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Introduction
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A nurse displays certain developments in their professional lives in the course of their nursing career. Aside from technical skills, the role of a nurse mandates other non-analytical skills, and a nurse demonstrating these can be declared efficient. Leadership is one such skill that requires specific qualities and empathetic skills. A nurse leader is not just responsible for running a team but also supervises every action performed by the team members. This essay's thesis statement is to analyze the duties and importance of a nurse leader, and for this, I have drawn on my own experience.
Discussion on leadership in professional nursing practice
Nurse leaders are assumed to participate in executive as well as administrative actions of an organisation. However, the leadership position strictly involves managerial roles, and in the case of a nurse, these are combined with clinical responsibilities (Spiva et al. 2020). I consider that the primary role of a nurse leader falls in the advocacy of the nursing units. The nurse leaders should maintain effective communication with the nursing units so that their needs can be conveyed to the management division. A leader represents the other nurses at organizational meetings and is often involved in advocating for the patients (Wang et al. 2018). I also think that nurse leaders are expected to overview the actions of their fellow nurses and observe whether the nursing team members are following the established protocols. Now I think over viewing the nurse’s actions is a crucial role of nursing leaders to ensure patient’s quality care.
The evolution of healthcare in terms of technological advancements and withdrawal from social stigmatisation has compelled professionals to change their responsibilities accordingly. Initially, the role of a nurse would be considered an extended version of the duties performed by women at home. However, with the gradual improvement of people's mentality, more women have begun to join the workforce, and hence I think the role of nurse leaders has changed as well. I think the job responsibilities have not changed, but they had to be improvised due to the increase in health complications in people. The second NMBA standard mentions that a nurse requires maintaining an appropriate professional and therapeutic relationship (Cox & Best, 2022). I think the role of nurse leaders in maintaining professional leadership has intensified over the years since the staff has become more diverse. Dealing with a diverse population with diverse mentalities requires certain judgment skills that have to be adopted by the current nurse leaders.
There are extensive training programs conducted nowadays to make the nurses equally capable of providing patient care, and supervising these training programs fall under the duties of leader nurses. This massive advancement in the duties requires these nurses to get adapted to the course of the programs at first, and hence the whole perspective of viewing their job roles has changed (Bianchi et al. 2018). In the course of my career, I have observed several aged nurse leaders struggling to cope with the technological advancements within the facility. Technologies like AI and block chain are being used extensively in the healthcare sector to improvise patient care, and the nurses are thriving to be acquainted with them. The "Theory of Situation” in healthcare mentions the ability of a leader to adapt to the changes in the healthcare setting and alters their duties accordingly (Pilat & Merriam, 2019). Hence, a nurse leader can be declared efficient when they display the ability to acquaint themselves with the evolutions in their duties.
The health complications have become more complex, and certain factors like population strength have triggered the patient numbers to increase over the years. Maintaining a balance between the limited resources and the huge patient number has made the leader nurses develop new managerial skills (Richard-Eaglin, 2021). These situations have made me realize the changes in the nurse leader's duties. Another significant issue that has made me realize about the change in nurse leader duties is staff shortages. The nurse leaders assign duties to the staff and allocate patients based on their qualifications and skills. In case of shortages, the existing staff has to be utilized, and this reallocation of duties depends on the nurse leader. In addition to these, adjusting to the regulatory changes in the healthcare setting falls under the role of an efficient nurse leader (Magbity, Ofei & Wilson, 2020). I feel that this exerts additional pressure on the nurses who have to adhere to the new rules and keep the nursing practice consistent at the same time. I am obliged to think that these issues are the ultimate representation of the evolution of nurse leader duties over time.
Leader has the right to choose a certain style that they would use to exert their authority on their subordinates. I would prefer a transformational leadership style if I am ever assigned the job of a nurse leader. A transformational leader transforms their subordinates, as the name suggests, and makes them capable of dealing with each other (García?Sierra & Fernández?Castro, 2018). I prefer this leadership style because I can make my fellow nurses admire me without having to impose my beliefs upon them. The professional goal that I feel would be most important in this context is communication buildup. I would try to reduce the communication gaps between the nurses of my team and make ways that would allow them to communicate freely with them. My personal goal, in this case, would be to develop my decision-making and conflict resolution skills. I would work on these skills considering that the main duty of a nurse leader involves maintaining the peace in the team by avoiding any kind of bias.
Conclusion
A nurse leader is responsible for handling a whole team of qualified nurses who might or might not be of the smart age and qualifications. Handling a diverse team requires certain qualifications apart from technical skills, and a nurse leader being able to demonstrate such skills can be declared efficient. The role of the leader nurse is likely to improvise with the advancement if time and an efficient nurse require adjusting to that. A transformational leadership style would be most appropriate in this case to keep the productivity of the organisation consistent.
References
Bianchi, M., Bagnasco, A., Bressan, V., Barisone, M., Timmins, F., Rossi, S., ... & Sasso, L. (2018). A review of the role of nurse leadership in promoting and sustaining evidence?based practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 918-932. doi:10.1111/jonm.12638
Cox, L., & Best, O. (2022). Clarifying cultural safety: its focus and intent in an Australian context. Contemporary Nurse, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2022.2051572
García?Sierra, R., & Fernández?Castro, J. (2018). Relationships between leadership, structural empowerment, and engagement in nurses. Journal of advanced nursing, 74(12), 2809-2819. doi:10.1111/jan.13805
Magbity, J. B., Ofei, A. M. A., & Wilson, D. (2020). Leadership styles of nurse managers and turnover intention. Hospital Topics, 98(2), 45-50. doi:10.1080/00185868.2020.1750324
Pilat, M., & Merriam, D. H. (2019). Exploring the lived experiences of staff nurses transitioning to the nurse manager role. JONA: the Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(10), 509-513. doi:10.1097/nna.0000000000000795
Richard-Eaglin, A. (2021). The significance of cultural intelligence in nurse leadership. Nurse Leader, 19(1), 90-94. doi:10.1016/j.mnl.2020.07.009
Spiva, L., Davis, S., Case-Wirth, J., Hedenstrom, L., Hogue, V., Box, M., ... & Ahlers, L. (2020). The effectiveness of charge nurse training on leadership style and resiliency. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(2), 95-103. DOI: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000848
Wang, L., Tao, H., Bowers, B. J., Brown, R., & Zhang, Y. (2018). When nurse emotional intelligence matters: How transformational leadership influences intent to stay. Journal of nursing management, 26(4), 358-365. doi:10.1111/jonm.12509
