene compliance by healthcare professionals by using the framework of evidence-based practice to evaluate previous literature, identify barriers, and note mechanisms used to measure effectiveness of interventions. The systematic review, Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care, conducted by the Cochrane Collaboration investigated innovations to improve hand hygiene compliance within patient care. The review included 2 original studies with an additional two new studies (Gould & Moralejo et al., 2010). Throughout the review, it was affirmed that while hand hygiene is an indispensable method in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAI), the compliance among nurses’ is inadequate. Nurses are identified within the public as dependable and trustworthy in a time of vulnerability due to their specialised education and skills (Hughes, 2008).
Essay Topic: My essay topic is religious symbols. This topic includes religious symbols such as a cross on a school, a woman wearing a hijab, etc. There are dilemmas associated with the presence of religious symbols in a society. The recent example is Bill 62.
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.
“Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented” (“Hygiene Fast Facts”, 2013, p. 1). Hands are the number one mode of transmission of pathogens. Hands are also vital in patient interaction, and therefore should be kept clean to protect the safety of patients and the person caring for the patient. Hand hygiene is imperative to professional nursing practice because it prevents the spread of pathogens, decreases chances of hospital-acquired infections, and promotes patient safety. There is a substantial amount of evidence that shows why hand hygiene is important in healthcare
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.