ANSWER
Nursing Management and Leadership
Nursing leadership and management essay examples like this one will assist you in writing your own excellent nursing leadership essay. Student nurses and other healthcare workers highly recommend it.
Introduction to Nursing Leadership Essay
Nursing was once an amorphous and unrecognized occupation, frequently left to the discretion of patients’ close family members and relatives. However, thanks to Florence Nightingale’s efforts, it was recognized as a full-fledged profession and integrated into the healthcare system. Concepts such as nurse leadership and nurse management emerged as the profession grew in stature. A layperson can use both concepts interchangeably. However, in the context of healthcare, these two concepts have some key differences that distinguish them. This paper investigates the similarities and differences between nursing leadership and management. It focuses on how nurse leaders and managers perceive continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction.
Patient Satisfaction and Continuous Quality Improvement
Governments all over the world are concerned about the quality of healthcare. According to Hirani et al. (2012), the concept of quality in the healthcare system is multifaceted. It includes, among other things, resource management, personnel management, patient satisfaction, efficiency enhancement, and safety promotion. Until recently, healthcare organizations emphasized some of these elements while ignoring others. This trend resulted in underperforming healthcare systems, prompting the development of a comprehensive framework that incorporates all quality tenets in the healthcare system. Clinical governance was the name given to the framework. Every healthcare organization must commit to continuous quality improvement and accountability. As a result, patient satisfaction is central to this framework.
Perceptions of Nurse Leaders and Managers
Stanley (2006) defines nurse leaders as individuals who empower, motivate, inspire, and influence their colleagues without delegated authority. A nurse manager, on the other hand, is a person who has been formally appointed to oversee the operations of a healthcare organization or a section of a healthcare organization (Swansburg, 2002). Essentially, the nurse manager is a traditional manager in a healthcare setting. Both leaders share the following perspectives on continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction.
For starters, they both think in terms of the long term (Swansburg, 2002). Both nurse leaders and managers think beyond the horizon in their leadership roles because the nurses on their teams look to them for direction and motivation. Their ability to think beyond the present makes them indispensable to the healthcare system, especially given that continuous quality improvement in the healthcare system necessitates people who can anticipate future trends and steer nurses in the right direction. Without such leadership, the nursing profession would be unable to keep up with the rapidly changing quality standards in the healthcare system.
Second, nurse leaders and managers look beyond their units to understand the connections between their units and the immediate external environment (Swansburg, 2002). Within a healthcare organization, for example, both nurse leaders and managers understand how their units affect or are affected by other departments. This knowledge enables them to provide leadership that enables their units to contribute positively to the organization’s objectives. This way of thinking is important for continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction because it is impossible to improve quality by focusing solely on one unit within a system (Heyrani et al., 2012). Rather, the head of each unit should clearly understand their role in the quality improvement process and lead it to discharge that role effectively.
Third, nurse leaders and managers have the political acumen to balance the competing demands of the healthcare system’s various constituencies (Swansburg, 2002). While every well-meaning nurse wishes to improve the healthcare system, balancing the conflicts between its various elements is frequently impossible. On the other hand, nurse leaders and managers exhibit courage without necessarily being reckless and cautious without being considered cowards (Coonan, 2007). This ability is closely related to their ability to think beyond the present moment and know what to do in any given situation. It enables them to show courage and determination when necessary and to take timely precautionary measures when certain measures prove ineffective. This ability is invaluable to continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction because it requires not only brave individuals but also diligent individuals who can detect and change counterproductive measures (Kerridge, 2012).
QUESTION
Personal Review of Management and Leadership in Nursing
Using your textbook (ATTACHED BELOW) and the results of your personality test, you will answer the questions below in narrative form (no Q & A and no bulleted lists). Please follow all the APA 7th edition rules. Instructions:
Take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment to examine your individual strengths and experiences in preparation for assuming management and leadership roles. (PERSONALITY RESULTS ATTACHED BELOW)
It should be 5-6 pages of the body (not including the cover and reference page) using the headings and corresponding prompts below.
Your work should be sourced with two (2) scholarly references within the last five years.
Be APA, 7th edition format and citation style.
Template
1. Leadership and Management Theory
How can you apply a leadership and management theory to achieve high quality nursing care for your patients and collaborate effectively with your health care team? Identify the citation(s) for the leadership or management theory you chose in answering this question.
Are you more of a leader or a manager? (LEADER) Please explain why you feel this way. In view of your results of the personality test, how can you strengthen aspects of your personality to grow more in leadership or in management? Which competencies do you need to strengthen to become the leader or manager you want to become?
2. Change Theory
How do you deal with change at your practice setting? What personality traits would you utilize to promote change in your facility and how did you decide which traits you would use? Are there traits that you would not agree with and why do you think they appear?
3. Communication Style
What did you learn about yourself taking the personality test? Which type of communicator are you? What are areas that you can strengthen to be more effective? To be more therapeutic? What are some barriers to effective communication styles which you have observed in yourself? Note: You may need to read between the lines in the results, as your communication style is not measured directly.
4. Performance Improvement and Quality Improvement
How can you manage both performance improvement and quality improvement at the same time? Answer this using your understanding of your results of the personality test and your textbook/lectures about leadership and management.
How can you apply the principles of performance improvement and/or quality improvement into your practice? Choose one principle and explain how you can implement it at your workplace.
5. Evidence-based Practice and Improvement
Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been emphasized all throughout your BSN program. How does EBP relate to achieving desirable performance outcomes and quality improvement?
6. Supervision Style
Compare and contrast effective and ineffective supervision styles which you have observed in your workplace (NURSING FLOOR). When doing so, make sure to apply principles of delegation, authority, responsibility, and accountability.