9 Essential Qualities of Nurse Leadership
All care providers need nurse leaders to run the organization. [1] The health care field grows more complex as nurse leaders brace for a mass exodus of retiring register nurses and an influx of fresh, green talent. Despite warnings of a health care talent shortage for the last several decades, developing new nurse leaders has been a low priority for current nurse leaders. Today, three factors are of particular concern to nurse leaders: the growing baby boomer population, the increased demand for medical service presented by this group, and the large number of registered nurses who will soon retire.
It’s critical the current nurse leaders groom protégés to fill the void that will be left by their exodus.
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These circumstances make the cultivation of new nurse leaders vitally important. As a result, various nursing advocates have formed alliances to develop nurse leaders.
The following 9 qualities aid current nurse leaders in meeting the objective of fostering new nurse leader talent in medicine.
1. Emotional Intelligence
In the clinical setting, nurse leaders work closely with trainees to help them develop emotional intelligence. [2] Such support helps peers to cope with the stressors that present during routine challenges. Nurse leader assist the trainees in managing those challenges and other counterproductive influences that can result in emotional exhaustion and poor team collaboration.
2. Integrity
Integrity among one’s self and charges is a primary objective for nurse leaders. [1] Personal integrity aids nurse practitioners in making the right choices during critical junctures in patient’s treatment plans. Additionally, effective leaders adapt to use and teach ethically viable practices to enable fledgling nurse leaders to make safe and effective care decision
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To facilitate collaboration, nurse leaders arrange for trainees to attend rounds while engaging with various medical professionals, such as support staff, primary care providers, and senior executives. Some health care organizations also establish recruitment retention teams, which might engage in these rounds with trainees.
6. Professional Socialization
During training, nurse leaders gain an intense understanding of patient-nurse dynamics. [2] Nurse leaders focus developing how trainees engage with patients after the triage process. Effective nurse leaders identify opportunities to develop new organizational nurse leaders during this learning process.
7. Respect
Nurse leaders are passionate, dynamic influencers that inspire change in others and, in the process, win the respect and trust of their charges. To accomplish this, leaders teach communication techniques such as two-way communication and rephrasing to promote a workplace environment where stakeholders engage each other in a productive, positive manner. By understanding each other’s circumstances, trainees gain respect for their peers and nurse
Murphy J, Quillinan B, Carolan M. "Role of clinical nurse leadership in improving patient care." Nurs Manage 16, no. 8 (2012): 26-28.
Nursing is an ever changing profession, making strong leadership a crucial aspect. “Nursing leaders play a significant role in creating positive work environments for nurses” (Young – Ritchie, Laschinger, & Wong, 2007, para 1). This paper will define the concept of leadership in nursing. Many qualities are required to be a successful nursing leader. Some of the qualities discussed in this paper are: supporting and empowering team members, being well organized, remaining consistent with their expectations, and being able to effectively communicate with their team. Furthermore, this paper will identify the relationship between leadership qualities and role of the Practical Nurse.
During this semester, I went to many different clinical sites for clinical experience, and I had the opportunity to with the nurse leader and observed what he/she does during a shift. This paper will focus on the strength of a nurse leader, and on my self-evaluation as a potential nurse leader.
LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES The ability to promote structure, safety, and positive environments for both patients and colleagues alike are unique characteristics of quality leadership. Those same traits are essential to possessing a cohesive, interdisciplinary team of healthcare providers. There are various strategies that a nurse can employ to foster the collaboration of a particular team. The most influential strategy is the use of active communication, more specifically assertive communication.
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.
Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNLs) perform a balancing act that encompasses patient, administration and nurse practitioner interests. They are key executives in contemporary hospital settings. Prospective CNLs must obtain a master’s degree to qualify for this career track. Hospital administrators trust nurse leaders as nursing pool heads. CNLs also monitor and control the caregiving environment. As America’s healthcare needs increase, so will the need for Clinical Nurse Leaders.
Nurse’s can demonstrate leadership by facilitating outstanding care to patients and it is related to how one’s values and behavior affect others. A leader is all about with success and contribution and a successful leader set his/her standards, goals and strategies at high. One can become a leader by assigned or emerged but both will be working towards a common goal of good or bad. In leadership, positive attitude is the key to success and problems and challenge in healthcare industry demand that nurses seek and fill the gap.
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.
Marquis describes a leader as the motivation and the leading of the performance. Leader’s uniqueness and abilities are what make others to need to take after his or her way (2009 p.32). First, a leader must understand the self and others as the beginning in leading. As Kouzes and Posner stated “self-discovery and self-awareness are critical to developing the capacity to lead. And personal reflection and analysis of one’s own leadership behaviors are core components in that process” (2011, p. 13). In health care, the nursing leaders hold a vital role in inspiring, empowering, coaching, and supporting the nursing profession to engage with today 's changes in the healthcare. Importantly, the nursing leader’s priority is to advocate for the patients’ care by role modeling to the team on delivering a safe and quality care. Nursing leader who strives effectiveness in responding to challenges, will assess personal leadership style, personality traits and leadership competencies. Thus, self-reflection on leadership is the base for the
Sherman, R. & Pross, E. (2010). Growing future nurse leaders to build and sustain healthy work
A leader is described as a person who guides others and has authority and influence over others. They work to influence others into meeting certain goals. There is no right or wrong definition of a leader and there is no recipe that ensures effective leadership. Successful leaders have a good balance of vision, influence, and power. Leaders gain their authority from their ability to influence others to get the work done; because of this, anyone has the potential to be a leader. (Finkelman. 2012, p15)
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 birthing process. Not everything in Mythology has to make sense, and over half their births are nothing like what we consider “child” birth. Two different beginnings to how centaurs became about, but both lead to the same conclusion. Ixion is either the son of Ares, who is the God of War (which explains the aggression the centaurs demonstrate), or he is the son of Plegyas of Lapithis, who was also the son of Aries was also. From there it briefly discusses how Ixion has killed his father-in-law and is begging to be purified.
Leaders in healthcare have so many daily obligations that they have to meet and be responsible for. Today’s leaders have to keep up with scheduling, flexing, covering vacation, meetings, their department as a whole, and make sure everything runs smoothly. With the ever changing healthcare nurses have to be up to date on new technology, training, and new education. The department head is not only a supervisor; she is a bedside nurse meeting multiple demands. She takes on tasks that include everything from the bedside nurse, to unit meetings, to charge nurse, and to scheduling, just to name a few. Speaking to leaders and managers in healthcare today the stress is at all time high from the new healthcare reform, nursing shortages, and meeting daily productivity.
A good nurse leader is one who communicates clearly, leads by example, creates relationships with team members, sets the goals and a vision for the team, and has the ability to step up at the time of crisis. Nurse leaders who possess these traits inspire trust and in turn have high functioning teams (Linton & Farrell, 2009). A nurse leader who leads an effective team has the ability to communicate clearly the goals and vision for the team. There is usually a theme of trust and mutual respect among the team members and for the leader.