Self Awareness In Nursing

To be an effective Registered Nurse they must have excellent leadership skills. These leadership shills include providing direction, supporting staff and patients to improve the delivery of care (Adeniran, Bhattacharya, & Adeniran, 2012) and decision making through self-awareness (Day, & Brownie, 2014).

Providing direction and supportive leadership has a positive impact on patient safety. Nursing staff perform better when they have a supportive environment, which leads to fewer medication errors, reduced hospital acquired infections and fewer mortalities (Joseph, & Huber, 2015). Staff and patients should be provided with direction that enhances learning so appropriate health care decisions can be made. This can be achieved through empowerment

Self-awareness is important as it makes a leader aware of how their decisions and behaviour impact on others (Day, & Brownie, 2014). It is crucial that Registered Nurses are able to cope with their own feelings when making ethical decisions so they can maintain a high level of ethics and integrity (Elkstrum, Idvall, 2015). This self-awareness is a continual process of self-development that will continue throughout a nurse’s entire career (Day, & Brownie, 2014).

After completing the Leadership Skills Inventory, it was identified that I need to improve my awareness of how my decisions affect others. I am concerned that I will make the wrong choices and especially if it is an ethical dilemma that I am facing.
Ethical decision making can be different when the decision is neither right nor wrong. This may cause stress, frustration and compromise patient care (Zydziunaite).

All decisions made are connected to the perceived consequences, fear of making a mistake or repercussions that may follow (Noland). To develop my awareness of how my decisions affect others, I will ensure that I enhance my communication skills. To do this I will be attentive and empathetic while listening to patient’s needs. I will remain calm even if aggressively confronted. I will be honest and fair when making decisions, to maintain ethical decisions