Leadership Skills for Nurses Essay Example

Introduction

Critical Care Situation: Caring for an Infant

A three months old female infant with a pulse had been radioed by the EMF providers, although the baby was taking breaths on her own, the EMF was assisting the baby in breathing with the help of a bag/mask valve devise. Whenever I know I am going to have to care for a child in dire trouble; I always say a little prayer because I am reminded of what it was uttered to me during my trauma orientation, and I have my totems such as breath deep and clear the slate (Haskell, 2008). Moreover, all we knew during the infant's arrival was that the baby had a known cardiac history and no known trauma and that we were expected to conduct life-saving maneuvers. Further, to assist in the airwave management, Mellissa, who was the trauma nurse that day, phoned the pulmonary department to have the respiratory therapist at the bedside. I pulled the Broselow tape down and placed it on the stretcher because the design enables us to align patients of varying lengths along the color-coded sections to their corresponding tube sizes and drug dosages. Dawn, the third year ED residence, and Mary, the ED attending physician, were responsible for the medical management of the child. The infant weighed 10 kg by looking at the Broselow tape and began the frenzied assemblage of gear. The ventilator was readied with the small setting needed for this baby, by Carrie from the respiratory therapy department. I brought up an excel program on the computer in the room that details weight-based drug formulas. Melissa and I prepared drugs and had them ready on the medication cart for immediate use because we thought the baby could be atropine, epinephrine, bicarbonate, and dextrose. I know babies lack glycogen stores and are prone to debilitating hypokalemia, so I ran for the Glucometer and Melissa unclipped the large adult paddles from the Zoll defibrillator and had it ready for the child's little chest. I turned up the heat in the room to an unbearable degree for a premenopausal nurse in a stressful situation; for I knew that cold, stress could cause further harm in an already sick infant. Dawn and Mary prepared to achieve advanced airwave control if needed and reviewed possible scenarios and treatment techniques. As the harsh descended in the room, our physical environment was laid out and ready. I have learned that pediatric resurgence is solemn events.

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Furthermore, if the vision of a transformed healthcare system is to be achieved, strong leadership is critical. Although the public does not view nurses as leaders, the nurses must be leaders in implementation, evaluation, design, and advocacy, for the ongoing reforms required by the healthcare system. The nursing profession must produce leaders, who can serve as full-partners by teaming up with the other healthcare experts, and should be accountable for their contribution in delivering quality care. To act as associates with the physicians and other professionals in redesign and reform efforts in the healthcare department, the nurses will need leadership skills and competence (National Academy of Sciences, 2011). Across the healthcare structure, the nursing research and practice should continue to discover and develop evident-based improvements to care, and the enhancements can be tested and adopted through the policy changes. In realizing the established goals in the care environment, a full partner is involved with the responsibility of identifying problems and areas of waste, tracking progress over time, making the necessary adjustments to realize the objectives, and devising and executing a plan for growth. The nurses should be involved in decision-making to serve as the resilient advocates for the patient. In the care environment, the supervisors who offer instructions and expect them to be followed will not thrive in this setting because the leadership style involves working with others as full partners in the context of respect. Improved patients outcomes, fewer patients' turnover, and reduced medical errors have been associated with the leadership style. To identify and achieve specific goals in the healthcare sector, everyone from the bedside to the boardroom should engage the subordinates, executives, and colleagues. The members of the healthcare team should hold each other accountable for improving quality healthcare minimizing medical inaccuracies and working together to break down the walls of hierarchal silos.

Critical Care Situation: Caring for an Infant

Besides, one of the ANA Standards of Professional Nursing Practice met was number seven because whenever I have to care for a child in the dire situation, I always say a prayer because I am reminded of what the nurse said to me during my trauma orientation (American Nursing Association, 2010). Secondly, I upheld the code of ethics number eight, which states that a registered nurse attains knowledge and competence that reflects current nursing practice. For example, I pulled the Breslow tape down and placed it on the stretcher because the design made it possible for us to align patients of varying lengths along the color-coded sections to their corresponding tube sizes and drug dosages. Thirdly, I adhered to the code of standard number eleven, which requires me to communicate effectively in all areas of practice. For instance, I turned up the heat in the room to an unbearable degree for a premenopausal nurse in a stressful situation to prevent further harm to the sick baby. Fourthly, I met the code of ethics number fifteen that guides me on resource utilization, to illustrate, I brought up an excel program on the computer in the room that details weight-based drug formulas. Finally, I upheld the ANA code of ethics with interpretive statement provision five, for instance, although Mary and Dawn were responsible for medical management for the baby, my colleague and I prepared drugs and had them ready on the medication cart for immediate use (Lachman, Swanson, & Winland, 2015).

Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare Reform

Of equal importance, as a professional nurse leader, my future implication is professional socialization, which entails developing a professional identity and clarifying role expectation (Middleton, 2011). Professional socialization is a learning process, which the junior nurses are an integral part of the work environment. The active leaders will generate opportunities that create a potential for professional self-development for junior staff. Junior nurses develop opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about their role that form the basis of professional growth, during this socializing period. Through the process, senior nurses can transmit appropriate professional values from one generation of nurses to the other since their role is dynamic and multifaceted. The nurse manager must provide an environment that supports competent and expert nurses, in this highly influential role. Equally important, the nurse principals should highlight the significance of the nursing role to motivate and empower the junior nurses through the structured mentorship. The program can nurture the ongoing role advancement and can be based on the acquisition and mastery of new expertise. The senior nurses should take a few moments from their shifts to be involved in the mentoring pursuit, and the mentorship in a particular field of work activity can be recorded in the learning log. The log records the strength and weakness in the performing activity, the nature of the occupation being tutored, future goals, and future interventions.

Moreover, my changes in future practice would be campaigning for gender equality in the healthcare environment and media (Campaign for action, 2016). The Advanced practice registered nurses and physicians perform the exact services, but the nurses are paid lower wages, while the physician receives better pay for doing so. Similarly, despite the essential nature of nurses' work, who comprise the largest healthcare profession group of providers with the most contact with patients and families, many health reforms decisions are formulated without input from nurses. In the United States, the media depictions of nurses as handmaidens or mere assistants echo the way the other groups have been demeaned in the popular culture. The nurse heads should step into the leadership roles to improve access to care as one of the movement's key solutions, to advance the nurse leaders through the campaign for action's work. Furthermore, as nurses, we should take our place from the table and be ready to contribute when we get there, from the public policy to industry, and to the military. The nursing career should diversify in respect of gender and race to reflect more closely on the population it serves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, strong leadership skills are critical if the vision of a transformed healthcare system is to be achieved. Although the public demeans the nurses, they should serve as full partners by collaborating with the other healthcare colleagues to deliver quality health care. Through the professional socialization process, the senior nurses can transmit appropriate values from one generation of nurses to the next.

References

American Nursing Association. (2010). nursing: scope and standards of practice (2nd ed).

Silver Spring Campaign for Action. (2016). Nursing movement looks to past to change the future. Retrieved from https://campaigneforaction.org/nursing-movement-looks-past-change-future/.

Haskell, W. (2008). Clinical exemplar: A Mother's story. Journal of emergency nursing, 34, 218-220.

Lachman, V, Swanson, E., & Winland-Brown. (2015). The new code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Ethics, Law, and Policy, Vol. 24, No 5.

Middleton, J. (2011). Leadership skills for nurses. Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes,net/journals/2011/08/24/.../leadership-skills-for-nurses.pdf.

National Academy of Sciences. (2011). the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/books/NBK209867.